Of Eastern Boys and Western Girls Okay, I'm from the South, but I'm not counting, are you?
Too much almost happened last night for my taste. I finally got to see Griffin yesterday afternoon. He buzzed by the house after work, and when I didn't answer the door because I was in the shower, he came busting in, grabbed Pan, and decided to give me the "I missed you" speech through the shower curtain. Good to see him, even though it was obstructed by obnoxious shells and oceanic things on that piece of plastic. Told him I'd talk to him when I got out.
I throw my clothes on and go to get my hug while he's on the 'puter. He's pissy, apparently had been since we talked Friday. Throws me some of the poetry he's written since I was gone, and glaringly there is a bit about, "I won't play second fiddle..." Funny, I don't remember asking him too. We decide to vamoose before CHip gets home and head to his house.
There I call Onya...and things are NOT GOOD. She's this sweet innocent Italian girl from Jersey, no, that's not an oximoron. Apparently with her pulling away from her father and the Jehovah's, she was freaking out so badly she went on antidepressants. This last weekend, she had had enough, and killed the rest of the bottle along with 3/4 a bottle of tequila. She had just gotten out of the clinic hours before I had called her. Needless to say, I'm going to see her today. She had family over last night, otherwise I would have gone right then. She's one of the few I would even consider asking to come stay with me in Baltimore. I don't think I would be happy walking this world knowing she wasn't in it too. She's under my wing.
Ryan and I decide to grab some dinner at Flannagan's even though she can't go. I need a black and tan like nobody's business. We start to talking and a lot got admitted. It's all fun and games 'til someone gets their feelings hurt. He has no idea why I'm doing the things I'm doing, so I had to explain it. I drop him back at his home, read his cards, and decide to go home and throw the dress on so I can go say goodbye to ficus. I go find him, and of course he's sitting with Loopy Dave. He had turned to Dave and said,"I smell Kir, I don't know why." "Funny, that's Kir walking up here right now."
I grabbed a Bass and sat down. We talked about everything, including all the things that Griffin had already relayed. Let's just say that after everything, the three of us are friends now. "Marcus, there are times when I think it would just be easier if I had a dick. Then friendships would stay just that, friendships." He admitted things about our relationship that were not in the least cruel but hurt nonetheless. I really had hurt him. But we decided we were too good a friends to not keep in contact. I'm going to take him to see his family near Ocean City in April.
Griffin decided to pop in Insomnia even though he said he wouldn't. This is where things got really interesting.
Meghan, that girl who's originally from Baltimore, the one with Eat Bertha's Mussels plastered on the back of her Volvo, she decided to really start some shit. She knows she had Griffin on a string for about a year. When I came into the picture, he finally shook his head about how she was making him behave, and she did not like how she was no longer the center of his attention....if it's really possible to be the center of his attention. She dragged him out back, let him know she was seeing one of his best friends, Sam, and decided to give him a slew of shit. After they argued, she said, "I'm your friend, I'll be there for you if you need me." I've never seen words be turned around so quickly in my life.
When Griffin decided to leave, after I got my lighter back and continued talking to Ficus, she asked him if she could walk out with him. They were apparently discussing him and me, and her and Loopy Dave. That's right, two years of abstinance down the tubes because she decided to flip out and sleep with her friend. And this is Griffin's fault how?
There were four cop cars at the Italian restaurant next door because an alarm had gone off. They asked Griffin and Meghan what they were doing, then they realized Meghan was about four sheets to the wind. She's twenty. She drank like a fish before she had even gotten there. She took off back into the shop as they asked Griffin what he was doing down from Connecticut, and was he bothering that girl.
Ficus and were the first two to realize the cops were talking to her, as they had asked her to come back out. Marcus and I looked at each other and I said, "You go find out where Ryan is, I'll pay the tab and be right out." Marc came up to me at the counter minutes later and said, "I think they've arrested Ryan." Everything in me just sank, I dropped my wallet and just looked at him, both of us white as ghosts.
Hurry outside, where I hear Meghan say, "That asshole's been following me. We used to work together, and he follows me wherever I go." FICKLE! Fucking bitch was trying to get the attention off of her. The cops were talking to the owner and his son, and they were denying that they had ever sold her any booze. So what's this minor doing intoxicated and what did that guy want with her? They had sat Griffin in the police car and were running his lisense. They made Meghan make a statement by telling him to stop following her. Marcus/ficus looks at me and says, "That's fucked up. Everyone knows he spends most of his time with you, and that she's been calling him." I looked at him and knew without a doubt, Marcus was one of the best goddamn friends Griffin and I were lucky to have. Wash of nausea and remorse comes over me.
"Marcus, could you go see what they're gonna do with him? See what we can do? You always were really good with cops."
He said, "We may have to bail him out."
"I know."
Nothing. They decided to do nothing with Griffin except put the warning on his record. Meghan was off crying in Sam's arms, the stupid little twit, and even her friends came up to Marc and me saying, "She's really taken all of this too far." She had better hope she never runs into me after this night. You don't hurt my boys, I'm sorry.
Meghan and Sam hit the road, the cops left, and Griffin was left leaning against his car. We gave him a few minutes, then he walked over and asked me if I could give him a ride home. Do crabs eat bacon? Of course.
I hugged Marcus, thanked him, and told him I'd be by his place Thursday to drop off that painting and take some pictures. "No problem."
Listened to Griffin boast about how well he handled the cops, he was raised by one after all, for about four hours, my sleep interrupted every ten minutes with a new exclaimation about how fucked up the situation was or about how big a bitch she is.
I was just glad he was safe. That things were finally done between the two of them, because she just hurt him so much. That Marcus was really the knight in shining armor I used to think he was.
Of course this would have to happen on one of the last nights I would be in town...it's still all patterns. Eastern boys, cops, Italians, Hungarians, Greeks. It's the same kind of cast just a different stage and different plot. It doesn't matter where the hell I am, there I be, right in the middle.
Two good things came out of all of this mess, though. Griffin's gonna try and get to Long Island ahead of time, his original goal being June 1st. And Marcus and I are going to restart our friendship, and I stress the word friendship, especially with his coming up in April. Can I make it possible to get everyone I care about the hell out of Florida? All of my friends are from the North or 'Back East' anyway. Can I just pack then up and take them back home with me?