Sunday, July 10, 2005

   Cream Filling: Origins (Chapter I)
Cream looked over his shoulder at the clock behind him. It was almost seven and almost a full hour after everyone else was supposed to have already arrived. Sighing, he turned back to the television, laid across the couch he was on and made some exasperated popping noises with his mouth. Boredom did not even begin to describe the feelings welling inside his head.

"Where the piss are those guys?" he complained over his head.
"It's almost an hour late, I'm sure they'll be here any time," Knight answered. Cream scoffed.
"And this doesn't bug ya at all?"
"Meh . . . not like I can't afford to stay up a bit later to make up for it . . ."

Ever the easy-going one when he wanted to, Cream's friend and roommate got up and went back to the kitchen to grab whatever snack he could from the pantry. Cream rolled his eyes even though he was out of sight; the others might have stayed up as long as they wanted to drink and revel, but he had to wake up for morning classes which he simply did not dare to miss.

The phone rang rhythmically to Cream's relief and quickly buzzed the other three into the building.
"Yo Knight," he said, "open the door. I wanna be free to punch the first one that steps through." Knight grinned as he put down the box of crackers.
"Sure, why not."

Within a minute or so, there came a knocking at the door. Cream took up his position to the side of the door while Knight began opening the door.
"Hey guys, what's . . . ah!" Jason cried out as he desparately blocked the quick cross aimed for his shoulder.
"What the piss took you guys?!" Cream shouted to the enjoyment of everyone else.
"It just took a little time, was all!" Jason answered back between a light laugh, "Geez Fil', what the hell's up your ass?"
"Not beer, in any case," Cream answered flatly. "Can we go already?"

As the five young men walked the fairly short distance from the apartments to the uptown area of town, quick banter was exchanged by all.
"So this absolute dickwad comes into the dealership," Jones began, describing his day at work, "bitching about how his warranty deal would be no good to him if the car already costed as much as it does, and I'm trying to explain to him that not getting the warranty is gonna kill him if something happens to him down the line . . ." Everyone laughed as Jones milked out every painful expression he could possibly know.
"Yeah, but at least you're making good money because of it," Knight answered back quickly. "I seriously wanted to punch out my computer monitor the last time someone started bitching at me about his freaking order that didn't even make sense."

"Why don't you leave the call center if you hate it so much?" Jones asked back almost rhetorically. Just before Knight could answer, Cream jumped in quickly.
"Oh, don't get him started on that, man," he said. "This could make him cry . . ."
"Oh shut up dickface," Knight responded, "at least I actually went out and got a job by myse . . ."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know." Cream was not in the mood to get into that one again and the others knew it.

"Alright," Tim said once all the emotions had fallen a bit, "let's just settle it this way: Jason buys the first round because he's still a bum."
"What?!" Jason cried out, almost tripping as they came to a street corner. Tim lowered his brow and grinned cruelly.
"Oh? Got a problem with it, peon?" he said, staring Jason dead in the eyes.
"Uh . . . . no . . ."
"Good . . . . ."


* * * * * * *


By the time they had run out of cash and had exited the local bar, the moon was already shining brightly through the few clouds in the night sky and the streets were all but silent once again. The five of them were laughing and falling over each other as they stumbled along the sidewalk in no particular direction.
"Alright, I kinda wanna play pool now," Knight said amidst the laughter. "Anyone else?"
"Yeah, sure," Jason answered, "if anyone'll spot me some cash."
"Useless 'tard . . ." Tim muttered.
"Hey, piss off!" Jason shouted back before trying to attack Tim. The larger, better built man was quick to belt him one in the stomach and settle him back down - again, laughter erupted within the group.
"Hey," Cream said as Jason started getting back up, "before you all head off to the pool hall, let me try something . . ."

Making their way into one of the small parking areas behind the stores of the small commercial strip, Cream scouted out a small coupe furthest from the lights.
"You wanna break into another one, Fil'?" Tim asked.
"No, even better," Cream said as he took out the small pieces of wire he had in his pocket. "You guys just keep an eye out for me, alright?" While the others made a wide circle around him as lookouts, Cream inserted the bent bits of wire into the car's keyhole and deftly unlocked the door. The young man quickly smiled to himself and let himself into the driver's seat
"Oh Fil', what the piss are you trying to do?" Jones asked, "I seriously don't feel like running tonight." Cream chuckled with fake malice.
"If this works out, we won't need to run anywhere!" From his other jacket pocket Cream retrieved a small screwdriver and began working under the steering column of the car.

After a few more minutes of the talented youths tinkering and his friends' near-panic, the car engine roared to life.
"Haha! I did it!" Cream proclaimed gleefully.
"Holy crap!" Jones exclaimed in disbelief, "you actually pulled it off!" The others were quick to offer similar congratulations. Cream basked for another short moment, revved the engine hard a few more times, and then disconnected his messy wiring. The engine cut out instantly.

"Fil', what the hell?!" Knight said. "Why'd you turn it off?!" Cream cocked his eyes at his roommate.
"What?! I'm not friggin' stealing a car!"
"We could have driven it back before they knew it, man!" The others were quick to side with Knight's rationale.
"No man, no joyride tonight . . . or any night. Not when my ass could be the next one getting opened up in prison." Jason, the smallest and easily the most affected by the night's consumption, made the first reply.
"Pshh, you know you'd like it . . ." he said getting a fast rise out of everybody. Cream instantly got out of the car and began chasing the other man around. The chase ended abruptly when the back door to one of the stores opened and the five of them darted away, giggling.

Once everyone's pulse had lowered once again, Knight spoke again.
"Alright, screw the pool hall, let's just go score some weed from the guy in the park and do that." Once again, a flurry of agreement arose.
"Oh hell yeah!" Tim shouted, "let's friggin' do it!" Jones and Jason made similar noise.

Cream, however, remained silent. Naturally he did not go unnoticed.
"You wanna come with, Fil'?" Knight asked with little compassion. Cream nodded sarcastically in response.
"Ahh . . . I got classes tomorrow, man," he said. "Not tonight."
"'Cause you would have come otherwise, right?"
"That's right."
"Psh . . . well, it's not like we didn't expect that."

Cream's hands tightened into fists as the others laughed lightly, but loosened them once he exhaled.
"Alright man, I'll see ya at home later, then," he said. "Don't friggin' do anything to retarded, alright?" The others were already walking the other direction, waving and saying their goodbyes. With that, Cream turned around, shook his head quickly and regained his balance, and headed home.


[I do realise I used the name "Jones" in Nougat: Origins. But hey, it's a common name and this time it actually means something . . . I'll tell ya why another time, though. It's a common name, anyway . . .]
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