Eclipse Of The Moon ~ Book 1 of Aaron
Chapter 22
The City Of Drugs

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I've been warned that there might be readers arguing that some drugs aren't dangerous and don't yield addictions. Drugs, whichever they are – cannabis, marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine, heroin – are dangerous and yield addictions to various extents. Obviously, everyone's free to express their opinion on this matter, just don't count on me to praise or glorify drugs.
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Friday 11 April 2003

"Hey Josh! It's me!" I cheer when my friend picks up the call.

"I know it's you! Give us two minutes to find a quiet place and we're calling you back. And you'd better answer this time!" he grunts.

Rolling my eyes and shaking my head, I hang up and go to lounge on the old and worn-out couch in the corner. Every week, it's the same scenario again and again. On each Friday, when 10am comes, I switch on the cheap prepay mobile phone I bought in February, dial Joshua's number while the guys must be having lunch in the cafeteria – or are just done with it – and they call me back so that I don't use all my credit.

Camden actually came up with this idea a few months ago when I complained it was a bit annoying to speak with them in public phone booths. At the end of the day, it wasn't going to make a huge hole in my budget since I purchased a second-hand device in a pawn shop, and since Josh always calls me back, I have had to top up my credit only once in a retail store a week ago.

At least, it's easier to speak with them, from anywhere I want, and I get more privacy and quietness than when I use a public phone. It has also given me the opportunity to call them separately a few times as well, whenever I felt the terrible urge to hear their voices. However, the rest of time, the device is off and remains in the backpack that never leaves me.

"Hey Ron, it's us!" Joshua says a couple of minutes later when he calls back.

Deep breaths, Ron. You can do this.

"I know it's you..." I reply mischievously. "How are you guys doing? Are you getting ready for the end of the schoolyear?" I ask, trying to keep the cheerfulness in my voice. It's something I've learned to do over the last few months and so far, I have always been able to mislead my friends.

"All good! We've all reached our credits, GPAs are at their best for the three of us," Camden replies, obviously very proud.

And he can! I know how he struggles in certain subjects, but he has put in extra efforts ever since the first call we had after my departure, when I made them promise to rock bottom to get their first choices of college. I'm glad Josh and Mark were there to help Cam though, and support him. I'm super proud of them, to be honest.

"That's great news," I reply with emotion.

"There's still one month to go, but we're getting there!!" Mark adds with a certain eagerness. "And guess what?"

"You got an answer!!!" I exclaim, this time without faking my own happiness.

If this is what I think it is, it would lift my spirits for a while! Mark has applied for a specific cooking school in New York which is not only very expensive but with very strict selection criteria. He felt like he did well at the admission tests a few weeks ago and was expecting the results shortly. This would be a great opportunity for him because said school has a high reputation and also has an exchange program with another school in Paris which would allow him to spend two or three years in the French capital, learning with the best cooks of the country.

"I passed, yes!!"

"Congrats, Mark! I'm super happy for you."

"Well, I still need to wait for the scholarship to be accepted, but there are high chances it works. I came second at the tests, so hopefully it will play in my favor..." he says a bit dubiously.

"I'm sure it'll work. They can't miss a great cook like you!" I encourage him. "Cam? Any news for you?"

"Not yet, but I'm not worried. The Principal has supported my application and he's confident it'll work too. He's been great... Said I really made a lot of efforts."

"I know you did. That's really good. Josh?"

"Yeah..." he grumbles. "Still no news on my side. Thanks to my dear father, my application to Yale was among the latest, so I hope it's going to work," he explains bitterly.

"Hope you'll get a confirmation soon, Josh..." is all I can pull out unfortunately, because I can't help in any way.

I can't even say I'm going to pray for him. Just cross my fingers.

It's been another difficult struggle for my friend. His father was so dogged on sending him to the University of Pennsylvania that it was truly hard making him flinch. Josh had to stand up against his old man and threaten him to run away like I did if he didn't accept. It was really a low move, but in the end, Pierce Senior yielded when Josh mentioned he wouldn't care about ruining his future career. I have a hard time believing the businessman thought his son would do anything like this – Joshua has always had so much ambition! – but well, at least it worked.

"How about you, Ron? How's life going? Since we didn't really get to speak with you last week, is there anything new on your side?" Camden asks with a dig of bitterness in his voice.

