Steel & Ice (28 page)

Yep. “What the—a half pound? I assumed like
a couple ounces.”

“
Yeah… OK, lemee just break
it all down for you, cuz I know you’re gonna trip til I do. So I
have a guy who’ll take four ounces off the bat. He always does. The
rest will mostly go to folks at the restaurant and a couple of
their friends. Most sales beside the four ounces will go down at
work. Some people at work won’t even know it came from me. I’ll cut
Larry a deal to slang a couple sacks for me to the servers. I don’t
trust the piglets like the cooks, who I’ll just sell outright to.
I’ll make around $400 in a couple days. I’ll buy text books. And
I’ll do it again in August.”

“
Wow. That’s kinda a lot to
take in.”

I just shook my head. Yep, that’s me. What
could I say? I wasn’t even going to bring up the money my mom gave
me, and the fact that I didn’t actually need the money this time.
The wheels were already set in motion. I would piss off my dealer
if I backed out on an order for a half pound. Plus I’d been doing
this for two years with this guy, so I didn’t want to lose the
connect. Hell if I knew if my crazy ass mother would be dolling out
cash each semester.

“
I know you’re different
from other girls. I mean, you handle your shit like a dude
sometimes. You told me how you figured out girls get broke on the
streets, so you decided to not be a bitch who ended up broken. I
get that’s why you’re you, a cool ass chick. I like it. Hell, I bet
all those fuckers in the kitchen love it. I guess I just forget
sometimes though, cuz I’ve gotten to see the REAL Elle. And not
many women I know sell quantity. For text books no less. It’s
rather resourceful actually.”

“
That I am, resourceful that
is. Are you still freaked out?”

He pulled me to him, and I threw my leg over
his lap as I leaned my head against his shoulder. “No. I wasn’t
freaked out. You just caught me off guard. I’m still peeling back
the onion. So what are you up to this evening then? I should have
my place back if you wanna come over.”

I laughed.

J pulled back and looked me in the eye.
“What’s funny?”

“
What I’m about to tell you
is funny, cuz you’re so gonna to be surprised by this
too.”

He grabbed me closer. “Lay it on me,
woman.”

“
Chris and Aaron are coming
over. We’re gonna to go play by play through each of our New Year’s
Eve shenanigans. Aaron’s shenanigans will no doubt include a
variety of men, in a variety of positions, and will undoubtedly out
do me and Chris’ shenanigans by far. While we do this, we’ll bag
the weed and Chris will whine the whole time cuz I won’t let her
get high until we have broken up all the weed and bagged it. This
is Aaron’s first go at a “bagging night extravaganza” but I am
pretty sure he won’t like my “no smoking until bagging is done”
rule, so I anticipate some whining from him too. Chris has been
with me for the last two semesters. The first two I did alone. I’m
hoping Aaron will make the process go faster, and keep Chris from
complaining too much. I’ll unload the four ounce sack while they’re
both still at my place. Then I’ll sell the rest, hopefully by the
end of the weekend.”

J was stunned. “Wow. You really have this
down to a science.” He grabbed his crotch. “I’m kinda hard for some
reason.” I laughed at him, and put my hand over his to find out for
myself if he really was hard. Affirmative. “You’re pretty bad ass,
woman.” I was bad ass. But he was strong, and I quickly found
myself pinned underneath him.

I wrapped my arms around his head, and
pulled him down for a kiss. Against his lips I smiled, and told him
that this had to be a quickie or I’d never make it to pick up the
weed on time. It was a quickie, but damn if that man couldn’t make
me come at the snap of his fingers. I got two orgasms in before I
left to get the weed.

******

Aaron got to my apartment after his shift
and Chris had been there for an hour. I was right in my initial
plan. Recruiting Aaron made everything go quicker, and Chris was a
much more pleasant crew member. I was also correct in my assumption
that Aaron would have the wildest New Year’s Eve story. At one
point, I shook my head in disbelief and told him, “I thought I knew
all the sexual stuff possible, but damn Aaron, that’s some shit
I’ve never even heard of, but I sure as hell am gonna try it.”
Chris nodded, and quickly texted Devon. “Well, some of it. I don’t
think I can lick an asshole.” We all broke into giggles.

