Chapter Fifteen

The walk home was long.

I had all these thoughts running through my head that I didn't understand. Everything was just going over my head. What could Jake have meant when he said that I shouldn't think about what I read? Why was it that I shouldn't think? Was I supposed to address him as Jake or Luca now? Why was it always me that ended up being a part of something weird? Why couldn't I just have a normal life?

With all these in my head and much more, I continued walking like a lost soul till I felt like I like I heard my name from somewhere afar. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up to see that I had reached my home.

It was Tevoris who had called out. He was leaning against the shutter of the repair shop which had not yet opened for the day. In his left hand was a bottle of McQueen and the Violet Fog gin and with his right, he was smoking a joint. He was wearing a cap over his dreadlocks and was dressed in the same 'I ♥️ SLUTS' oversized tees that I first met him in. The only change in him was a new nose piercing. I waved at him and he waved back.

I walked up to him and greeted him with a strong dap. "What's up, Bruh?", he asked taking a drag . "I'm here, bruh", I replied. "That's wack, biatch!", he replied putting his tongue out and passing the joint to me. He picked up a package from the ground and proceeded to walk upstairs towards my crash pad and I followed him.

I smiled. I always loved it when he spoke like that. We had seen each other at the Underground many times before we actually spoke. The best part was that our first conversation did not happen there but somewhere else, unexpectedly. The first time we spoke had actually been at an anger management group. I had gotten into a habit of going to these drop-in groups as a way to not give myself so much time at home to drink a lot as I had started to become unable to afford the amount of liquor as I craved.

On that particular day, the session had just ended and given us the much needed coffee break. I had taken out my phone and got myself busy in completing a much required assignment for submission at school on the next day. By the time I finished,everyone was done. Or so I thought. On the chair opposite me was a man who looked like he was in his mid 20s. He looked extremely tired, staring off into space and absentmindedly twirling his keys around his finger. Being extremely bored, I filled two mugs of coffee, walked up to him and tapped at the leg of his chair. Startled, he looked up and there I was, with a coffee mug in both hands, one extended out to him.

He took it and that marked the beginning of our friendship. We sat together, drank our coffees and spoke about life. He ended up giving me a lift home. That's when I told him that it felt like we had met each other somewhere else earlier. He braked so hard, that I slammed back into the seat. He apologised and told me that the only reason he offered me a lift home was to ask me that same question. I laughed and he continued driving and we had just the usual chats until we reached  my place. Seeing the dilapidated state of my building, he was surprised and told me so.

I got out of the car and put my head in through the passenger window to thank him, when my chain hung out from inside the top of my hoodie. He took the plaque at the end of the chain in his hand and asked me the unexpected question  of whether I had a habit of fighting to relieve anger or earn some bucks. I nodded not realizing where he had been going with his questions. He left the plaque and it swung back and forth on my chain. He started laughing, which at that point sounded really absurd and off-point, but later on ended up being a joke to me as well. After a long continuous laugh, he told me that it had been at the underground fight club that we had been seeing each other. Though I couldn't believe it at first, upon closing my eyes and thinking, I realised I had indeed been seeing him there.

Since then, we had exchanged numbers and gotten pretty close. He had helped me make fake IDs to enter the bars and I had many a times volunteered at the pet shelter that he owned. He had also been there for me when I couldn't pay my bills and when I was at the verge of getting evicted. He always told me to not consider it as help but as payment for my work at his shelter. We had crashed at each other's places many a times when we were too tired to go to our own homes. Hell, we had even slept together a couple of times.