Last Friday, I missed their call back, hence Joshua's meaningful warning when he picked up. The rave party I had attended the night before and that had lasted until the early morning exhausted me. I knew I had to call my friends shortly and struggled to stay awake until 10am, but when they took a little longer than the two minutes they usually take to call me back, I fell asleep and only woke up the following night, with several voice and text messages. As a matter of fact, when I called back in the late Saturday morning, I only got to speak with Joshua.

"Still at your little apartment?" Camden also adds.

Deep breaths, Ron... You can do this...

Don't look at your environment.

Close your eyes and dive into the right place.

You managed before, you can do it again.

"Oh yes! Everything's great! I'm still sharing this place with Jaden and surviving from little jobs," I reply cheerfully, picturing myself in the nice living room of a small but neat apartment. "It's mostly moonlighting, but it helps."

"That... Jaden guy sounds really nice. I'm glad you found someone who could support you..." Mark-The-Dubious adds warily.

He's the one of my friends I fear the most and I always have to be extra cautious around him because he is particularly talented at reading through my voice. The fact that I fooled him that morning I ran away was sheer luck, but I guess it also led him to be even more dubious around me now and I can tell he keeps trying to decipher lies through my voice.

"Yes, he's great. I know I can't make this last forever, but in a few months, when I turn 18, things will be easier to find a proper job and a place of my own," I reply with the best confidence I can muster.

"Or you two could move in a bigger place..." Cam comments suggestively.

"That's an idea," I reply in a smug tone. "Then one day, we'll buy a house, adopt kids, a dog too, and we'll have our happily ever after!"

Now this is a slippery slope I would rather avoid, so I quickly shift to other subjects and ask how things are going in Collingswood. As usual, the guys tell me a bit about Danny. The little blonde kept dating my friends once in a while, most of the time separately, until a month ago when he met a boy from Cherry Hill and decided to be serious with him. The guys were a bit upset they would have to find other people, but at the same time, they have been so busy with school since then that it hasn't really mattered.

The other recurrent topic is my parents. From the little the guys gathered here and there, my family have locked themselves even further into their religious confinement, and since they never mingle with others, there aren't many gossips in town about them or my absence. In a way, it's much better like this and that specific matter will probably soon be dropped like it was the case for that jerk of Isaac months ago. With his parents having sent him to a private high school in Philadelphia last October, there hasn't been anything to say about him either.

Since my three friends still sound worried, I tell them a bit more about my life in Los Angeles, gushing on how great the city is, offering a lot of opportunities with so many open-minded people, enthusing on how easy it is to find little jobs as long as you make the necessary efforts to search in the right places, and emphasizing on how great the apartment is, quite spacious and so comfortable. I also give them a few crispy details on Jaden and how good sex is with him.

"It's good to see you're pulling though, Ron," Camden says at some point. "Just make sure you stay safe!"

"It's true it's much better than knowing you living out on the streets like it was the case during the first months. I'm really glad you made that encounter," Joshua comments.

"Yes, it's reassuring... It avoids us worrying too bad," Mark says, and I can tell he isn't convinced.

"Really, don't worry, guys. Anyway, I'll call you back next week," I say before we go through the usual goodbyes and promises.

Once I have hung up, I open my eyes, take in my surroundings and let the flood of tears I have been holding back swamp my cheeks.

Lies. Always lies.

It's for their good sake, Aaron...

The sad reality of my condition is a totally different story from the fictional life I have created for my friends. Some of it is true, because a fiction needs to anchor in some sort of reality to a certain extent, but the scenery is fake, as are the job and the relationship. Jaden does exist and has provided me with support in a way, but he's not my boyfriend. One moonlighting job there was, but it was only one. And the apartment... let me chuckle... It doesn't exist. Just some sort of squat in an abandoned building.

During my first few days in the City Of Angels, I was super motivated, very happy to have reached my goal to start the new year where I wanted. The first week, I knocked on doors, mostly restaurant doors, to ask if they had jobs to offer, but the perpetual answers I always got were: "We're at full", "Not at the moment", "Maybe during the summer season". Some of them had opportunities for cooks but they required a diploma. A few were ready to hire me, but they wanted to make it legal and requested my ID, which I refused. Until I am 18, I don't want to make my presence in California official for fear my parents could find me, so I was only aiming at moonlighting jobs.

