Chapter Thirty Nine

When I got to Dewees house, I wasn't really sure what to expect. Especially when i banged on the door repeatedly for a good two minutes but got no reply. I knew he had to be in though, otherwise Ian wouldn't have sent me. 

"Dewees?" I hollered through the letterbox, struggling to see anything through the tiny gap "it's Frank, open up!" 

I waited about another minute before I finally heard the sound of the bolt sliding across, and the door was opened, but only partially. Dewees stood in the crack, looking even worse than last time i'd seen him. The bruises on his face had turned a yellow shade, but that wasn't what made me sigh. It was his bloodshot eyes, shaking hands and mildly spaced out expression that told me he'd hit the drugs hard in an attempt to deal with it all. 

"Frank" he gulped, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me into the house. The moment I was over the threshold he slammed the door behind me, as if it would somehow help the situation "Ian rang... said you were coming... Didn't realise he meant now I...." He stumbled and slurred over his words. 

"Well that much is obvious, I doubt you'd have got so high if you knew I was coming over" I raised an eyebrow at him "I can't exactly preach at you right now, but I still think you should stop." I didn't want Dewees to get high enough that he made mistakes, especially as he was basically the person I now relied on to keep me out of juvie. 

"Right. Yeah. Sure thing" he blatantly lied, but I chose to ignore it for now and get on with what I actually needed. 

"So er, as much as i'd like to stay and make small chat, what do I need to pick up?" I glanced around his house, which seemed to be in it's usual mess, wondering where everything must be stashed. 

"Oh. Yeah" He turned and started to scurry over to the bathroom. I waited in the hallway and listened to him as he rummaged around in here "Ian told me you'd need the red-labelled bag. It's just... ah! Here it is!" He came out of the bathroom with a sealed black plastic bag, much like the ones you use to send clothes in, expect i'd be kidding myself if I believed for one second that this was a mere band shirt. 

"Okay" I grabbed it from him and stowed it away into my bag "er, I better go. No doubt I'll see you again soon though." 

"Yeah. Er, good luck with that" He gestured to my bag. 

"Thanks" I sighed "I think i'm going to need it."

*** 

It was 4:55am, and I was sliding down the bank of a bridge. 

Normally I never would've dreamt of getting up so early, but it actually worked out better this way. I could get down to the bridge, hand over the bag and get home before James and Isabel even realised i'd gone out. 

When I got to the bridge, the nerves had fully hit. Up till then i'd just pushed them to the back of my mind and told myself to man up, that this was far better than any alternative. Of course, this was true, but it didn't make it pleasant when I scrambled down the bank, quickly regretting wearing my jeans that were ripped at the knees. I guessed muddy knees were the least of my problems though. 

Hey - maybe the mud would hide the bruises I still had from the unexpected church blow job that had taken place a week or so previously. 

Thinking of Gerard sent a new wave of determination through me as i realised I had to do this for him. If i told the police about Ian then i'd be sent into witness protection immediately. Now, if you'd given me that option when I first arrived at James and Isabel's house, I would've jumped at it. It would've meant getting away from all of them and being relocated, preferably without my parents, and then I wouldn't have James breathing down my neck every five minutes. 

But of course it wasn't so simple anymore. Now I was in love, and love makes you do the stupidest things, which apparently now included getting involved with drugs exchanges in order to be able to stay close to them. 

It was all worth it if I got to stay in that sleepy town though. If it meant I could keep seeing Gerard, hold onto the friends that I had miraculously seemed to acquire, then i'd grit my teeth and bear it. 

The spot underneath the bridge was secluded and somewhat dark, despite the rising sun. Despite the traffic whizzing by above it, the place had an air of privacy and peace, although I knew it wouldn't last long. I couldn't help but think to myself about what greats walls these would make to practice tagging on, but these thoughts were soon jolted from my mind when I heard the crunch of footsteps coming from ahead. 

Three men were walking towards me from the other end of the underpass, and by the nonchalant steps they took i guessed that they'd bene waiting for me to arrive. I ignored the nerves that ran through me when i realised that meant they'd been watching me scramble down to the meeting spot the whole time, and instead kept my expression neutral. 

I didn't want them to know they scared me, so I kept my gaze hard, not breaking eye contact with them no matter how badly I wanted to glance down at my feet. I even forced myself to keep my hands out of my pockets and my feet still, knowing they'd easily pick up on all of the telltale signals. 

