There was loud knocking at the door around eleven just as I finished brewing a fresh pot of coffee. I debated whether or not to answer, assuming that Hillel was crashing and wanting to come home to recoup. Biting my lip I decided to answer in case it was one of his students who didn’t get the memo that Hillel probably wouldn’t be around anymore because he liked to bang other women. The knocking persisted as I turned off the coffee pot and threw on a house coat. It was a relief when I didn’t see Hillel standing in the doorway but still a minor annoyance when I saw the skinny kid from yesterday shooting me a devilish grin.
“Hey. Is Hillel here? I was hoping to catch a lesson or something.” Smoke trails rolled out of his pouty lips as he brought his cigarette back to the corner of his mouth.
“Hillel isn’t here” I said flatly. “He probably won’t be here anymore, I can give you a few numbers of places he hangs out so you can contact him.”
“Oh.” The devilish grin never seemed to leave this kid’s face; he poked his head in through the door looking towards the kitchen. “Anything for breakfast?”
“No not today only coffee, I’ll go get those numbers for you. Wait here for a second.”
Totally ignoring what I just said to him he followed me to the kitchen and took a seat at the table. I shot him a quizzical look a little shocked at his boldness and lack of tact making himself at home in the kitchen.
“So you don’t have any cereal or anything?”
“Don’t your parents feed you?” I retorted grabbing a pen and some paper.
“I don’t live with my parents so the food supply is pretty limited.” His eyes followed my hands intently as I scribbled down Anthony and Jack’s phone numbers, never breaking focus. He was interesting to say the least, and obviously unaware of personal boundaries.
“Here you go, you should be able to get ahold of Hillel at one of these numbers. Good luck.”
When I finished writing everything down I stood up and handed him the folded piece of paper which he then placed in his ratty torn up pocket. He looked up at me with that same stupid smile plastered on his face like he always did and looked me up and down.
He let out a snort “I like your bathrobe, is it real silk?”
“No it’s not but thanks anyway. You should probably get going now I have things to do.”
“None of your business that’s what, can you please get out of here?”
“Want to get breakfast with me?” Shit that’s all this dude thinks about!
“Because I don’t want to.”
“You should, you look sad and your snappy attitude is obviously a sign that you need to eat. I’ll pitch in for gas or whatever.”
I stopped for a second realizing that I was actually pretty hungry although the idea of having breakfast with this strange kid wasn’t very appealing.
“I know what you’re thinking,” He said leaning back in his chair. “You think I’m some loser kid trying to get into your pants and you’re too cool because you have an older boyfriend in a great band. But you’re what? 18? 19? Yeah?”
“Exactly, your only 18 ‘but…’ You forget your real age a lot because you run around with an older crowd huh? I would too, but the truth is not everybody takes you seriously because of that. You’re probably right in saying that I’m young, dumb, and would totally bang you but don’t you get tired of pretending to be a grown up? All I’m asking is that you come eat with me because we’re both hungry and you could use somebody your own age hanging around.”
Flashes of the bar last night when people were making comments about kids getting in and Hillel making out with someone closer to his age raced through my mind. I never thought much about our age gap and as far as I was concerned the moment I turned 18 I was an adult, and people seemed to agree. Was it all just a show? Or did people really respect me despite my age?
“…Fine. Give me whatever cash you have and we can go to this place Hillel and I eat at whenever we can. It’s a bit of a drive but it’s fantastic.”
“Quit tugging at your skirt you look fine” Haya calmly grabbed my hand and pulled me up to the front door. Music was blasting and we could hear people inside yelling and laughing at indistinct conversations.
“I’ve never been to a party before dude, what if I’m over dressed? Are you sure Anthony won’t be mad that I’m here with you?”
“Again, you look fine so quit worrying about that, and Anthony has been begging to meet you for a long time now. He feels bad that I spend so much time with him and never bring you along, so get in there and introduce yourself to as many people as possible okay?”I nodded nervously following her inside weaving in between swarms of people looking for Anthony. “Follow me!” Haya shouted as she darted over to a small circle of guys hanging out in the corner next to a dirty fireplace. They welcomed her warmly and handed her a beer barely noticing me lurking awkwardly on the outside of their circle. “Everyone, this is my best friend I’m always talking about!” She announced. “I finally managed to drag her out of her solitary punk environment for an evening and I want you all to make her feel welcome.” A blush crept across my face as everyone introduced themselves and shook my hand.
