Picture This part 2 continued.....
Parker is flanked by a pretty little redhead and one of the guys I have yet to see him separate from. His name is Mike, the other one of Parker's butt buddies is sitting in an armchair to my left. Parker introduces the girl as Charity. Her parents have to be the kind of people who were once hippies and are now rocking the BMW, and naming her Charity is there way of keeping in touch with their "roots". She's got long wavy red hair pulled back lazily. She's wearing a bikini top and board shorts. She's thin, but athletic and as Parker introduces us, I imagine what it would be like to get her legs in the air on the pool table. As we shake hands, I think she realizes I'm thinking about fucking her, because she gives me a sly, flirtacious smile. She wouldn't though, I know this. I'm two steps down her ladder from Parker, and she might not think of it that way consciously, but that's the way it is. Even if the opportunity were to arise, I wouldn't anyway. She likes to know it though.
Mike and Matt have finished taking their own bong hits when I shake hands with both of them. Mike just nods. Matt makes some comment about the lifeguard stand we set on fire the last time we saw each other, and we both laugh. I laugh because it's the right place to laugh. I'm not particularly amused by the fact that he's talking about it with all of these people around. I don't like anyone to know anything about me or anything I've done which I don't want them to. Knowledge is power out in the world I live in, and what you know about someone tells you something about them.
Parker is obviously anxious to get down to business. This is a good sign. It's a sign that this will probably be a good night. Even if business is only adequate as the rest of the people here are concerned, these four alone could make it worth the trip out here. I know Parker, Matt and Mike all labor under the delusion that if they just buy what they think will get them through the night, they'll be fine. This never happens. What they think will get them through the night, never gets them through the night. It's either girls they end up being more than willing to shell out some of their stash too in hopes they'll get laid or there are no girls interested, at which point, they resign themselves to getting as high as they can. Either way, we end up doing business on three or four occassions before the sun comes up. This is good.
Parker gets up and begins to walk up the stairs. We're going to his bedroom on the second floor. Matt and Mike are trailing behind me. Charity is walking in front of me. She is an unknown variable, and I'm wondering how much of a hard time I want to give Parker about this. I don't like doing business in front of anyone I'm not doing business with. As far as I'm concerned, it's private. I'm about forty times more likely to have sex in a public place with people watching than I am to do business in front of someone I'm not doing business with. I'm aware that this is strange to some people. I'm also aware that these are the people who end up having to worry about dropping the soap in the shower if they happen to stray into the business I'm in. These are the details the kind of details they miss. I have no worry that Charity is an undercover police officer. She's too polished to be a cop. It's just a bad practice to get into.
With this little crew of misguided momma's boys, it's as much about making sure they under stand who's really in control of this situation.
When we get to the second floor, and Parker opens the door stepping into his bedroom, I let Mike and Matt step past me and into the bedroom first. I stand outside the door, and all of them have found a comfortable place to sit before they realize I'm not intending to come in there behind them. Parker looks at me with expectation on his face. In return, he gets as much of nothing as I can give him. We've been through this before. He still hasn't gotten it yet. He's used to the rules bending some because he's got money, especially out here on the Island, and especially with the locals. He's not doing it on purpose, I'm sure. He's just so used to the privilege of money getting him by that it doesn't even occur to him on a conscious level.
I grill him a little bit about the girl. She starts to say something, and when I look at her, she's got that smile on her face which is all flirt, fuck me and we've got a secret. She's genuinely shocked when I respond by telling her I wasn't talking to her, I was talking to him, and since he's the one I know and the one who's doing business, he's the only one I want to hear talking right now. I tell her there are probably forty different parties going on tonight, and I'd be welcome at any of them. I'm here tonight because I know Parker, and he asked me to come. Her I don't know. People don't usually talk to her that way, I knew that much already. There's a look of mild shock on her face, it gives me half a hard on and I think about how many more things I'd be able to show her which would make this little exchange seem like just another day in the life.
