Page 2 of Facet

He cracked open the beers and slid one my direction. “Cool, but we can pregame while we wait.”

I’d never drank alcohol before. Trying to be a badass, I grabbed my can and chugged down a bunch of it. “God, that’s awful.”

“Well, it’s better cold, but I had to hide it before my dad drank the whole case.” He shrugs and takes a swig.

We sat there choking down the nasty, lukewarm beer as the timer I set on the stove ticked down. When it finally went off, I was already feeling a little wobbly. I had to blink hard a few times as I reached into the oven with the mitt on my hand.

Thankfully, I was able to get the pan out without dropping it and set it on the stovetop. Then I grabbed the pizza cutter and cut it into four pieces. We didn’t bother with plates, as we each grabbed a fat slice and took a bite, singeing the roof of our mouths.

We howled but still kept eating. By the time I finished both pieces, I was a bit more stable on my feet. I motioned to the joint he had left sitting on the coffee table. “Where we gonna smoke that?”

“Dunno. Roof?” He raised his brows.

“Sure.” I wasn’t supposed to leave the apartment, but I didn’t care about that either.

We went around the corner to the ladder attached to the brick side of the building. I was skinnier, so he lifted me up so I could grab the base and pull it down to where we could reach it. Then we climbed to the top and sat with our backs to the short wall that surrounded the area. The sounds of the city surrounded us, though we were a long way from downtown.

“Here.” I handed him the matches, and he lit the joint.

When he handed it to me, I took a drag. I wish I could say I’d never smoked before, but that would be a lie. Mom’s last boyfriend was a total pothead, and one day, while she was at work and I was chilling at his house, he lit up and offered me some. I didn’t want to look like a pussy so I tried it. It was the first time I felt calm.

No worries.

No thoughts.

I simply existed.

“What time is your mom coming home?” Josh kind of wheezed as he handed it back to me.

“No clue. I’m supposed to be in bed by nine-thirty.”

That had him cackling like an old hen. Shaking my head at his ridiculousness, I inhaled again. Resting my head back, I stared up and wished I could see the stars better. Out in the country, I bet I could. But not in the city. Still, I could see the moon and that helped settle me.

It was just a thin sliver in the sky, but something about it soothed me. It was like somewhere out there, someone else was looking up at that same moon. That person understood me and loved me.

Stupid.

Maybe I was just thinking crazy shit because I drank, then smoked. Maybe I was missing a dad that I liked to think was missing me, when I knew he walked out and didn’t look back.

“Oh! I got an idea! Know what we should do?”

“Huh,” I mumbled.

“We should go down the street and check out the graffiti. You got any spray paint? Because I’ve really been looking at graffiti. I think there’s something majestic and powerful about it. Like when you spray that can, and the color hits whatever blah piece of the world you’re working on, it opens up another universe. I think I can do that—we can do that. Create a masterpiece of another universe. Like our own portal to Nirvana.”

“Are you fucking nuts?” I asked, heavy-lidded as I rolled my head to look at him. “You’re so stupid.”

“I thought it sounded like a great idea,” he grumbled.

We finished the joint and left the stub on the roof. I had no idea how long we sat there staring at the moon. Finally, I sighed. “I better get back inside. I don’t know what time it is.”

“Yeah, I gotta get home before my mom gets off work.” Josh’s mom worked cleaning offices at night while his dad drank until he passed out. His dad worked in a factory during the day, so it’s not like he was a deadbeat, he just unwound for… the entire night.

My head spun a bit as we climbed down, and I gripped the ladder tighter than I had on the way up. The last thing I needed was to fall and break my arm or something. Mom would kill me because it would mean a hospital bill.

We shuffled inside, and I threw all the evidence of my night in the paper bag Josh had brought with him. “Take this with you and drop it in the dumpster.”

“Dude, I’m not a trash man.”

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