Quiet Cigarettes

The next time Ricky saw Anna-Mae she was in front of an upper-class apartment building, hands interlocked with a man. He kissed her cheek briskly, he could see from across the street it was not a kiss of romance. It was a kiss that man did because he felt obligated to do so. Anna-Mae squeezed the man into a tight embrace and then he got into a black fancy car and drove away. She didn’t leave right away. She stood there watching the place the car had last been with a prominent frown on her face. The man must have been the husband she had told him about.
“Anna-Mae!” Ricky shouted from where he stood. He didn’t know exactly why he did so, it was probably because he didn’t like people he knew seeming to be so let down. She glanced up and gave him a tiny smile. Ricky made his away over to her.
“Ricky, correct?” He nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets.
“Yeah, that’s me. You doin’ anythin’ now?” He asked. He guessed maybe he was a bit forward but nothing she couldn’t handle.
She looked at the place the car had just been again. “No, no I’m not.”
“Well, come with me,” He gave her a once-over. “After you change.”
Her face pinched up. “What’s wrong with my clothes?”
There was nothing wrong with her clothes, she would just stand out to much. Everything she had on was expensive and posh. No one would even give her a second look before completely ignoring her. They didn’t know she married into the rich life and they didn’t have to, whatever they thought to assume about you was okay. Ricky was guilty of it himself. It’s just the way the upper and lower classes got along; they didn’t.
“Let’s just say, do you have any clothes left from before you married Mister Millionaire?”
Anna-Mae laughed as if she caught on. “Oh, yes, I do, hon. Just follow me up stairs.”
Inside the building was nicer than the outside. It had high ceilings and fancy chandeliers. He thought it was tuff, but he didn’t feel any but comfortable in such a prestigious place.
Anna-Mae lived in the penthouse, figured she would. It was bigger than any house he’d been in, he was sure of that.
“Where are we going?” She asked, her head stuck in her closet.
“My friend scored tickets to a Stone’s concert. I got an extra one.”
She popped out of the closet in a second, wide-eyed. “The Rolling Stones?”
Ricky looked at her confused. “Yeah, Mister Millionaire doesn’t take you to concerts?”
She shook her head. “Oh, he does. But they’re jazz concerts. He’s not a fan of rock ‘n roll, its jazz or its classical.”
“Wouldn’t have thought any more of him.” Said Ricky. Anna rolled her eyes and pulled some clothes out of her closet.
To his surprise, she didn’t go to the bathroom to change or ask him to step out. She casually let her dress slide down right there before him. He had seen many girls bodies and just had many had undressed right in front of him; but they all seemed to do it proactively, Anna-Mae seemed too nonchalant and unaware to be considered in that category.
She had a nice body, it was a god damn shame it was wasted on some rich bastard, who was hardly around. He knew himself he wouldn’t neglect a body like that. Though, he wasn’t exactly known for treating women right. He couldn’t remember his last real girlfriend.
Anna had changed in jeans, a striped shirt and boots. Her hair was down and loose today, and he was glad about that. He really hated that damn beehive thing. She looked more like she had when they met at the diner now. Her make-up was darker and she gave off a feeling of ease. He could defiantly see worn out jean, t-shirt clad Anna-Mae walking around on his side of the tracks. It was quite the talent she had, fitting in both lives perfectly.
The concert was downtown at the Sam Houston Coliseum. He shouldn’t had even been so far up town, but he did what he had to do for cash, even if the customer was on the other side of town. Everyone assumed that drugs were big with the blue-collar kids but it was actually the upper class that had the high demand for things like pot. He was sort of pleased Rodney Davis had called him and asked him to drop off a couple grams; it got Anna-Mae to go to the concert with him.
There was no denying Anna-Mae was a sight for sore eyes, and she was sure interesting but it wasn’t just that. He didn’t like loning concerts. Tye would be there with Lottie and Gwen was bound to show up. Gwen had a habit of showing up anywhere didn’t want her to be. She hang off him and bat her eyelashes, expecting him to fall for all her games. Not that she should think different – he idiotically usually did fall for her games. He just hated himself for it. She was trouble in a body, she used him over and over again. She liked games a lot. She also liked drugs and even though Ricky happened to deal them – he wasn’t into them and he hated people who were. Gwen was the first girl Ricky actually gave a shit about so he put up with her antics, but when she started fooling around on him with his buddies, he dumped her. He had been doing real fine avoiding her, but he knew she would be there tonight and he couldn’t just show up alone.