"Frank, right?" The guy standing in the middle asked. He had a haggard-looking face, with a greasy mop of thin hair that had probably been cut himself whilst leaning his head over the sink. Of course, this just made him seem hardened to me, knowing he wasn't one to care for such things. His two companions were much the same, and i doubted they were really the type to ever glance into mirrors, except perhaps when checking to see if their eyes were bloodshot. 

"yeah" I gave a small nod "Ian sent me." it felt weird to say that, as if me and Ian were on some sort of good terms, as if I worked for him, with I guess technically I did now. I tried to keep the distaste out of my words, knowing it would only cause them to probe me for more information. I just wanted to be out of there as fast as possible, and if that meant pretending there was no bad blood between us then so be it.

"I know" he glanced at my bag "let's get this over with then shall we? You look like a newbie and I really don't have time to reassure you over every last detail of your job." 

"Okay" I nodded, zipping open my bag whilst cursing at myself when I noticed how much my hand was shaking. It was apparent that he noticed this too, because when I handed over the bag both he and the guy on his left chuckled quietly. 

"Kid, you look like you need this even more than half my clients do" He spoke as he ripped open the bag, rummaging around inside and checking the contents. From the look of satisfaction on his face, I could only assume that it was all up to standard. 

"Yeah, well, if that's all then I best get going-" I tried not to stutter. 

"Wait a sec" he held up his hand, freezing me on the spot as I glanced nervously between him and the two men standing at his flanks. "Oh don't shit yourself kid, I just want to help you out" he rolled his eyes at my nerves, and began to rummage around in his own bag. 

Moments later he pulled out a small plastic bag full of weed "here you go, try it sometime. Hell, i'll even give it to you on the house as it's your first time." There was a glint to his eyes that told me he'd done this hundred of times before, and that he was eyeing me up as a potential customer. 

"Oh, i'm fine thanks" I tried to politely decline. 

"Just take it" The guy on his left spoke up "we don't just offer this stuff out for free to anyone you know." 

"And if you really don't want it then give it to that Dewees kid, I know he'll appreciate the tip" The guy on the right decided to join in at this point. 

"You heard them" the leader shoved the drugs into my hand "now scoot." 

I didn't need to be told twice. In fact I hurled myself up that bank at an alarming speed and as soon as i knew I was out of sight of them, I shoved the weed into the very depths of my bag where I knew i'd never use it. I didn't want to give it to Dewees, so I figured i'd lie and just say I smoked it. 

***

When I got back to the house everyone was just starting to get up for the day, so I crept in through the backdoor and quickly discarded my coat and shoes before messing up my hair so it looked like I'd only just got out of bed. 

"Morning" I jumped and turned to see Ray standing in the doorway, his eyebrow raised "do I need to give you a talk on sneaking out to fuck your boyfriend at stupid o'clock in the morning now?" 

"Keep it down!" i hissed, moving past him into the kitchen, where he followed me. 

"No, you keep it down! I heard you sneaking out of here at like four thirty in the morning, why didn't you just wait until after school?" I realised it was best to just go with his false conclusion, as I didn't want to let on that Gerard wasn't the only secret I was keeping. 

"Desperate times I guess" i shrugged as I began to make myself a coffee "Brian's been breathing down gerard's neck about a load of paperwork he'd forgotten to do, i'd left my school bag round his house, went to pick it up and got distracted" i rushed my explanation with my back to him, hoping he wouldn't see how much I hated to lie to him yet again. 

"Of course you did" he laughed "Just try to be a bit more careful next time? if I heard you sneaking out then you're lucky my parents didn't too." 

"Will do" i said through a mouthful of toast. He looked like he was going to say more, but at that point the sound of James's footsteps on the stairs became apparent, and we both knew it was time to shut up and move on to a new conversation. Or in James's ideal reality, just not speak to each other at all. 

I quickly made my disseverance up to my bedroom, passing him briefly on the stairs without so much as a word spoken between us. This seemed to be our way of coping with each other these days; to just blatantly ignore. 

Seeing as I was already ready to go, I opened up my laptop and decided to message Pete. We'd had a few brief Skype conversations over the past couple of weeks, but I missed being able to hang out with him and just tell him everything that was going on. 

He couldn't Skype me as he was round Patrick's, but he told me the two of them were going well and that he was in the process of convincing his parents to bring him on a family holiday to London so he could come and visit. The thought of getting to see him again definitely cheered me up, to the point that when I walked past James to leave for college, I didn't even bother to scowl. 

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Sorry this took an age, there will probably be one more chapter after this and then the sequel :)

((Good Vibes))

 ~ H