People were streaming in the opposite direction and they weaved their way between. Dan, a step behind, turned his head to view the chaos he dearly wanted to be a part of, but too intimidated to join in without his friends.
They passed through a side street and it was quieter, a residential street without bars or reasons for people to be there. Voices echoed from dark porches behind sidewalks and lawns littered with aluminum cans and plastic cups.
A large blue Cadillac was parked to the side of the street.
“Dan, you should fuck with that car.” Omar said as he turned his head and said to his friend. Dan mumbled something as he passed and kicked the vehicle, then walked to the front where the hood ornament was. His stubby fingers went out to it and he began twisting.
“Dan, don’t do that.” V. said as Omar walked on with her.
“HEY!” they heard from behind and Omar kept walking. Dan stopped what he was doing and looked back. There was a huge black man quickly approaching them. He was enormous, well over 6 feet and looking near 300 pounds of strength. He could definitely be a linebacker for the Big-Ten school.
“You motherfucker! What the FUCK are you doing to my car?” The black man said as he approached and bent his enormous frame above Dan.
Omar turned a distance away as V. stopped and watched. Omar pulled at her hand and led her away at a speed she could still observe the situation by.
The black man inspected his car as his friend came up behind. The friend much more average in size, still taller than Omar and Dan who were short. The friend had a white hand-towel draped over his shoulder and he took it off and whipped his face with it. Then said something to his friend. The linebacker looked at the side of his car, there was no damage to it, he looked at the hood and it too was fine. He walked back to Dan, he bent his face into him and Dan could have put out this tongue and touched the man’s dark face.
“What the fuck did you do that for?” The linebacker asked in a calm quiet voice that only Dan could hear.
“I’m really sorry man. I don’t know why I did it. I’m sorry. It was stupid.” Dan said to this Goliath.
“What the fuck did you do that for?” He asked again.
“I don’t know. It was stupid and I apologize. I don’t know what you want me to say. It was a mistake and I’m sorry. You want me to give you money?”
“Yeah. Give me some fucking money. Fucking brat. I could KILL you, you know that?”
“I know. I’m really sorry. It was a stupid thing to do. I’m really sorry.” Dan said as he reached into his wallet.
“I’m not one of your fucking frat boys man. You don’t fuck with a stranger’s car. You know. You’re lucky I’m a nice guy.” The enormous linebacker said and snatched the 20-dollar bill away from the small white man’s fingers. He then turned around and nodded his head to his friend with the white towel. Dan could hear the words, “stupid fucking honky scare like a bitch.”
Dan could feel his penis inside his jeans shrivel to a wrinkle of what it was. He wanted to be outraged at this. But everything told him to be happy with the transaction. He was off easy. With one punch the linebacker could have shattered any bone he made contact with.
Dan turned around to see his friends were gone.
He quickly walked the remaining half block to Omar’s house and saw the two on the porch. Omar had his back against the house and V. was draped over the front of his body. Omar had his hand around her neck and V. had one hand on his chest and the other wrapped around his waist.
V heard footsteps and turned around. “Dan we were so worried about you.”
“What the fuck Omar?” Dan yelled, regaining his pride and confidence.
Omar began laughing, V. let go of him as he doubled over laughing.
“Holy shit man. That was hilarious. You got your ass punked out.”
“Man you owe me 10 bucks.” Dan said.
“What the hell you talking about. I didn’t make you give him 20 dollars.”
“You told me to hit the car.”
“So fucking what. You didn’t have to do it.”
“Give me 10 bucks man. You pussied out, you ran away.”
“Dan. I’m not giving you 10 dollars. You should have ran too. You didn’t have to talk to that guy. Did you see how big he was? Plus he had his pants down to his ankles, he couldn’t have run very fast… that’s how people like us have to deal with those fucking bulks of meat.”
“Man you’re a pussy. You should have helped me out.”
“Fuck you Dan. You gotta take care of yourself. Be a man. Be responsible.”
