"Come here," his voice is gentle again.
She gives in, placing her small hand in his. Lifting the cloth, he sees her blood spill out from her palm. He inhales sharply through his teeth and presses the rag back down. They sit there like that for abo...
Jimmy takes Jude downtown one night to meet up with some other rent boys and girls at the park. Entirely immersed in his character at this point, Jude is chronically sleep-deprived and emotionally spent. The smell of urine and rotting food is overpowering as they walk down the graffiti-lined streets, but he's grown so accustomed that it fails to register.
"Yo, Jimmy!!!" The call came from a park bench across the street. Jude throws his arm around Jimmy's shoulder and motions for them to go. Sitting on and around the bench, the friends chat. When a girl in a leather jacket with a large nose ring opens her jacket to reveal a tiny, wrinkled ziplock baggie, all conversation halts.
"Yes, please!" Jimmy exclaims immediately when he sees it. At this point, he knows Jude is no stranger to the white powder held inside, it is commonly circulated at Hollywood parties, too. There is more of a risk to get it from the streets, though, because no one ever knows what it might be cut with whereas the stuff passed around amongst celebrities is supposedly "pure".
The girl pulls out a small makeup mirror but Jimmy shoves it back towards her. "Not here, not here, you kidding?!?" He looks around for an alleyway and motions to the group to follow along.
Surrounded by the group, Jimmy acts as lookout while she spills the powder onto the mirror. A key is used to separate it into lines. The entire thing is rough. No one but Jimmy knows who Jude is, he fits in so seamlessly. Just like the others, he bends over and takes a deep inhale, using his pinkie finger to rub some of the powder along his gums.
Within minutes, he feels that familiar rush. He starts jumping up and down and joking exuberantly with the others who are equally animated. Laughing and whooping and spinning around, the group flies as high as a kite. It is a way to mute the hunger and pain, for Jude as much as anyone else.
The sounds of cars passing by grows louder as Jimmy and Jude walk out of the alley to the connected street. They are energetic: shuffling their feet, flipping their jackets on and off, shaking their heads as they walk.
"Yah!! Awooooo!" Jimmy starts howling at the moon. Jude laugh and made it a chorus.
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Beep-beep.
The soft, short toot of a car horn gets their attention, a man in his forties at the wheel with the passenger-side window rolled down. Jude struts toward the window, Jimmy right beside him. "Ow! How is it? Forty dollars for a date?" Jude shouts in the window of the car.
"Get in, handsome." The driver reaches over and unlocks the door.
Jimmy slides into the front seat and Jude climbs in the back. Together they start negotiating a price as the driver pulls down a dark, abandoned street. They take it so far as agreeing on what service will be provided, the driver licking his lips and staring the whole time. When Jude got as much out of the negotiation experience as he thought he could, he tries to let the driver down. The man did not take it well.