Parker actually giggles at this, and when her cheeks redden with embarassment, the low burn of dislike I have for these people flares a little. It's just a little more proof of how little their money really matters. The stand up thing to do would have been to either tell me to leave her alone or to just start talking to me again so that my attention was diverted from her. Parker enjoys seeing people put in their place. He enjoys seeing people hurt. On the reservations out in Mastic or Riverhead, the projects in Brooklyn, Queens or the Bronx this takes the form of ridiculing the person who just lost the fight or got robbed or some such thing. With these people, it's just more subtle. To them, it's about position, power, prestige, the emotional and psychological equivalents of a black eye. They look at the fist fight as the realm of the savage. They wouldn't bring themselves to that level, but Parker's amusement at Charity's hurt feelings is the same in principle as laughing at the guy who just got his nose broken on the playground basketball court. If I'd have talked to a girl who someone on one of the Reservations, in the projects in the city or even in my own neighborhood had brought around, there'd be some static for a second. Who ever it was would have at least made some overture toward me about it. It wouldn't have just slid through, and they wouldn't have laughed about it. I've seen this in Parker and his little cadre of friends on more than one occasion. It never fails to piss me off.
I think for a second about turning the tables on Parker and telling him, Matt and Mike that I'll only deal with her. I could make the three of them leave the room and make her the one who has to come with the money. I could make her the go between. I'm thinking half with my dick and half from the perspective of hating what these people are and I'm thinking about teaching Parker a lesson. She'd like it, and it would embarrass Parker to a much larger degree than I just embarrassed her. It would embarrass Parker even more if that little turn of events gave her just enough lee way to get a little closer with me later on when she gets wasted enough to not be constantly aware of her place in all of this. It's bad business though. Parker's been a cash cow for three summers. He's brought me all of his friends when they're out here. I'm not going to toss that over a sly red head and something which really wasn't disrespectful to me. With people like Parker, it's only a matter of time though, and I'm more than willing to guarantee the time will come when there's a bright shining opportunity to show Parker something new and shocking too.
We go on with it. By the time business is conducted and everyone's got what they're asking for at this moment, I have six hundred more dollars than I did when I walked into that bedroom. It's all profit right now too. I have already made what I need this month to restock my supplies. This money will go to the new operation I'm putting together above the gas station in town where I live. That's going to be my crowning achievement, and hopefully by this time next summer, I won't have to do any of this. I'll be able to go where I want and do what I want, and won't have to handle any of the actual hand to hand business myself. It'll take a year to set up properly and work out the kinks, but it will certainly be worth it. I'll be going where ever I want, with a pocket full of money, when ever I want. I'll also be on the way to making a name for myself that no one on the island ever has at my age. No more kids games soon enough.
Mike and Matt have finished taking their own bong hits when I shake hands with both of them. Mike just nods. Matt makes some comment about the lifeguard stand we set on fire the last time we saw each other, and we both laugh. I laugh because it's the right place to laugh. I'm not particularly amused by the fact that he's talking about it with all of these people around. I don't like anyone to know anything about me or anything I've done which I don't want them to. Knowledge is power out in the world I live in, and what you know about someone tells you something about them.
Parker is obviously anxious to get down to business. This is a good sign. It's a sign that this will probably be a good night. Even if business is only adequate as the rest of the people here are concerned, these four alone could make it worth the trip out here. I know Parker, Matt and Mike all labor under the delusion that if they just buy what they think will get them through the night, they'll be fine. This never happens. What they think will get them through the night, never gets them through the night. It's either girls they end up being more than willing to shell out some of their stash too in hopes they'll get laid or there are no girls interested, at which point, they resign themselves to getting as high as they can. Either way, we end up doing business on three or four occassions before the sun comes up. This is good.
Parker gets up and begins to walk up the stairs. We're going to his bedroom on the second floor. Matt and Mike are trailing behind me. Charity is walking in front of me. She is an unknown variable, and I'm wondering how much of a hard time I want to give Parker about this. I don't like doing business in front of anyone I'm not doing business with. As far as I'm concerned, it's private. I'm about forty times more likely to have sex in a public place with people watching than I am to do business in front of someone I'm not doing business with. I'm aware that this is strange to some people. I'm also aware that these are the people who end up having to worry about dropping the soap in the shower if they happen to stray into the business I'm in. These are the details the kind of details they miss. I have no worry that Charity is an undercover police officer. She's too polished to be a cop. It's just a bad practice to get into.