After we were done bagging, I put the call
in to Antoine. He was getting the four ounce sack. I met him back
in the day when I was a teen. We weren’t really friends, but he ran
the streets like me, so we knew one another from around the way. I
saw him on campus my second semester in college. I was on my way to
the parking garage, and was headed to a friend’s house to pick up a
few ounces to sell off. We shot the shit for a minute. Swapped
stories. Like me, he had a taste of the real world, and was smart
enough to realize he wanted more than folding shirts at Macy’s for
the rest of his life. Also like me, he was still a weed smoker,
though he had scaled it back from when we were young, and high
24/7. He bought the four ounce sack, and said that would last him
all semester. It was a win-win for us both. He got weed for a good
deal, and I always knew I could unload four ounces. It meant I
could get more quantity and make more money.

Chris met Antoine, and they had flirted a
little, but nothing came of it. Or nothing that she told me about.
When he came through, I always smoked him out with my good shit.
When the doorbell rang, Chris jumped to get it. She knew I would
finally let her get high. I introduced Aaron to Antoine, we all
puffed, caught up on old times, and new, and everyone went home. I
did have this down to a science.

******

On Wednesday, I went to Genesis’s house at
10am like I’d told her and Angelica. They were both waiting
outside, and jumped in my car as soon as I pulled up.

“
Aw snap Elle, this car is
nice!” Angelica was impressed with the Monte. Who wouldn’t be? She
was awesome.

“
Thanks. Do you ladies want
to know what you’re in store for, or do you wanna to be surprised?”
I meant it as a joke, but they both got wide eyed. I guess it
wasn’t funny for a fifteen and sixteen year old. Ah fuck it. It was
funny to me. “Sorry ladies. Trust me, you want to know what to
expect.” I explained how a typical gynecologist visit went. They
weren’t too thrilled, but I told them it was part of being a woman,
and if they were having sex they needed to be safe about it. I
explained that they would be given different birth control options,
and would be walking out of there with one. I wasn’t budging on
this. I’d threaten with telling their parents if either one tried
to leave the clinic without a birth control plan. Finally, I told
them to get all the STD tests the nurse offered. That freaked them
out. I knew it would.

“
Look ladies, if you have
something, you wanna know. Every time you have a new partner you
should both be tested before you have sex. You don’t know who those
boys have been with, and what STDs they may have picked up. But I
know that’s not how it always goes, so at least get tested every
time you come for your annual. It’s just peeing in a cup really.
You wanna have sex, well this is part of keeping yourself
protected. You should always ALWAYS use condoms, because birth
control only keeps you from getting pregnant. But still, you get
the STD test every time anyway.” I could preach condoms all day
because I was pretty sure they weren’t always using them, but I
think they were saturated with sex ed for the moment. Hell, I was
getting myself tested while I was here. I had the IUD and was
tested recently. I’d shown J the results and we stopped using
condoms. He showed me his own results, but it’s not like we did it
together. He said he hadn’t slept with anyone since he’d gotten
tested, but how did I know for sure? Let’s hope this didn’t come
back to bite me in the ass, or burn me in the coochie as it may
be.

We walked in and were all given clip boards.
I came to Planned Parenthood regularly since I was sixteen when I
bought my first car, so I just had a few forms to fill out. Both
girls had a packet. As we sat down, I could tell both of them were
freaked out. Oh, it was only going to get worse, but I tried to put
them at ease as much as I could. I reminded them they didn’t need a
parent with them, and this was all confidential. The doctors and
nurses could not call their parents and release any medical
information unless they feared one of the girls was going to harm
themselves or someone else, or if they were in a potentially
violent relationship. I’d gotten the spiel when I was a teen. I
knew it well. If one thing sunk in, it was the condom speech. I was
a diligent condom user. Why that lesson sunk in without me having
to fuck up, I’ll never know. But I was going to be twenty-three in
two months, and I was kid free and STD free. And damn it, I was
proud. (insert Rocky steps here)

“
I’ll probably be done
first, so I will just be waiting out here in the lobby for you.
Just let me know if you need anything and I’ll come back, but it’ll
be OK. All women do this at some point. It’s not pleasant, but it
doesn’t really hurt and its part of being a woman and an adult.”
Both girls just nodded, eyes wide as saucers. That was about the
best pep talk I had in me.