Anna-Mae led them down to a parking garage a little ways down the street, she said she wanted to drive. He had been wary – parking that beautiful cherry red corvette downtown seemed dangerous. She had just laughed, said it was a rental anyway and said Ricky could drive. Once she had said those three words ‘you can drive,’ he had been all for it. It was only Mister Millionaire’s rental car and he didn’t give a shit if that guy got knocked down several thousand dollars.
When he pulled in to Tye’s driveway, Lottie and Tye were already waiting outside. Lottie eyed him with reasonable suspicion but Tye just grinned at the sight of the car.
“Where’d you get this, man? I knew you were good at hotwirin’ but don’t you think takin’ somethin’ this flashy might be hard to hide?”
Anna-Mae chuckled but she didn’t appear to any bit surprised his friends were now accusing him of stealing the car.
“I’m Anna-Mae,” She greeted Tye and Lottie with a smile. “It might come as a huge surprise – but he didn’t steal the car, its mine.”
Tye looked her up and down. “You’re tellin’ me you stole the car, little lady?” His tone was disbelieving.
She shook her head. “I rented the car.”
Tye raised a brow over her head, directed a Ricky. Ricky nodded to confirm she did, in fact, rent the car.
“Sweet. You have to take us for a ride later.” Tye looked at Ricky again, and it was obvious he was wondering why Ricky brought some upper class rich broad to a Stones concert.
Lottie easily took Anna under her wing, Lottie wasn’t a prejudice kind of person. She liked to know you first. Lottie might not be loud, but she could talk your ear off. They had just walked out of the driveway and she had given Anna an earful. Anna didn’t seem to mind.
Tye hung back, and Ricky knew he was expected to do the same.
“Why’d ya bring a girl like that down here?” He questioned, confused.
Ricky shrugged. “Man, she’s not what you think. I think she’s tuff.”
Tye frowned but didn’t reject what Ricky said. “Alright, you’re cool with her, I’m cool with her.”
Then they picked up their pace and aligned with the girls. Tye threw his arm lazily over Lottie and they whispered to each other. Ricky shoved his hands in his pockets and made small chat with Anna-Mae.
“Who’s goin’ tonight, again?”
Lottie glanced at him apologetically. “Gwen’s gonna be there, Rick. Minnie invited her.”
He knew it to, he was so sure she was going to be there and he was right. He wished her was wrong. The venue was in the distance and even if there was a possibility you couldn’t see it, you could hear the blood-curdling screams from obsessed fans. It was a noise that went right through you, but it was a noise he was glad to hear.
Concerts were a big pass time for his group of friends. When one came to Houston – they were there. As long as it wasn’t some shitty jazz band like Anna was talking about, they avoided those at all costs. But anything else was game, this year alone he had seen the Kinks and Jefferson Airplane.
Gwen was the only one there when they found their seats, he couldn’t complain too much, he was at a rock concert, but he really didn’t want to see her.
Gwen looked at him slyly through her long lashes. This was the first time he had seen her in two months and he knew why he had liked her. Her long legs were showing since she was only in jean shorts, he had always liked them.
“You wanna take a seat next to me, baby?” Just from her voice he could tell she was teasing him.
“I would, but I can’t.”
It was a lame excuse but it was good enough for now. He shot Lottie a look of desperation, and after a long eye roll, she sat down next to Gwen. He could still feel her eyes on him.
“Anna, you wanna go get a t-shirt or somethin’?” He asked, but she never got an answer in before he was pulling her away.
“I like this one.” Anna held up a shirt to him and he nodded, not even looking at the item in her hands. She threw it down and let out a long breath.
“You okay, hon?”
He nodded.
“Don’t lie to me, boy.” Her arms crossed. “I know a hurtin’ boy when I see one and you are hurtin’ pretty hard. It is that Gwen girl?”
He hated how it was that obvious that there was something between Gwen and him. He wanted to be nonchalant and ignore her, but he was never good at ignoring anything. He always had to say something.
“Yeah, she’s cheap whore who won’t leave me alone.” He said gruffly.
“You need a reality check,” She laughed and it was drowning in sarcasm. “The girl asked if you wanted to sit next to her. If you can’t control yourself, that’s your problem, honey.”
Anna’s statement rubbed him the wrong way, but she was probably right. For Gwen not to affect him, he needed to get over her. It wasn’t her fault he couldn’t handle himself. He hated how Anna-Mae could be right about him when she hardly knew him.
“The first shirt you had picked up is the best.” He told her roughly before lighting up a cig. He then walked back to where his friends, Anna hot on his heels.
He sat back down and Gwen smiled at him like she knew he was just talking about her. He knew Anna was right but it’s a whole lot easier to handle something when that something learns to leave him alone.