Desolation Row

Six

Mikey was waiting for Ray the next afternoon in the closet of Lucky's. This time, he had a ratty old blanket with him. He was ready to take an actual nap.

When Ray walked in, Mikey sat up. "Did you come in the back?" he asked. Ray nodded. "Just like you told me to." There was a pause. Mikey snorted unattractively, causing Ray to burst into a fit of giggles.

Mikey put his hand over the other's mouth, biting his lip and trying not to make noise. "Shh, or someone's gonna hear us. And we aren't together. Remember?"

Ray nodded. "So I got those questions ready for you," he said. Mikey sat down, covering his lap with his blanket.

"Is that warm?" Ray asked. "Or... Clean?"

"What? Are you asking about my blanket or my dick?"

Ray blushed. "T-The blanket."

Mikey laughed. "Yeah, it's warm. Kinda. And clean. No bugs are gonna come crawlin' out of it. You'll be fine." He hesitated, then lifted the blanket. Ray stared at it for a second, then situated himself under it beside Mikey.

"Um, thanks," he mumbled, his cheeks going even redder than before. Mikey nodded. "Now, where are those questions you got?"

"Oh!" Ray reached into his bag and pulled out some papers. "Here! I've started on some. We can answer these questions together and compare the results."

"Sure, if that's what you think'll work. You're the brainiac here."

Ray nodded. "Okay. Question one; what foods are served in the culture?"

Mikey gave the paper a weird look. "I think this is designed for the Canadians," he said.

Ray laughed. "Okay, next question. Is there a typical style of dress?"

Mikey thought about it. "You dress like boring-ass lawyers, and we dress like dope-ass motherfuckers."

"Alright, how about this: 'The residents of Inland Pike dress in more formal, business-type clothing, while the inhabitants of Redwood City prefer darker, more dangerous clothing.' And we can add details and reasoning later."

"Dangerous?" Mikey asked. "How do we dress dangerous?"

"Um, do I even need to answer that?"

Mikey rolled his eyes. "Next question."

"What do people do for fun?"

"Around here, we hang around Lucky's. Or we interact with other gangs in town. Or we get revenge on people who fucked with us."

"Define revenge."

"Key their cars. Steal their shit. This one time, we knew this guy who was dealin'. And that's okay, but he was beatin' his wife, and that's never okay. So we took as much of his dealin' money as we could carry and sunk it at the docks."

"You sunk it? Why wouldn't you steal it?"

"'Cause that wouldn't be good. Plus, he could get that money back. He couldn't get back something at the bottom of a river."

Ray nodded.

"What about you?" Mikey asked. "What do you like to do, princess?" Ray blushed. The nickname had started out as an insulting joke, but now it had a more affectionate tone to it.

"Uh, I don't do much. Watch TV, play video games. With my friend Patrick, mostly. Sometimes some others."

"Are they as annoying as you?"

Ray paused. He opened his mouth, but he didn't really know how to respond.

"Relax, princess." Mikey laid a cautious but gentle hand on Ray's thigh. "I was kidding."