Bastards of Young

“So, where are you from,” asked the lanky blond as he gingerly passed me the ball from across the court, a curious smile forming on his face.

I caught the ball, returning Mike’s smile, and carefully sized up the shot as I replied, “Straight out of North Carolina, baby.” With that I catapulted the ball into the air and watched with baited breath as it spun around the rim’s edge – daring me to believe it would go in. Almost mockingly it then rolled off the side and straight into Billie’s hands. “Goddamn son of a bitch,” I was never good at accepting I sucked.

Billie regarded me with a devilish, yet oddly affectionate smirk. “Yeah, Mike… she’s a real Southern Belle, man.” He winked in my direction before easily sinking his shot. I found my wit had disappeared in the millisecond it had taken him to open and close that one eye lid so, I merely stuck my tongue out in retaliation.

Chuckling, Billie passed Mike the el cheapo K-Mart basketball for his turn. Holding the ball at his hip, Mike cocked his head to the side as his brow furrowed. “What the hell brings you all the way out here?”

I thought for a second before shrugging. “Just felt like going somewhere new.”

Mike looked genuinely impressed. “Awesome.”

Awesome.

That was the perfect word to sum up the last week. Sure, it wasn’t pleasant having to sneak into neighbor’s yards to shower behind bushes and it wasn’t exactly convenient to only have a battery powered lamp for light after sunset. And okay, I might throw up if I have to eat one more gas station burrito, but besides all that – life was good.

I spent my days listening to records and learning about rock ‘n’ roll from a guy that was once on a first name basis with Ray Davies. At night I slummed around the Bay Area with my new found gang of punk cretins before heading back to the squat to top the day off by engaging in a riveting game of Did You Know music trivia and just general chat with Billie as we laid out on his bed. Tre and I were even becoming good friends once I got passed how much of an ass he could be.

Two hours after playing around on the basketball court with Mike and Billie, I found myself with one of the aforementioned punk cretins, Tracy. She lived on the third of the squat and since we had met in the kitchen on my second day we had been inseparable. On this particular evening we found ourselves hunched behind a hedge in an upper class neighborhood. Tracy held a string firmly in her hand with a look of giddy expectation as she watched the dollar bill attached to the other in of the string sit undisturbed on the sidewalk. She claimed this was the perfect way to exploit and expose the greedy capitalist pigs for who the really were – what it translated into was that we were bored as shit and broke.

We sat in silence as she concentrated on capitalist exposing and I concentrated on who knows what. I have a habit of getting lost in random thought. The silence was suddenly broke by a simple, “So,” uttered by Tracy expectantly.

Casting a sideways glance her way I replied, “So?” There was more silence that I took to mean she was awaiting my sudden realization of exactly what she meant. “What’s up?”

I couldn’t really see her to well in the dark, but I guessed her eyes were rolling as she spoke, “You and Billie.”

“Yeah?”

“You guys fuck yet or what?”

I felt heat flare up around my cheeks and my stomach do a few flips, but some how I managed to snort amusedly. “No, why do you ask?"

“Oh, c’mon! You guys are always flirting…”

“Are not!”

“… and as soon as the both of you are home you lock yourselves in that room for the night. It’s a logical presumption.”

I gave her a gentle, playful shove on the side of her head. “And the wrong one, Sherlock. We just talk. And, you know we’re not always alone. Tre hangs out sometimes too and you’re more than welcome to…”

“Do you like him?”

Again my stomach did a flip. Wincing as if expecting a blow, I replied honestly. “I think so.”

“I knew it! I fucking knew it!”

“Hey, look alive – capitalist incoming,” I watched the thin and balding man currently making his way down the street with great relief.

“Oh, shit yes,” Tracy whispered excitedly seemingly have forgotten our conversation. The excitement was infectious as I took position next to her. The man walked with a slouch, hands stuffed in his pocket like today probably hadn’t been his best. I felt a pang of guilt as I thought about how it wasn’t about to get much better.

As the man approached the dollar, looked around as if expecting the owner to jump out of nowhere (which wasn’t exactly beyond the realm of possibility) and carefully bent down to grab the dollar with delight shining on his face. Just as his finger tips were about to graze the dollar, Tracy gave the string a pull towards us. The man almost lost his balance, but caught himself quickly while looking at the dollar as if it were demented. Looking around again he went for the dollar only to have it whipped away. “What the hell… alright! Very funny! Stupid kids.” Grumbling and with even more of a slouch the man slumped away, his face buried in his hands for a moment before he stuffed them back into his pocket.

Coming out from behind the bushes I couldn’t feel the amusement Tracy did as she threw her head back in laughter. “I don’t enjoy capitalist fishing as much as you.”

Tracy pulled her wiry green hair out of her face and into a pony tail. “Aw, you’re too nice. You’ll change soon enough.”

“I don’t think I want to,” I watched the sad figure of the man disappear around the corner.

“It’s not a bad thing, you know. He’s cute.”

I frowned in confusion as we turned and made our way in unspoken agreement towards the squat. “What are you talking about?”

“Billie.”

“Oh.”

“I think you two would be good together and I definitely get the vibe that he likes you too.”

“I just don’t want to complicate things. He just broke up with his girlfriend last week and I really just enjoy our friendship. Like, I don’t want to be the rebound and that fuck everything up.”

“I get that, but what’s a fuck between friends? You’re in a new place; you need one.”

We both started giggling. “You’re a dork,” I said shaking my head.

“You love it,” she threw her arm around my neck and I had to admit I did love it.