With this little crew of misguided momma's boys, it's as much about making sure they under stand who's really in control of this situation.
When we get to the second floor, and Parker opens the door stepping into his bedroom, I let Mike and Matt step past me and into the bedroom first. I stand outside the door, and all of them have found a comfortable place to sit before they realize I'm not intending to come in there behind them. Parker looks at me with expectation on his face. In return, he gets as much of nothing as I can give him. We've been through this before. He still hasn't gotten it yet. He's used to the rules bending some because he's got money, especially out here on the Island, and especially with the locals. He's not doing it on purpose, I'm sure. He's just so used to the privilege of money getting him by that it doesn't even occur to him on a conscious level.
I grill him a little bit about the girl. She starts to say something, and when I look at her, she's got that smile on her face which is all flirt, fuck me and we've got a secret. She's genuinely shocked when I respond by telling her I wasn't talking to her, I was talking to him, and since he's the one I know and the one who's doing business, he's the only one I want to hear talking right now. I tell her there are probably forty different parties going on tonight, and I'd be welcome at any of them. I'm here tonight because I know Parker, and he asked me to come. Her I don't know. People don't usually talk to her that way, I knew that much already. There's a look of mild shock on her face, it gives me half a hard on and I think about how many more things I'd be able to show her which would make this little exchange seem like just another day in the life.
Parker actually giggles at this, and when her cheeks redden with embarassment, the low burn of dislike I have for these people flares a little. It's just a little more proof of how little their money really matters. The stand up thing to do would have been to either tell me to leave her alone or to just start talking to me again so that my attention was diverted from her. Parker enjoys seeing people put in their place. He enjoys seeing people hurt. On the reservations out in Mastic or Riverhead, the projects in Brooklyn, Queens or the Bronx this takes the form of ridiculing the person who just lost the fight or got robbed or some such thing. With these people, it's just more subtle. To them, it's about position, power, prestige, the emotional and psychological equivalents of a black eye. They look at the fist fight as the realm of the savage. They wouldn't bring themselves to that level, but Parker's amusement at Charity's hurt feelings is the same in principle as laughing at the guy who just got his nose broken on the playground basketball court. If I'd have talked to a girl who someone on one of the Reservations, in the projects in the city or even in my own neighborhood had brought around, there'd be some static for a second. Who ever it was would have at least made some overture toward me about it. It wouldn't have just slid through, and they wouldn't have laughed about it. I've seen this in Parker and his little cadre of friends on more than one occasion. It never fails to piss me off.
I think for a second about turning the tables on Parker and telling him, Matt and Mike that I'll only deal with her. I could make the three of them leave the room and make her the one who has to come with the money. I could make her the go between. I'm thinking half with my dick and half from the perspective of hating what these people are and I'm thinking about teaching Parker a lesson. She'd like it, and it would embarrass Parker to a much larger degree than I just embarrassed her. It would embarrass Parker even more if that little turn of events gave her just enough lee way to get a little closer with me later on when she gets wasted enough to not be constantly aware of her place in all of this. It's bad business though. Parker's been a cash cow for three summers. He's brought me all of his friends when they're out here. I'm not going to toss that over a sly red head and something which really wasn't disrespectful to me. With people like Parker, it's only a matter of time though, and I'm more than willing to guarantee the time will come when there's a bright shining opportunity to show Parker something new and shocking too.
We go on with it. By the time business is conducted and everyone's got what they're asking for at this moment, I have six hundred more dollars than I did when I walked into that bedroom. It's all profit right now too. I have already made what I need this month to restock my supplies. This money will go to the new operation I'm putting together above the gas station in town where I live. That's going to be my crowning achievement, and hopefully by this time next summer, I won't have to do any of this. I'll be able to go where I want and do what I want, and won't have to handle any of the actual hand to hand business myself. It'll take a year to set up properly and work out the kinks, but it will certainly be worth it. I'll be going where ever I want, with a pocket full of money, when ever I want. I'll also be on the way to making a name for myself that no one on the island ever has at my age. No more kids games soon enough.