Free Last Stop This Town by David Steinberg Page B

someone I care about. I don’t even know your name and you don’t speak English so it’s not like we’re getting to know each other here. Ah, I’m such an idiot. Look, I appreciate the offer, but I just can’t. I’m so sorry.”
    Walker pulled his shirt back on. Maybe she had no idea what had just happened, but at least she understood that they were done fooling around.
    She gave Walker a reassuring hug before getting dressed.

    The other room was now covered in foam from the fire extinguishers, and everyone was laughing like it was the funniest thing they’d ever seen.
    Pike was on a swivel desk chair and propelled himself across the room by discharging the fire extinguisher. “Ev-a!” he screamed, doing his best Wall-e impersonation.
    Just then, Walker emerged from the bedroom. His friends saw him and hooted and hollered. Walker couldn’t help but blush. He made his way over to the couch and Dylan high-fived him.
    “How was it?”
    Walker was not about to tell them the truth, for fear of permanently obliterating his already pathetic sexual reputation. “Good. Awesome.”
    Dylan seemed more excited than Walker. “Yeah, baby!”
    Noah patted Walker on the back. “She is so hot. Nicely done.”
    Walker tried to hide his embarrassment by changing the subject. “So let’s head out.”
    Pike wasn’t going anywhere. “We’re fucking around with fire extinguishers.”
    Walker raised his voice, irritated. “So you guys want to stay here all night?”
    Dylan picked up on the shift in Walker’s demeanor and sensed something was up. He looked over at the girl still standing in the doorway with her arms crossed. He knew what girls looked like after sex, and that wasn’t it.
    He covered for Walker, “Yeah, Walker’s right. Let’s get going.”
    The others agreed and Pike packed up his book bag of weed.
    Jesus opened the door and shook Pike’s hand. “Say hi to Ned for me.”
    “Hey, where do you know Ned from anyway?” Dylan wondered aloud.
    “Junior Entrepreneurs Camp.”
    Noah and Dylan looked at each other, amused.
    As the guys headed out, Walker looked back at the girl one more time. They made eye contact and she smiled a goodbye.
    Walker didn’t regret his decision.
    Jesus closed the door and walked back into the apartment. He turned to his cousin, Carmelita, and teasingly asked in Spanish, “You have fun, you big slut?”
    Carmelita replied in Spanish, “Oh, nothing happened. He couldn’t get it up.”

 
    CHAPTER ELEVEN
    I T WAS CLOSE to nine p.m. and it was finally time to find the party Dylan kept talking about. They had paid eighty bucks each upfront and got special hologram-etched wristbands overnighted to them from Dylan’s friend. It wasn’t just supposed to be better than a high school party, it was supposed to be in a whole other category, and the guys were starting to get really excited.
    Dylan drove south on the West End Highway as Noah read the text message off Dylan’s phone. Walker was checking for GPS directions on Pike’s phone but for some reason the address didn’t seem to exist, which kind of made the party seem even cooler.
    “It says it’s off Front Street,” Noah told the others.
    “I’m freaking hungry,” Pike moaned, his munchies kicking in. “Can we stop for some food?”
    Walker found something on Pike’s phone. “This says Front Street is near Wall Street.”
    Noah wasn’t sure. “The warehouse is near Wall Street? That can’t be right.”
    “Let’s just ask for directions,” Walker suggested.
    But Dylan felt confident that the warehouse would magically reveal itself to them. “Relax. We’ll find it.”
    Forty minutes later, Dylan turned down Water Street for the third time. They were officially lost. They tried turning onto Fulton Street, then Beekman.
    Thirty minutes after that, they were completely off target, cruising up Avenue A.
    “Is this the Village?” Noah asked. Sure, West Hartford was only two hours away from New York, but that didn’t