To be honest, I quickly lost courage and faith, and began to look for places I could crash on a more or less permanent term. Until the end of January, I often stayed in parks at nights because even if the nights were a bit cold, I loved falling asleep watching the dark sky, each evening witnessing the growing moon and all the stars surrounding Her. When it rained, I tried shelters for homeless, was directed to some dedicated to youths, but too many questions were asked in these places, so I avoided them as much as possible. Not that I was ever forced to answer, but they made me uncomfortable.

Days were getting painfully boring and the more it went on, the less courage I had. Throughout the whole month, I lazed a lot, either in parks, in malls, or at the beach. I was getting more and more isolated, I needed company. I had never been a very solitary person, so this loneliness was growing on me. I never had many friends either, because the three I had were just the best I could ever have, but it didn't mean I was a lonesome person, and without Cam, Josh and Mark around, I was getting depressed.

So I made an effort to join groups of homeless who gathered either under bridges, along the freeway or in parks. I was also getting tired of lugging my duffle bag everywhere, and wished I could enter a group of nice people. This is how I met Jaden, a 20-year-old homeless. We immediately got along and decided to stick together. He taught me a lot of tips about homelessness, having been there himself for more than two years.

Using newspaper to keep warm at night is one, then he got me to buy a pack of baby wipes for a quick clean up in the morning and in the evening. Getting some cheap sandwich bread and peanut butter is good because they keep the stomach full for a longer time than chips and other sorts of junk food, they're full of proteins and don't need to be refrigerated. More importantly, he told me to never leave my cash and ID in my duffle bag. He got me a small plastic bag in which I put the 700 dollars I had left, my ID and social security card, and said I should slip it in my underwear – or between two layers of underwear – to keep it safe and avoid theft in case I get mugged.

He wasn't very talkative at first, but I could see the longing looks he often threw me or the way he would ogle my groin. Being gay has never prevented me from being very straight in my words, so at the end of the second day around him, I boldly asked him if he liked what he saw while I was changing tee-shirt and the blush on his face was the confirmation I needed. I came out as gay too and he was happy we shared another point in common.

This is how he took me to the Los Angeles LGBT center the following day, which is a fabulous place in many ways. Among all the services they provide to the lesbians, gays, bi-sexual and transgender people, they are also dedicated to homeless, helping those who got kicked out of their homes for their sexual orientation – and those who needed to flee for similar reasons. Jaden said using their temporary housing services could be good at some point and they offer so much more like education, employment programs, and so on.

So far, our biggest interest has laid in their laundry and shower facilities that you can use for free as a member, as well as the meals they provide, so we have been going there two to three times a week. There, we can wash our clothes while we enjoy a nice and relaxing shower – which is much more convenient than sneaking inside a campus gym – and then have a good lunch.

I'm truly thankful for having met Jaden because he's been a great support and help over the past few months. I must admit that everything hasn't been all positive in this encounter, but I'm trying to keep the negative sides at bay – and more importantly hidden from my best friends.

"Ugh, I'm hungry!!" Jaden grumbles as he suddenly barges in and crashes over me on the couch.

"Yeah me too, but we need to get cash first," I reply. "I only have ten dollars left from the last time."

The last time meaning the last time we managed to get some money. The 900 dollars I had stolen from my parents have long died out, not in the smartest way, but one of the negative aspects of my encounter with Jaden is that I have gotten as lazy as he is. Looking for a job hasn't been an option in a long, long time, but a man has to eat, right? However, to eat, you need cash so it's either begging on the streets sometimes, thieving a bit but most of the time, we just gather valuable stuff rich people throw away and sell it in pawn shops. 

"I have twenty bucks, so that's more than enough... We just need to move our lazy asses..." he replies with a long sigh.

"Yeah... Where are the others?"

The others are a group of seven people we met end of February at the LGBT center, all homeless youths. Janice and Lauren are a lesbian couple who fled from their hometown in Washington State two years ago after the latter came out to her parents and was kicked out from her religious home. Lauren and I have a lot in common and we get along quite well for obvious reasons related to a similar past in a strict family. Then there's Celia, a 17-year-old bi-sexual doll who also ran away from her family in San Francisco for reasons she never explained to us.

The four other guys are between 19 and 23. Mario is from Mexico and escaped from a rigid village where he couldn't bloom as he wanted to. Jason lost his parents when he was six and Landon was abandoned by his mother at birth. These two grew in foster families but were left to live their lives after they turned 18, so they often stick together. None of them pursued their education and decided to try their luck in Hollywood, but this world is not one of the easiest to find your place. However, they both live off small jobs that sadly don't pay enough to pull them out of the streets.

