Ian has been my best friend since I started living at my foster home years ago, and we’ve always said we wanted to open our own nightclub. We’ve been saving up the little money we’ve made over the years, but it still wasn’t enough for what we need. We got into selling drugs for a little before I decided to get a full-time job at Floaty Feelings and go legit. Ian, on the other hand, likes the excitement of the streets. I only did it to survive.
“Explain to me why you locked yourself in your room like some Disney Princess?” He crosses his arms in front of his chest while I sit in my round black foldable chair.
I toss him the letter, surprised he managed to catch it before it fell to the ground. He reads. Then he reads again.
“Holy shit,” his mouth makes a huge o as he rubs his hand on his naked chin.
“Yea,” I shake my head.
“Did you call?”
“Of course not. I don’t even know if this is legit.” He looks as if I grew three heads.
“Are you deadass?” He pulls his phone from his pocket, glancing back and forth between it and the paper as he dials. I shoot up out my chair, grabbing his phone before he could call.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I grit out.
“I’m doing what your pussy ass can’t.”
“Do you ever stop to actuallylisten? Or just do your own thing and hope for the best?” I already knew the answer to this question but want to see what he says anyway.
“Carpe Diem, bro. That’s my motto,” he points to himself then to me, “and you should hop on. You’ve been dragging your feet for years because you had no parents. Now one practically falls in your lap, and you want to throw a fit about that too? I’d give anything to just have my parents talk to me again.”
“It’s not that simple!” I roar, temporarily shocking both of us because I never yell. “All this time, I figured my dad was just dead. That’s an easier explanation for why he’d never try to see me. Try to know me. But now I know, if this is really him, that he’s been alive the whole time and not once has he reached out?”
Ian nods like he hears me but he’s not really listening.
“He says he didn’t know you existed.”
“That doesn’t even sound like something my mom would do. She’d never let us live like that if she knew who my dad was.” He shrugs like he doesn’t know what to believe.
“Only one thing to do bro.” He gestures his hand towards his phone I’m still holding. “He’s the only one who can answer all your questions.”
I curse under my breath because for once, Ian’s right.
Looking at the screen, I hit dial before I can change my mind. And then I change my mind, hanging up just as the first ring vibrates in my ears.
I can’t do this. Don’t need to do this. I haven’t had a dad for 21 years, what difference would it make now?
Glancing at the lone picture on my nightstand, my mom’s smile beaming back at me, I grab my boots from the floor and shove past Ian.
“Let’s go. I need a drink.”
~~~~
I stumble through the trailer door as Mindy (or is it Lisa?) fumbles with the buttons on my jeans. She kisses up and down my neck as we make it to my room and close the door.
Pushing me onto the bed, she stops kissing me to yank my shirt off. I lie back as she climbs on top of me, clamping her mouth on mine. Bringing my hands up, I squeeze her ass, grinding her into my growing erection. She moans and bites my lower lip, sucking on it before she starts trailing kisses down my chest.
I stare up at the ceiling, trying my hardest to stay focused on what she’s doing, but my mind drifts. It’s not even the alcohol that has my mind fucked up. I can still fully function even after drinking a full bottle by myself.
It’s the cocaine.
The two lines I do every birthday to honor my tradition. It’s supposed to quiet all the noise in my head, but it seems like the volume has been cranked even louder.
Mindy-Lisa is on her knees now, pulling off my jeans and boxers in slow tug. My dick springs free, hard and lined with veins, eager for some attention.
“Oh my,” she says gasping, not so much out of surprise, but anticipation.