Neighbors (Lauren/You)

Chapter 4

I remained at Leo's house for the time being and after just one hit I already knew I was gone, but that wouldn't stop me from taking another hit if I was offered one. I would also have to learn how to actually take one the right way before I tried another. I don't even think these guys were half as fucked up as I was but they sure had taken a shit tone more hits than me. The good thing about this was that it actually removed the negative thoughts out of my head and dulled the pain in my body. Leo whistled to catch my attention where my head lolled to the side where it was resting against the back of the chair. "Did you hear a word I just said?" The guys started laughing again after I gave him a sheepish shake of my head with the smile to match. Leo rolled his eyes in amusement before pointing at the other men. "I was just introducing you to everyone." I watched as with each point of his finger he listed off the names of the three men sitting on the couch squished in between one another.

From left to right I learned the biggest out of the men was named Izaiah, or Z for short, the next in the middle named Damion, and the chubbiest out of the three men was named Jaden. I caught on that the rest of the guys would sometimes call him Biggie Smalls like the late rapper for his short height but large build. I thought it was funny because he embraced his chubbiness and would crack jokes about himself like nothing. I found myself quickly falling in tune with these guys because they accepted me despite my age or what I was doing here. Leo would explain to them his plan for me to become part of their team officially, and becoming a dealer if their boss would allow me. From what I was hearing, if I could just handle some initiation, I would be cleared by the boss because I was a perfect candidate for selling. Nobody would expect it with my age or what I looked like, and since I had brought my backpack with me, the boys thought I could upgrade it to hold everything that I needed to sell.

They were getting into technical ways that I could hide everything but like still be able to get it quickly when I need to make a transaction. All I could do at this point was watch the guys interact with one another about this new invention they created, and who would get the money if it ever went big enough for other people to buy. Leo turned his attention to me where I was still looking at the three men on the couch with a dopey smile on my face. "So Y/N, you into any sports?" The older man asked as he took a hit. The blunt was now almost gone between all of us and there was still part of me that wanted another hit. So with a nod of my head in response to Leo's question, I motioned to the joint in between his fingers so that he would let me take another hit. He raised his eyebrows but leaned over nonetheless so that I could take the joint from him. The other guys seemed to catch on to what I was trying to do so they ended their bickering to watch me.

With some gentle coaching and some tips, I was able to take a hit of the joint with much less coughing than the first time. I could feel the gentle burn at the back of my throat which caused me to take another drink of my water as soon as I handed the spliff back to Leo. "I play basketball; have been since I was little. I'm going to try out for the school's team this year and see how it goes. I really love it." My true passion began to show the more that the drugs took over my body; I was becoming much more relaxed and sociable than I normally am. The guys found great interest in my choice of sport and dove into conversation about their favorite NBA teams. I would jump into the conversation every so often to put in my two cents about the teams that were brought up but other than that, the conversation was mainly between the three older men on the couch passing the blunt between themselves. Leo was more into their conversation than I was but he seemed to notice how quiet I had become.

The light skinned man turned to me with a small smirk on his lips. "I can see that you're feeling the affects now." He joked as I nodded my head. A cheeky smile took over my features and I even went as far as to give him two thumbs up in response. Leo laughed but after a couple more minutes, he became serious. "I really didn't want to say anything but your face looks real fucked up, man. Who did that to you? Because we can go out and fuck them up like nobody's business if you want us too." At the turn of conversation, the other three boys stopped talking about basketball to focus their attention on us, and went so far to agree with Leo about kicking these people's asses. I shook my head with the same dopey smile on my face. Of course I didn't like the topic of why I looked the way I did but it was a relief to know that these guys would be willing to defend me, and I hadn't even known them for more than a day. They seemed to really care about me.