Re: On a Fire Escape; Alex W/???
Alex was there. He didn't know why, or how. He could've sworn he'd gone home and gone to bed. But here he was now, all the same, slipping out of an alleyway and into the edges of the revelry. Why couldn't he remember? It was the strangest damn thing. He patted his pockets, but found nothing: no phone or money, even the ever-present Walkman left behind. No smokes. He knew he should just walk back home and go to bed; it had to be late. He pulled his hood up over his mussed hair and was about to head that way when he saw a curl of blue smoke, illuminated by stray shafts of light.
His fingers twitched, that familiar need creeping up within him. God, he should've never started.
He climbed up the stairs, finding it was so easy to slip into the lost little boy persona, the one he'd used on the road when he needed something, or when he was working on a hesitant mark. Just the right body language: pathetic slump of the shoulders, expression a bit dejected. He paused, when he realized what he was doing, and bent over to retie his shoe on the stairs, giving himself a moment to recover. There's not a need for that anymore, Alex reminded himself. He straightened up and finished the climb, nodding to the guy he found there.
"Hey man, y'mind if I bum one a those off ya?" He asked, nodding toward the cigarette.