Rocks(Elijah Jones) The phone booth stands empty, the lime green light illuminating the whole inside. I scan the cars as I walk across the dirt parking lot, a Volvo, a Corvette and a Camaro, all three empty.
Nobody watching me, nobody would come up and start knocking on the glass like I was a fish in a tank, waiting to use the phone.
The buttons are cold, as always, you’d think I would be used to it by now. I hold the phone up with my shoulder, trying to memorize the new numbers.
I tug at my sleeve as the phone rings over and over in my ear; “How far from a phone can you be?” I mutter.
I hitch up my jeans as I step onto the curb of the Hillside laundrymat. The bell rings above my head as I push the door open, a kid behind the counter looks up from his magazine.
He scrunches up his nose and curls his lip at me.
“What?” He asks, standing up, “You ain’t got no laundry,” Thanks Caption Obvious.
“I’m here for.. Bear?” The kid points to the wood door behind him.
In the back room, there’s wires hanging out of the wall, and stains on the carpet. I try to step around them and look up at the guy in front of me.
His hair is dark and thick, he’s wearing a blue bowling shirt, same as the other kid. I’m assuming it’s a uniform, and it doesn’t look that good.
I take the money from the guy and he seems to hold my hand, I narrow my eyebrows and pull it away; he begins to laugh.
“Chill out, I ain’t like that,” His eyes fall to the ground for a second then quickly bounce back up.
“Kay didn’t tell me he had a new runner,” Don’t tell people nothin’ they don’t need to know; I shrug and step back, still being careful of the stains.
“Expanding his business,” The guy just laughs.
I don’t look back to see if they’re watching me, I can feel it on my back. Over the sound of the bell, I hear the kid hit my client and scoff, “You don’t need to be doin’ that shit.”

---