“Omar you’re a fuckin’ BITCH!” he screamed at his friend and got in his face and pushed him. Testosterone had flowed through his veins and he needed an outlet.
“Dan. What are you going to do? Are you going to hit me? Fine hit me.” And Omar took of his hat and stood straight. Turning his chin to the side to give Dan a good angle to strike him.
Omar could see Dan’s body go rigid and his fist clench like he really wanted to throw his stubby knuckles into his friend’s cheek.
“Fuck you man. I’m bigger than this.” Dan said and Omar put his hat back on, thinking to himself ‘no you’re not.’
Dan walked over to V. and put his arms around her. “Baby,” he said, “I’m so glad you’re my friend, seems like you’re the only friend I have. I don’t know what I’d do without you. I’m so glad you’re a part of my life.” He let go of V. after a long embrace and hopped off the porch and walked across the lawn. He turned his head and called out, “You’re a bitch Omar.”
Omar watched him walk across the street and back the direction the riots were. Omar looked to V. and shook his head.
“You should have just given him 10 dollars to make him feel better.” V. said to him.
“Man. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. He knows money flows between us. He drinks for free on me all the time. There was a month when he didn’t work and I paid for every one of his drinks at the Barrel. It’s bullshit. He just wanted to call me out in front of you. He knew the next time we went drinking I’d buy him a round and say it was for the Fridge.”
“I feel bad for him.”
“Yeah me too. That guy was huge, man. He was like three times the size of me and Dan. I don’t know why Dan just didn’t run. That’s the only logical thing to do.”
“I wish Pete was here. He would have thought this was awesome.” V. said as they sat down in their porch chairs and looked out into the seemingly calm night.
“Yeah, I know. He would have loved this. He would have been talking about how absurd it all was. He loves that. The absurd.”
“Yeah.” She said distantly.
“I don’t want you ever hooking up with Dan. He’s a shit-brain.”
“Gross.” V. exaggerated, “I’d never hook up with Dan. I don’t like that kid. I don’t why he thinks we’re so close.”
“Yeah. It’s weird isn’t it.” Omar said, thinking. “You should tell him to leave you alone.” He said.
“I can’t, it’d be too awkward.”
“Well. Don’t ever hook up with him. If you're going to hook up with one of my friends make it Pete. We’d at least be able to talk about it intelligently.”
“Ok.” V. said.
“What? NO. You’re supposed to say, ‘hell no Omar, you’re the only one I ever want’.”
She laughed and reached her arm out to his. “I’m just kidding!” she said adamantly. “You’re the only one I want to be with.” She repeated his words and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek.
They sat in silence and then Omar said, “Remember when the campus decided to riot for the sake of a riot?”
“Yeah. That just happened.” V. replied.
“Wasn’t that really fucked up?” He asked.
“I guess so.”
“Cause there really was no point to it. It was supposedly because the basketball team lost, but that was just an excuse for a feeling that was already there, you know? People here are on edge all the time. They’re always ready to riot. They want it and look for it. There’s something wrong with the environment.”
V watched him speak and let him finish. She loved the way he talked, she loved how smart she thought he was. She looked off into the road and thought about what he’d said.
“Just think if you could get people that excited about something that really matters, like politics, or global warming, or universal health care, or the Iraq war or anything. It’s really strange they would riot over basketball but not anything that matters.” Omar said.
“Yeah, you’re right.” V. said excitedly. She didn’t excite Omar, though, she always agreed with him. If he said there was nothing to get excited about she’d believe him just the same.
“Life is kinda fucked up, huh?” Omar said as he turned his head to his girlfriend.
“At least you have me right?” She said and Omar looked at her and smirked a little bitterly.
“I’m so glad you’re a part of my life.” He repeated Dan’s words to her. She smiled and he thought of Dan and how Dan was obsessed with his girlfriend. He also thought about three weeks ago when he’d slept with Dan’s ex-girlfriend because he wanted to have that over him; he wanted to say in a bar sometime: ‘hey Dan, remember Ashley? I fucked her, ain’t that hilarious?’.”