And finally, Brett is here by choice, a marginal who enjoys the wild homeless life. He's the one who never fails to spot underground or illegal parties and although he's not a real dealer, Brett always has a wide range of drug goods to sell at these gatherings. And he's gay as fuck.

These guys were about to walk into the LGBT center a couple of months ago just as Jaden and I were leaving the place, and I accidentally bumped into Landon. He was ready to start a fight for so little, but Jason and Brett interfered and apologized for their friend's violent reaction. We met them again a few days later and this time, we shared lunch together and it wasn't long before they offered us to join their group.

Jaden and I had been crashing at various places over the past few weeks, mostly among older homeless – retired people, a few young adults who had aged out of the foster care system, and veterans – so the temptation to stick with younger people was strong. When they mentioned their squat in an abandoned building in central LA, which meant maybe more comfort than the usual encampments we stayed at, it achieved to convince us. This is how we ended up settling down in this old warehouse which is bound to be destroyed at some point.

"Dunno... Probably doing their stuff. Want some?" Jaiden asks, holding his joint to me.

"Yep, thanks."

I gladly accept the roll and draw on it with pleasure. The effects aren't immediate, but I still begin to relax a bit after two or three puffs.

This is another negative aspect of my encounter with Jaden, probably the worst one. A side that I endeavor hiding from my best friends. Pot smoking. They already didn't really approve of my smoking cigarettes when I began, especially as I was dragging Cam into my wake. I feel even guiltier about it as it seems to have become more or less a habit for my friend from what Joshua told me; that's when he manages to find cash to pay for cigarettes of course, which can't be too often.

Anyway, Jaden was already a weed smoker when I met him, and the guy soon got me into this vice on a day I felt particularly down. Since it was my first time, the cannabis effects were quite fast to kick in and strong. The taste wasn't too bad, it even smelled good, but what I enjoyed the most was the instantaneous relief and peace I felt within, as if I was floating. It was kind of weird, but I really liked the sensations as they took me away from my worries.

This is also the first time Jaden and I had sex. After a few doobs and while on our high, I took a better look at him and soon found myself horny as fuck. Jadenis a rather tall guy, actually barely an inch shorter than I am, well-built andvery handsome. His dark-blond hair is alwaysmessy just like mine, his thin features and baby blue eyes only adding to hiscuteness. It wasn't long before we ended in a 69 position, finding release in each other's mouth. 

This was in February and since then, Jaden and I have kept this going, occasionally having sex together and more frequently getting high on weed. Most of the money I had went into illicit substances that Brett sometimes provides us with or that we get from Miguel, a local dealer. I'm aware of the toxic effects of dope, but smoking joints is what has kept me going on so far, and I just don't care. All that matters to me is to lift these oppressing feelings off my chest and to keep my best friends free from useless torment about me.

The guys clearly don't need additional stress at the moment. They have been worrying more than enough, and with their graduation coming ahead, I don't want them to focus on anything else than their studies and bright future. If they knew about my real situation, they'd go crazy. But fuck! I'm missing them so much!

"Oh, today's Friday, right?" Jaden suddenly says with concern, tugging me from my reveries as he shifts to completely lie over me. He takes the rest of the joint from my finger, drags the last puff and stubs it out in the ashtray on the floor. "I get the mood and the tears, then..." he then sighs and begins to peck my cheekbones, kissing away tears I didn't know had fallen.

Jaden is the only one who knows a bit about my past, though not everything. He knows I was raised in a super strict catholic family from which I ran away, leaving my three best friends in New Jersey. He also knows about the weekly calls with Joshua, Mark and Camden, and how depressed it usually leaves me. 

"Want me to roll you another joint?" he asks.

"No, thanks," I sigh. Sadly, the first ones haven't helped me much today it seems. The piece of resin we got might not have been of great quality.

"Then maybe a bit sex will help?" he offers, humping his groin against mine, and I can already feel him harden.

"Ugh, no... Not in the mood..." I reply, trying to push him away gently.

"Come on, Aaron... I'm horny... I might even let you fuck me..." he insists, nibbling on my stubbled jaw and his arms tightly wound around my shoulders.

Jaden must be really horny indeed because he's much more of a top than a bottom. He only let me top him once and we were quite high on weed that day. Too bad I'm not in the right mindset because it was fucking great to ram into his tight asshole!

