I followed him slowly into the Weaponry, conscious of all the gun-nuts watching me with eyebrows raised. "Uh, Eric? Why are we here?"
He laughed as though it was stupid of me to ask. "Getting a gun, of course."
"Uh huh. And has it occurred to you how difficult it would be for a seventeen year-old kid with a bad police record to actually obtain one?"
More laughing. Man, is everything funny to this guy? "I'm just picking one up for a friend."
I looked at him. "And you think they'll let you do that?"
"Relax, Kay. I know someone."
I was about to say: 'You do?' But I stopped myself. It would only end in more laughter at my stupid questions.
Eric walked up to the desk at the front and rang the bell. A greasy-looking man wearing a stained tank-top and torn sweats answered. "Sorry. Don't sell to kids." He said in a gruff, gurgling voice, sounding like something had crawled into his throat but didn't die. "Go away."
Eric leaned against the desk, winking at me. I wanted to punch his nose in. "Iggy sent me."
The man (Who I assume was Sal) narrowed his beady little eyes. "Yer not a cop, are ya?"
"I'm seventeen, dude."
Sal nodded, "Iggy said you'd be young. It's a bad crowd to be hanging out with, kid. You can still turn back."
"I don't need a moral lesson." Eric snapped. "Just gimme the gun."
Sal pulled out a black pistol and slid it over the desk to Eric. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
"Yeah, yeah." Eric mumbled, twirling the gun with his finger once before he slipped it into his coat. "Come on, Kay. I just need to drop this off, then we can catch that movie." He lead me out the door and back into the car before I had the chance to say 'no'.
"Are you in a gang, man?" I couldn't help asking.
"Nah." Eric said, turning the car a little too sharply. "They're not a gang. Just some guys I hang out with and they needed me to pick up Iggy's gun."
"If they're not a gang, then why get a gun?"
"Protection. 'Cause you never know," He replied, his dark eyes seeming to reflect nothing. "you never know."
I didn't bother questioning that.
__________________________________________________________________
Eric drove down several allies and took a little off-road detour before we arrived.
Iggy's place could only best be described as a shack. Tattered roof, four walls slapped together, one grimy window and a door that seemed to only be hanging by a thread. It looked like the house made of sticks after the Big Bad Wolf got through with it.
Before we even had the chance to knock, Iggy opened the door. He wasn't very tall or muscular but, damn, he was scary-looking. Two black hawk's eyes that seemed to look right through you, bony, long-fingered hands, a sharp chin and messy brown hair, sticking up in random places all over his head. "Eric," He said, his voice cutting into me like a knife. "Did you bring it?"
Eric smiled his almost evil-looking smirk. "Sure did, man." He pulled out the gun from his coat pocket. "Right here."
Iggy snatched the gun from Eric's hands. "Is it loaded?"
Eric looked at it for a moment. "Shouldn't be."
"Should we test it?" Iggy asked with a sly smile and pointed the gun at me. "How about on yer girlfriend?"
I don't know what infuriated me more, the fact that I now had a gun pointed at me or the fact that this Iggy guy thought me and Eric were together. "If it is, I wouldn't shoot me. I swear I'll come back and haunt you."
Iggy laughed. Honestly, why is everything I say so funny? "Relax, I wouldn't shoot you. I ain't no murderer."
"Then why do you have a gun?"
That made him mad. He turned a very distinct shade of red and pointed one of his bony fingers at me, like in a dramatic scene from a movie. "That's not for you to know." He turned to Eric. "You should go now. Shauna's coming over and I don't want you to screw things up again! Go!"
Eric chuckled and trotted over to his car, and, after one glance at Iggy, I followed him, not bothering to ask what 'again' meant. I was asking far too many questions lately.
"Well, he sure is a delightful fellow." I muttered sarcastically as we drove off.
"Isn't he fun?" I raised an eyebrow at Eric but said nothing. "Aw, come on, Kay. You should hang out with me more often. Never a dull moment."
"Oh, yes, I'm having a blast." I sighed.
Eric put his arm around my shoulder and I glared at him with an 'If-you-don't-move-that-arm-right-now-I'm-going-to-snap-it-in-half' kind of look. He quickly moved his arm, not meeting my eye. I enjoyed that.
"Well now," He started, still not meeting my eye, "how about that movie?"