“I’m happy you both made it! Do you want a beer?” Anthony said with a smile gesturing to a small cooler tucked away in the fireplace.
“Sure, if you don’t mind” I stammered.
“We have plenty to share if you want one, you don’t have to.”
“Well if you have a few to spare then I’ll indulge.”
“To indulgence!” Everyone raised their glasses in an epic toast to kick the night off.
Haya and Anthony disappeared after a while and my small crowd of acquaintances dispersed as more people walked through the door leaving me alone next to the record player that was playing a warped ‘Germs’ record. Nearly half of the western wall was lined with shelves filled with stacks and stacks of records, all filed alphabetically in perfect order. I entertained myself browsing the broad selection while guzzling as many drinks as I could hoping to gain enough confidence to talk to somebody, anybody, or at least try and find Haya.
“Quite a collection huh? I’m always begging Anthony for his signed copy of ‘Rocket to Russia.’“ Turning around I tried to steady my vision to see who exactly was talking to me, much to my surprise it was the one friend of Anthony’s who had hardly seemed interested in introducing himself earlier.
“Oh… so this is Anthony’s collection? I was wondering who had such amazing taste in music, I’m glad Haya finally found somebody at least kind of cool.”
“Yeah I’m only half responsible for helping him build his collection; the rest is all on his dad. I swear every time I buy a new record it always winds up on this shelf, but sharing is caring I guess.” He let out a throaty chuckle and pulled one of the records off of the shelf, examining the cover. “I’m Hillel by the way, I didn’t really have a chance to introduce myself earlier with all of the excitement going on.”
“It’s fine, honestly I’m kind of drunk so I’m not sure I would have remembered anyway.” I could feel my eyes rolling around like marbles in a tin can so I stuck my hands in my pockets and leaned against the wall trying to steady myself. How embarrassing.
“Well you seem to be keeping it together pretty fine, I like your jacket by the way. Is that real leather?”
“Yeah my parents got it for me when I got baptized, my father said it was an inappropriate gift to be presented at the church but I refused any other gift. Sort of a bratty move but what can you do? I was like 14 and didn’t want anything else.”
“Baptized in the church for a leather jacket huh? Can’t get any better than a punk as fuck catholic girl.” We laughed and stood talking for a while until the party died down and people began to stagger home.
“Fuck” I said looking at the clock. “The buses stopped running an hour ago, and Haya refused to drive home until tomorrow. I guess I could walk back to Silverlake…” I cursed and slurred under my breath failing to think of any logical solution on how to get home.
“Well if you’re not creeped out I could drive you home, there’s no way I’m going to let you walk all the way to Silverlake from here you’re way too drunk.”
“No it’s cool save your gas, it’s only a few miles away.”
“Don’t worry about that I have a day job so I can afford the extra 50 or so cents that it will cost me to put gas in my tank. I’m not going to let a pretty girl walk home in the dark, they don’t call me the Israeli cowboy for nothing!” I began to blush hardly believing that this hot guy actually called me cute and was willing to take me back to my place.
About fifteen minutes later we pulled up to the front of my house nestled in the darkness behind a burnt out street light. We sat in silence for a while not even looking at each other, listening to the motor running.
“Well here we are” He said breaking the silence.
“Yeah… here it is… can I tell you something? Promise you won’t get mad?” My voice was sloppy and drawn out.
“Well you see… I actually told my parents that I was staying with Haya for the night so I wouldn’t be able to make it to Sunday services…”
“So what do you want to do?” He looked over at me with clear bright eyes and I could feel myself sinking in his gaze.
“Hmm… I have some change in my purse, do you want to just drive around? It’s my favorite thing to do. I mean you don’t have to if you don’t want to but-“
“That sounds great actually, I know of a really great place pretty far away that serves the best hang over food on the earth, we could go there if you want. We could nibble on pancakes and watch the sun rise.”
“Where the hell are we? This place is in the middle of nowhere, it’s just desert for hours and hours!” John poked at his egg yolks sending little rivers of yellow over the crisp white. “What’s so special about this truck stop diner anyway?”
“Just shut up and eat your breakfast and maybe I’ll buy you a pack of cigarettes.”
