Kruppo

Chapter 20
The California Pizza Kitchen was almost completely full, but we managed to squeeze into a booth in the far corner of the restaurant. Morale was high, and we were all just happy to be away from home, excited at the thought that tomorrow night, Juggernaut would be performing for the first time in more than a year. There seemed to be a bright light at the end of the tunnel after all, and we all discussed the possibilities of our success, and what we could do should we perform at an unbelievable level.
“Heck, Marty might have us back up here again sometime if we really pull it off.” David’s eyes were getting starry; someone had to calm him down, so I spoke up first.
“Let’s not get crazy about this, guys,” I said. “First, let’s just concentrate on getting through tomorrow night. Opportunities can come later.”
“That’s true,” Brian remarked, glancing at the menu. “Anybody want some appetizers to start off with?”
We went through the menu for a little bit, ordered drinks, and were just sitting back saying nothing in particular when Jake frowned suddenly. “You know,” he said. “I just remembered something.”
“Nothing serious, right?” Whenever Jake frowned, it usually wasn’t good. Immediately, the mood at the table shifted to something fairly darker.
“No,” he shook his head. “Nothing big. I just remembered my boss wanted me to call him to let him know what the deal was, and if I’m working this week. I’d better call him.” He stood up then and went outside before a word could be said.
“He sure takes this job seriously,” Jessie said then. “What does he do, construction?”
“No, that was what he did a while ago,” I said. “I think he was working in a Blockbuster.”
“Really? I didn’t know that.” Jessie shrugged. We went back to talking about nothing serious, impatiently waiting for Jake to get back so that we could finally order. When he finally came back, he had a smoldering look in his eyes, and there was no doubt that something terrible had happened.
“What’s wrong, man?” Ty was the first to pick up on it.
“Just lost my job,” Jake sat down quietly. Sitting across from him, it was easy to see the rage that was being gathered up in him. “Apparently, there was a miscommunication, and my boss figured I was working this week when I clearly told him two weeks ago that I wasn’t available. Dickhead just fired me because he was pissed off.”
“That’s crap, man.” David said. Everyone nodded their assent.
The waitress came over, and we changed the subject. Jake lost his anger gradually, and his mood became mellow after a few good jokes between Ty and Jessie. Brian leaned back against the booth seating, and suddenly he blurted out-
“Hey, would you guys wanna head to the strip after this? I mean, what else do we have to do?”
He had a good point. Then someone started to talk about clubbing, and the conversation went from there. Ty wanted to take a walk in case there were any girls that ‘needed escorting’ and Jessie wanted to check the local clubs.
“I’d rather not,” Brian said. “I mean, David can’t even get in, can he?”
“Depends on which one we hit up,” Ty reminded him. “Remember? Some of these places let guys 18 or older in. It would just mean we’d have to leave before two in the morning; but then again, we weren’t planning on staying out that late anyway, right?”
“I don’t know about that,” Jessie had a wicked smile on his face, and Jake was now grinning as well.
“If I recall,” I said slowly. “Jessie, Ty, and I are the only guys here who are single. What’s with the rest of you?”
Brian and Jake both laughed at this, but my remark caught David square, and he looked down at the table, trying to avoid looking at me. I felt guilty then, having forgotten what had happened a few weeks ago.
“Hey, I’m still single,” Jake protested then. “Just because me and that girl are interested in each other don’t mean a thing. Nothing’s happened save for that one night.”
“You’re absolutely incredible, you know that?” It wasn’t too much of a surprise to me, I had to admit; that was Jake for you. Any girl was fair game to him.
“So it’s settled then?” Brian asked. “We’re making for the strip, and any club we find along the way?”
“Provided they’re cheap to get into,” Jessie sighed. “Money’s a problem nowadays.”
“If money was an issue, you wouldn’t be here right now.” I had to laugh at him. Jessie glared at me, jokingly.
“Let’s do it.” David was the deciding factor for us; he pounded the table lightly. “We’re on vacation. Everything should be a blast from here on out.”
One could only hope so. If there was one thing I had learned from experience, it was that the good times were almost always followed by bad. This was the start of summer; it was time to celebrate another year of schooling finished, and another winter finished and put away in everyone’s memory. But even though summer was a sign of all that was sunny, bright, and beautiful in America, it was also a target for bad karma to swiftly steal onto the scene and screw everything up.
I had no fear of bad karma at the time, however; despite my misfortune with Rachel, my hopes were for a truly wonderful summer, and a brilliant break that was rejuvenate any lost energy spent on school, and frustrations at home. This was no false hope. I sincerely could feel something good coming around the corner of the not-so-distant-future. Something that would change my life, or at the least give me some time to enjoy life, instead of constantly fearing it.
-
For the duration of the night after dinner, we crashed around the strip, not really caring where we went or what scene we made. We were the entertainment, and the party, no matter where we went. People stared at us from all directions, but none of us paid heed. We hit up several shops, almost all of us buying some stupid souvenir we’d no doubt regret getting later.
It didn’t really matter to us. What really mattered was that we were doing all that we could to ensure that not one moment we spent on that night was wasted. And I was fairly sure, by the time we had got back to Marty’s house and I crashed down on the couch in his basement, the trip was already a success.

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I'm so post-rock I shit sad birds