Paint It Black

"Do you have time after class?" Kaden said, leaning across the aisle toward the end of our bio professor's lecture.

"Yes. I have a break in my schedule so I can get some lunch, but it's only about half an hour."

His face read disappointment, and I'm with him. I would like to get this conversation out of the way. It makes me uneasy just thinking about it, but I need to clear up exactly what he's expecting of me, and what kind of money I can look forward to, so we'll have to get it done quickly.

We walked out of bio shoulder to shoulder and made our way out to an empty patch of grass beneath a thatch of ash trees, giving us a modicum of shade this late in the day, but it's better than nothing.

I sit flat, reach in my laptop bag and pull out what used to be the perfect PB and J sandwich until it got flattened thanks to tossing my laptop bag around during the day. Kaden eyes my sandwich with condemnation.

"What are you, twelve?"

"Yes."

He snorts and I bite into my sandwich, losing just a bit of the strawberry jam to the corner of my mouth. I use my thumb to wipe it into my mouth before licking the remnants of the sticky substance from the digit. When I catch Kaden's stare, he's watching me with heat and longing, causing desire to flare within my bloodstream as well.

Forcing a cough, I try to steer the conversation to more friendly territory. "Ok. So, say what you want."

"Ok. Weekends, you're with me and Brandt hitting parties. You do basically what you've been doing, but step it up a notch. I want you to come by my place tonight and we can get ready and head out from there. I want it to be abundantly clear to everyone that you're working for me."

I sigh deeply, letting the idea marinate in my mind before letting it leave my lips. "Maybe it's better that we don't let everyone know that, though. Some of the people I'm selling to like the idea that they're getting one over on you. I know I love it."

He chuffs. "Cute. Real cute, Vale." I shoot him a wink and he rewards me with a smile that lights his face in a way I haven't seen before. There's nothing malicious or teasing hiding on the edge of his expression. "I think your idea does have merit, so let's try it tonight. See how it goes. Sell yours five bucks cheaper and we'll re-assess tonight."

I give him a nod. "So, where do you get your stuff from? Maybe mine's cheaper?"

He shoots me a look of smugness. "Please. I'm sure I have the far superior deal. I've been doing this a long time. Don't worry about that part of it. Just sell what I give you, we split the cash at the end of the night. Deal?"

I make it a point to sound as exasperated as possible when I finally concede. "Deal."

"Great. I'll shoot you a text with the address." He moves to stand from his seated position on the lawn with me.

"Hey, wait, Kaden," I say grabbing his hand before he wanders off, "where did you even get my number?"

Another smug smile is the only answer I receive to my question. "I'll see you tonight," he says, before pulling his wrist from my relatively light grip and walking back toward the sciences building and I watch him go, taking time to appreciate how great his backside looks when he's stalking off.

I don't see this ending well.

***

When my Lyft pulled up to the curb of the address Kaden texted me that night, I did a double-take. This can't be right. I look down at my phone and then back up to the large colonial-style home with a perfectly manicured lawn and an attached garage. When Kaden said he had his own place, I envisioned something a little different.

I jump out of the back of the car, traversing the lawn and going up the steps to knock on the red door. Kaden swings the door wide, setting his eyes on me and giving me a quick once over. I choose not to point out the fact that I just watched him check me out. I know I look hot in my lace peek-a-boo body suit and skinny jeans.

I walk in pointing to the door. "I want to paint it black." He looks at the door, furrowing his brows in confusion briefly before it clicked.

"I get it. Because it's a red door. You're hilarious."

"I certainly think so."

I follow him into a large sitting room right off the front entryway. The furniture is perfectly adorning the space, flowing flawlessly with the decor and architecture. It looks like a designer must have picked it out. I remember the time that Kaden came to my little rinky-dink bungalow with stained carpet and broken doors. He said it was a nice place. Compared to this it's a shoebox. An old, dirty shoebox.

"Nice place," I say as he leads me up a set of stairs and into a large bedroom. It has I giant picture window that looks out onto the street below as well as stairs up to a raised portion of the room where his bed is located. He has stairs. In his bedroom.

The area is offset by the band merch that adorns the walls. He clearly likes it as much as I do, but the difference between us is clear. Where I have posters, he has signed guitars, records, and the like.

There's a couch in the lower portion of the room, and Brandt, the bassist from his band with the gnarly mop of brown hair is lounging back on it comfortably. He gives me a nod and a salute but doesn't say anything else.

I feel out of place here, like I'm intruding on his inner sanctum. I shrink back into myself slightly when Kaden notices me looking around his very intimidating room.

"Hey, Vale, go sit."

Walking across the plush white carpet on course to his sofa, I struggled slightly with the heeled sandals I borrowed from Gabby. I didn't have problems with them on our worn floors, but the plushness of this carpet makes me wobble on them, causing me to appear all the more nervous. I'm like a baby deer walking for the first time, or something equally absurd.

I sit down on the sofa, letting out a deep exhale.

Kaden takes a chair on the other side of his coffee table and pulls out three bags full of capsules along with little baggies.

"Brandt, Val," he says, tossing each of us one in turn. "We're not leaving until all of this is gone, so let's get on it. We'll leave the guys to you, mostly, Vale. The more bro-ish ones, anyway. Do the little sex-kitten thing that seems to work for you so well." I noted an extra bite in the last sentence and wonder briefly why my sales approach bothers him so much. He'd do the same thing if he had long legs and boobs.

"Brandt we're going to try pretending Vale isn't selling with us. Some people that don't like to buy from me, may choose to buy from her so let's see where it goes."

Brandt gives another nod instead of saying anything and I start to try to remember if I've ever heard him speak. I can't say that I have. He doesn't seem to care much for me.

I stand, putting the drugs in my bra, as always, and Brandt excuses himself to go to the kitchen to grab something quick to eat before we leave.

I let my eyes wander to Kaden and I see he's watching me carefully. Assessing something. Finally, I lift my hands in a questioning gesture. "What?"

His tongue darts out to wet his bottom lip but when he opens his mouth to speak all that he says is, "Nothing. Are you hungry?

"I had cold pizza before I came. Dinner of champions for broke college students everywhere." Why do I suddenly feel so awkward around him? It has to be this room.

"Where the hell did you get half of this shit on the walls, Kaden? It's a wild collection."

He positions his hands in his pockets while he skims his walls, taking them in as though it's the first time he's ever really looked at them. "My dad's an agent. A big one, in the music business."

My surprise is evident on my face. I can feel it. "And you're not majoring in music? It seems like it would be something that would be easy for you to go into."

He gives an over-exaggerated shrug. "I'm not really on great terms with my family. It's a long story for another day, but the point is that the last thing I want to do is follow in my Dad's footsteps."

There's an idea I can get behind. It seems that maybe Kaden and I have more in common than I wanted to think. We hold each other's stare for a minute while the silence becomes charged.

Kaden slowly strides across the room to me, taking one of my hands in his. "Hey, be careful tonight. I know you've had some good luck so far, but selling can be dangerous. I've got the area pretty well on lockdown, but there are other problems that aren't just the competition. Let me know if you see anything that makes you feel uncomfortable and I'll come running, okay?"

I squeeze his hand, surprised by the offer of protection. Any time that we move from teasing into more serious territory things get weird between us. Electric. Heated. Dangerous.

"Okay. I'll let you know if I need you."

He gives me a nod of agreement before we wander out for the party.