Seventeen
STONE
"What was it like in jail?"
"Predictable."
I never thought that I'd be a walking cliché, but I also never thought I'd ever end up in prison either. It's more difficult than I thought it would be to become acclimated to the real world again and it's only been a day. I've been told what to do and what time to do it for the last five years of my life. A person can get used to living like that and not know how to function otherwise. You'd think that would only happen to the old timers, guys doing fifteen to twenty years, but it can actually happen to guys who've done even shorter bids than me.
Usually at this time of day inmates would be getting ready for another roll call and then dinner. There tended to be a scuffle or two around this time. Usually between one of the guards and a prisoner. Nothing major. At least not to a prisoner.
When you're in close quarters all day every day, with a lot of testosterone floating around, the guards tend to feel the need to put an inmate or two in check. To remind everybody who was in charge. Or sometimes it was one of the inmates wanting to prove that he couldn't be checked. So, he'd stick his chest out and instigate something. Whatever the reason, it always ended in the guard's favor, and after the show was over, the rest of us would just continue on to the mess hall like nothing ever happened.
In jail, the food is horrible and the company was even worse. The days moved slow as sludge and after a while they all seemed to just blend into one another. Just thinking about how I lived this mundane routine, day in and day out, makes me angry, mostly with myself. I got messy and I slipped up playing (as Bucky put it) Robin Hood. I should have never had all that smack in my trunk. I need to find a smarter way to hit these dealers where it hurts.
"Do girls tell you all the time that you're hot?"
Savannah's been asking me questions on and off for the last hour. Not very smart questions either. But at least we're passing time away in between the few customers that have been in the shop so far. It's boring as hell in here.
"I haven't been around women for a while."
"Oh, right. Jail and all. So, did women tell you were hot before you went to jail?"
"Not really."
"No? That's hard to believe," she says as she adds another coat of gloss to her lips in the mirror. "I bet they're thinking it."
"Maybe."
"Have you had anyfunsince you got here to Philly?"
"Just got here."
"I can definitely make sure you have a good time. I'm a lot of fun."
"Not right now."
"Oh." She chuckles. "I'm sorry are you gay?"
"I'm not interested in fucking you and you assume that I must be gay?"
"Hmm, you're right." She squints her eyes at me as if she's trying to solve a riddle. "You're not making my gay meter go off at all."
This girl is funny. She's probably never been turned down by a man ever in her life.
"Oh, snap!" She points her finger at me. "I know what it is. Did Nate give you the big Savannah is off limits speech?"
"He did."
"That explains it."
"Does it?" I laugh to myself.
"Of course. Five years in jail and you're passing up a taste of me? That shit didn't make any sense, but now I understand."
"You're funny."
"Listen, Stone, Nate is my boss. Not my daddy. What he doesn't know won't hurt him. I'm not looking to be somebody's wifey, I'm just living in the moment. You won't hurt my feelings if you don't want to come back for seconds. I'm totally down for a one-night stand."
