“This is will help you with the nerves and relax you a bit.”
Eli twisted the cap off the bottle when I popped the pill into my mouth. I chased it with the water, and then we headed to the party. Even though it was dark out, I could clearly see the different scenery that slowly faded from Beverly Hills to downtown L.A. I wasn’t naïve to stark differences between Beverly Hills and the downtown area, but I’d never really been downtown.
While we waited at a stoplight, a woman on the sidewalk was yelling at some guy in front of a liquor store. She kept stepping over the feet of a homeless person whose legs were poking out from under a blue tarp. Waiting at the crosswalk was a young woman clutching the hands of two toddlers in clothes that didn’t fit them. I could tell that she was focused on getting across the street at the first possible moment. Next to her, a filthy man waited with a shopping cart that probably contained everything he owned. Leaning against the storefront of the convenience store were two teenage boys. They each sat on one faded green sleeping bag, and their fingers strummed on guitars. In front of them was a plastic water jug with change in it.
When the light turned green, the woman practically jogged across the street with the two little kids. Eli’s SUV had cleared the intersection before the woman made it all the way across the street.
“Damn, Eli. You sure your BMW will be okay down here?”
“It’ll be fine, Brandon.”
“Do you come down here often?”
“Every now and then.” He reached over and put his hand on my leg to stop it from bouncing. “There’s a whole world outside of Beverly Hills, Brandon.”
“I know. I’m not insensitive to it.”
At the next stoplight, Eli checked his watch again and then reached into his pocket. He pulled out another one of the tiny white pills and stretched his arm out so his palm was in front of me.
“Take this for your nerves,” he offered.
I took the pill, tossed it in my mouth, and grabbed the bottle of water from the cupholder. I took two big gulps of water, not realizing how thirsty I had been. By the time Eli parked along the curb in front of a building, my stomach was starting to feel queasy.
“Are you okay?” Eli asked when he walked around the front of the car to stand beside me.
I nodded and told him that sometimes my stomach bothered me when I was nervous. No way was I going to tell him that the pills didn’t seem to settle well in my stomach. I didn’t want him to think I was a kid and couldn’t handle coming to a party with his friends in a less than perfect neighborhood. I was thrilled that he wanted to take me.
We walked down the sidewalk a little ways, and Eli came to a stop in front of a place that had red brick front and wrought iron bars over the windows. I blinked a few times because my eyes couldn’t seem to focus well in the dark, but it looked like the bars over the windows went all the way up to the third floor. The few windows on the lower level had foil on them as curtains. The front door was metal, and Eli stretched his arm through the bars to reach the doorbell that was dangling from the electrical wiring.
“They rent out a building for parties on occasion,” Eli said as he ran his hand through my hair and tugged me against him. I really liked the way he made me feel when he did that. It was as though he truly was proud to have me with him.
“They should find a nicer place to rent out,” I murmured.
“Are you feeling okay?” he asked.
Even though I wasn’t feeling okay at all, I still nodded. I started to get concerned when my vision kept spotting up and then fogging on me. My stomach was killing me, and I felt extremely hot. I thought I was possibly having an allergic reaction to whatever he gave me to relax.
“When we get inside, we’ll get you something to drink,” Eli said as the front door opened.
A heavy scent of cigarettes wafted out onto the porch when a muscular man with dark slicked back hair opened the door. He wore black pants and a white button-down dress shirt. The man greeted Eli as Dr. E, and then he looked me up and down.
“Come in, come in, friends,” the man said as he stepped out of the house and unlocked the gate.
With a gentle hand on my upper back, Eli guided me to walk ahead of him. As soon as we were inside, the man locked the gate, then the front door, and turned to face us.
“Brandon, this is my good friend and a colleague, Sebastian,” Eli introduced us.
I took a step forward to shake his hand but stumbled over my own feet. Eli caught me, and Sebastian steadied me with his hands on my shoulders.
“I gave him something to relax his nerves on the way over. Do you have something for him to drink?” Eli asked.
“Absolutely,” Sebastian said without moving his eyes off me. It wasn’t so much that he was staring in my eyes; his eyes were just all over me. “Have a seat, and I’ll go get something for him to drink.”
Eli guided me to sit on a couch, and he sat next to me with his arm around my shoulder.Where were all of the other people?I listened to Eli telling me to relax, and by the time I almost got out the question about where the other people were at, Sebastian returned with a bottle of water and juice. He was shaking the bottle of juice in his hands, which made me dizzy to watch. I took the offered bottle and began drinking the juice quickly. Leaning back against the couch, I could feel Eli’s forearm behind my head. I feared that I was going to get sick from the pills.
“Eli, I’m sorry. I think I’m having an allergic reaction to the pills. My throat feels like it’s closing, and I’m burning up.”
“Relax, Brandon. We’ll go in just a few,” Eli said and patted my knee. “Close your eyes and relax.”