I was called back first, so I was released
to the lobby before the girls were finished. I checked my phone for
messages since I had it on silent while in the clinic. There was
one missed call and a text from J.

J: free tonight?

I’m sure I had a silly grin on my face. He
did that to me.

ME: yep

J: dinner at my place?

ME: what time?

J: as soon as you can get here and get
naked

Ok, I know I had the cheesiest of all cheesy
grins plastered across my face after that text.

ME: k. should be done in an hour or so.

J: i’ll b waiting

ME: naked?

J: maybe

ME: mmmm can’t wait :)

J: me neither. but I will. for u. only for
u. and always for u

Damn, he was sweet. I was about to respond
when a nurse called my name. Fuck. I better not have chlamydia. J
wouldn’t be sweet if he’d given me some shit.

“
Ms. Skye?”

“
Yes? That’s me. Is
something wrong?” Fuck, fuck, fuck. I was so close to being able to
rhyme, ‘twenty three and STD free’. I’d come up with that a while
ago, and thought it was the shit. I’d planned to say that for my
entire twenty third year of life. Damn it if my rhyme was getting
fucked up with some mother fucking chlamydia.

“
Angelica Perez is asking
for you. Her and her friend are with the nurse discussing birth
control options, and they asked for you to come back.”

“
Oh, yeah sure.” I followed
her back, thanking the lord I wasn’t going to be burning when I
pissed any time soon.

I went back into the little room where the
girls were with a nurse. The room was made for two people, not
really for four. We were… cozy… while we discussed birth control
options. I had the IUD. I felt like I would forget the pill. I
think the girls were overwhelmed with their options.

“
Genesis, Angelica, look at
me. You both look like you’re about to freak out.” I reached out
and took both of their hands. “It’s OK. This is your body and your
choice. The pill you have to take every day at the same time. Do
you think you can remember that?” They were holding hands (the ones
I wasn’t holding) and looked at each other, still wide
eyed.

They exchanged words in Spanish and Genesis
apparently was the designated spokesperson. “No.” OK. At least they
were honest.

“
Ok, no pill. I’m gonna keep
it real for you. The patch is going to show, and there is a risk
your parents will see it. Did she talk to you about the
ring?”

Again, they deliberated in Spanish, and
Genesis spoke for them. “We don’t want the ring either. We want the
shot.”

I looked at the nurse. “Is that something
that can be handled today?”

“
Of course. I’ve explained
to the girls how it works, and that they will have to come back in
three months. Can you help them remember?”

“
Yeah, for sure. Should I go
back in the waiting room then?”

Angelica fired off some Spanish to Genesis.
“Can she stay?” Genesis asked the nurse.

“
Absolutely. Let’s go back
in the exam room, and I’ll get everything ready.” The nurse led us
out of the tiny room and into one of the exam rooms. Each girl got
the shot, and a brochure with information and a number for the
clinic. I made the girls program the number for the clinic in their
phones. When I told them to do this, they freaked out about their
parents seeing.

“
Make up something to put it
under. Like, Clean Cat.” They both laughed and programed their
phones with Clean Cat.

I had them wait outside
while I paid. Because I had a job, I had to pay, but the girls were
free as they had no income. God bless Planned Parenthood. While I
was at the desk signing the credit card receipt, the nurse came out
and asked to speak with me privately. Aw fuck.
Now
the test had come back and I had
chlamydia. Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuck. I walked back through the
door and the nurse pulled me to the side of the hallway.

“
Do I have chlamydia?” I
blurted out.

“
No. Well, I won’t know
until I run your urine sample. Remember, no news is good news. If
you don’t receive a call by the end of the business week, you’re
fine.”