TONIGHT
I go through the red velvet curtain and notice it’s much darker in here than the main area. It looks like it’s just a long hallway. I blink a few times, letting my eyes adjust, and run my hand down the cold brick. I know this is where I saw Andy come out that night with the guy who I’m pretty sure went to our school years ago. I continue walking down the hall, but don’t see anyone and wonder if this is a stupid idea. I feel the bass and drums thumping through my hand as I feel my way down the hall. I feel another curtain to my right and peek through it. Another hallway. Somewhere I hear voices, but they sound like they’re coming through the walls. I bite my lip and wonder if I should keep going further into the darkness, or through this curtain and down this other hall. I opt for the new direction.
“What are you doing back here?” I spin around and some big muscle-head guy is towering over me.
The guy is intimidating, but I try to act like I belong here.
“I’m looking for someone,” I say.
He looks at me expectantly with his arms on his hips, which looks kind of funny because he’s huge—like a chastising mama gorilla.
“Who?” he asks.
“A really skinny guy, with dark-rimmed glasses. And he’s scruffy.”
“Sid? You’re looking for Sid?”
I have no idea if I’m looking for Sid or not, but I nod. “Yeah, Sid. I gotta talk to him.”
He stares me down. “You know Sid?”
I scowl. “Yes, and he told me he’d be here.” I cross my arms. “Is he here or not?”
The guy eyes me a little longer and then says, “Down that hall, out the back exit . . . like always.”
“Right, thanks,” I say as he moves past me. I backtrack and find my way to the original hall I was in.
I think of Andy and wonder if he ran into Mama Gorilla. Did he get asked the same questions? Or did he fist bump Mama Gorilla as he passed him in the hall?
I head toward the red exit sign down the hall. Somebody comes in through the door and makes his way toward me. It’s too dark to see if it’s Sid, so as he passes, I whisper, “Sid?” figuring he’ll stop if it’s him.
“Back there,” the dark figure answers. I push open the door at the end of the hall. It leads to a dark back alley, barely illuminated with a backlight near the door.
I don’t see anybody as I step outside, and I’m only the slightest bit aware of how stupid it is to go into dark alleys alone looking for some sketchy guy.
I look around, but see no one.
“Sid?” I try.
Nothing. And my whole plan starts to undo before it even begins.
“Sid?” I say again.
“Who the fuck wants to know?” comes a voice from the far right side of the alley.
“Uh, I do.”
“And who the hell is ‘I’?” says the voice again.
I pause and wonder if I should turn around and go back inside before this gets all screwed up. Finally, somebody emerges from the other side of a Dumpster I hadn’t noticed. He’s rail thin and sketchy-looking. It’s Sid. “Frenchie,” I say.
“What do you want?” he says, crossing his arms over his chest.
Now that he’s in front of me, and there’s not some voice coming from the darkness, I realize what a tiny guy he is. Even though he’s taller than me, he’s probably half my weight and he looks frail. I could probably break him in half. “You know Andy Cooper?” I ask.
“What’s it to you?” He answers all streetwise.
“He’s a friend. He told me I’d find you here,” I say.
“Oh yeah? And how exactly did he tell you? Did he reach out to you from the great beyond?” He says and stares at me. I’m taken off guard for a minute because he knows. I resume my composure and go on.
“Listen, I know he came to you about four months ago. I was with him. Now all I want is some of the same stuff, okay?”
He looks at me for a while and then says, “You better not be setting me up,” and he looks over his shoulder.
“I’m not,” I say, “just help me out, okay?”
“Fuck you,” he says. He turns his back on me and starts walking away.
“NO!” I yell, and start following him, “Listen to me,” I say. He turns around. “I know you sold to him that night and all I’m asking is for you to do the same, okay? Just sell me what you sold him. I don’t give a shit, I just want the same.”
He stares at me for a second before saying, “You want to end up like Andy?”
I shrug, “Maybe.”
“He went on a wild ride,” he says. I shrug again. “Let me see the cash.”
I pull out my wallet and show him what I have. He reaches over and grabs all of it before looking around again and going into his pocket. He pulls out a small bag filled with all kinds of pills and tosses it to me.
“Chase it with some liquor, they’ll work better.”
“Thanks,” I say, putting them in my now empty wallet.
“Andy was a good guy,” he says suddenly. “Pretty fearless. If you see him”—he says with a grin—“tell him Sid said hi. Now get lost.” And with that he turns around and heads back toward the Dumpster and leaves me standing there. “Go!” he yells back. I turn around and head back inside.
I go down the hall again, toward the loud thumping music, somehow feeling different with the pills in my wallet.
I go through the red curtains again and into the crowded room of dancing people. I feel like I know something they don’t.
I spot Colin.
“Let’s go,” I say as I walk past him and back outside.