"Ugh, go find someone else, I told you I'm not in the mood."

"But it's you I want inside of me," he persists before he suddenly straightens up, sitting on my lap and staring at me mischievously. "I know! I've got something that will cheer you up!" he exclaims.

He darts for the back of the warehouse where there are former offices that we use as bedrooms and disappears in his. The building has one main room which is huge and has been turned into some sort of living room. There are several couches, one for each of us in fact, old sofas that were gathered in the streets as people got rid of them, exactly like all the furniture in here. Ill-assorted tables and chairs, an old gas stove though we mostly use a home-made barbecue to cook. Old mattresses and sleeping bags are used in the bedrooms too. All of this is pretty much poor and worn-out but at least it gives us a bit of comfort. We even have electricity and the only thing we miss is running water.

"Here, you should try that!" Jaden cheers once he's back straddling my thighs, holding something small between his index finger and his thumb, something that looks like a pill.

"Is this ecstasy?" I ask, and he nods eagerly. "Ugh, I'm not sure, Jay... I'd rather not touch these things," I argue, thinking that hashish and marijuana are bad enough. I didn't even know Jaden was getting high on ecstasy, though I've seen him snort cocaine a few times already.

"Just try it, Aaron. It'll make you feel good, I promise," he insists, bringing the little pill to my mouth and pushing it past my lips.

I am tempted to spit it out because I really don't want to try new drugs. Brett has often offered me to try new things, but so far, smoking joints has been enough, even if I tend to smoke three or four of them a day now.

I suddenly picture my best friends and wince at the upset expression they'd bear if they saw what I am doing right now and the conditions I live in. They would be so disappointed if they knew the truth. I'm ready to sputter the pill, but then I imagine them in their academic dress and wearing their square cap over their head at the graduation ceremony, proud smiles displaying on their faces, and I swallow the pill because I will never get to see this.

Jaden also gulps one and the second after, he leans down and attaches his lips to mine. Nothing happens for a long time while we kiss, and I just get lost in the swirling of our tongues and the exchange of saliva. After maybe twenty or thirty minutes, a vague wave of nausea seizes me, but it quickly passes as I close my eyes.

Fuck... It's getting hot... Far too hot...

Pushing Jaden, I sit up to shrug out of my tee-shirt, but it doesn't get any better, so I eventually remove my jeans too. Jaden seems to be in a similar state and we soon find ourselves completely naked, making out on the couch.

I don't know what is happening to me, but I suddenly crave his touch and his perfect body, his taut muscles, his cute six pack, and his firm ass. My friend seems to have lost his earlier appetite for food – like I have – enjoying my erection instead. I want more. I want much more than his licks, so I stand up, make him kneel in front of me and shove myself further deep inside his mouth, making him gag, but he doesn't protest.

After a few minutes of me face-fucking him, he takes control again and pulls me down on the floor, lying on my back. Without any preparation of any sort, he impales himself on my rod, shouting out his pain, and begins to bob up and down.

This is when Landon and Jason get back home. I don't know what these two are high on, but they immediately join us, getting rid of their clothes on their way to the couch. Jason pulls Jaden a bit backward so that he can stand in front of him and above me, then begins to face-fuck him while Jay is still rocking his hips on me. Meanwhile, Landon goes on all fours and straddles my shoulders before he lowers his pelvis and makes me taste his own erection.

Sadly, I lose it at that moment. I am in a weird euphoric state, completely overwhelmed by all the sensations. I feel myself shoot inside Jaden's ass but my erection doesn't deflate and the naughty guy keeps on bobbing up and down. All I know is that my arousal is such that I pump on Landon's cock as a baby would on his bottle, sucking hard and wanting to feel him down my throat.

The rest happens in a blur and I don't even know how things go on, which leaves me with mixed feelings. I am in a sort of bliss – all worries gone, oppression lifted – and at the same time, ignoring the extent of our frolics upsets me a bit.

Holy crap... What the hell am I doing?

Published on 2 October 2019

Do you really need an answer to your question, Ron-Ron? Well, you're fucking up...

Like I said, I didn't want to dwell on the firstmonths of homelessness in Los Angeles because it would have been even moreboring than the summary in this chapter I believe, and I doubt you'd haveappreciated this bad period to drag on and on. Anyway, having reread the nextfew chapters, I can tell that they'll be growing in intensity, so be preparedfor the next step in Aaron's decadence next week.