Page 28 of Breaking the Habit

His brother was obsessed with girls these days. He couldn’t tell if it was because of his new school, his age, or some combination of everything. Levi had enrolled him in a public high school near their house. Gage was making friends okay, for starting the year smack dab in the middle. And now he was a hawk for pussy.

Just like his brother.

“What do you mean?”

“I saw her number on that receipt,” Gage said, theduhtone in his voice so intense that Levi wanted to backhand him. Sometimes teens were intolerable. “Are you gonna call her?”

Levi tutted, shaking his head. “Nah. I got enough girlfriends.”

Gage snickered. “How many?”

“Thirty-five,” Levi cracked.

“How do you keep up?”

Levi smiled. “Nah, bro. It’s not like that. I don’t have time for a girlfriend. With this new league, you know I gotta stay focused.” Levi patted his brother’s knee. “Gotta make that money.”

And he was telling the truth. Mostly. He wouldn’t be texting her. But he didn’t need to make her feel bad by leaving her number behind, like a slap in the face.

Once Levi pulled into their apartment complex, the home health nurse was already waiting in the lobby. He had a few minutes to get Gage into the apartment before he had to leave for his next order of business on this sunny Saturday: go meet with the new sponsor, Marcus.

“When will you be back?” Gage demanded as Levi headed for the door. Tammy was already clanking dishes in the kitchen, getting things cleaned up.

“In the evening,” Levi said.

“Where are you going?”

“I told you—I’ve got a meeting.”

Gage tutted. “Bring me back some orange soda.”

“Dude—you know we don’t keep soda in the house.”

“Leviii…” Gage’s whine was more annoying than anything else.

“I’m out. See you guys.” Levi hurried out of the apartment before his frustration could balloon. He loved his brother more than life itself and would gladly take a bullet for him. But when he got on his orange soda kicks, Levi had to exit stage left, andfast.

Levi was pulling out of the apartment parking lot when Gage’s text came through.

GAGE: orange soda.

Levi shook his head and stowed the phone. He cranked the volume on the stereo to play his favorite song: Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble.”

Levi rolled the windows down as the music thrummed through the car. When he pulled onto the freeway, he was rapping the lyrics so hard, he practically shouted. He didn’t care who saw. In fact, it was kind of the point that people saw.

And slowly, heads turned. He kept it up, not missing a single word or rhyme in the entire song. Some cars he passed, kids laughed and pointed. In other cars, dudes sent out whoops of support.

And in one car, he heard the question that made his heart flutter: “Is that the guy from the meme?”

Levi rapped his way through half an album before he pulled up to the non-descript office building in West Hollywood. With black shades and a black flatbill tugged low, he already felt like an incognito celebrity.

With any luck, that would be his reality someday.

Only as he approached the front door did he realize that the entire building was subtly mirrored. What looked like a totally normal building was in fact state of the art. Stepping inside, he found a smartly decorated reception area with sleek, low black chairs, and expensive-looking gray rugs covering the hickory wood flooring.

This place screamed money.

Marcus stepped out of the hallway before Levi could ask the receptionist where to go. As he led him through a bright white maze of hallways, he said, “I saw you come in on the monitor.”

---