"A best friend is someone who makes you laugh even when you think you'll never smile again."
– Unknown

The only thing that kept Lucas off dope during the months before Gus arrived was the fact that he didn't know where to get any. The city was huge and intimidating. He vaguely knew there were neighborhoods he shouldn't even get close to, whole streets owned by gangs who'd shoot him on sight for being a white outsider. Only known addicts were given safe passage through those neighborhoods to get their drugs. If he wanted any, he needed an "in".

Depressed and lonely, Lucas often thought about asking some of the dozens of homeless people he passed each day about where to score drugs, but he was too afraid. They might take him to get dope but then steal his cash before they got there. Or if they did get there, they might stab him and steal the dope. He knew no one. He could trust no one. All he could do was go to work, go to NA, walk around and hope Nora called him.

It was Saturday, Lucas's favorite day of the week because he got to sleep in and forget life. But this morning, there was a knock on the apartment door. Marcus was out so there was no one but him to answer it. He ignored the knocking, getting more and more irritated as it kept going, increasing in intensity. Finally he threw the covers off and went to check it.

"You can STOP knocking now!" he yelled as he turned the deadbolt and yanked the door open.

Gus was standing there with a huge grin on his face. "Surprise, motherfucker!" he shouted.

"Gus!" Lucas gasped.

They clasped hands and embraced.

"What the hell are you doing here? Did you run off?" Lucas asked. He was so shocked he wondered if he was hallucinating.

"Hell no! Jeff brought me like I told you months ago!"

"Yeah but I didn't know when! And you never said anything when we talked on the phone last week!"

Gus shrugged. "Wanted it to be a surprise."

Lucas couldn't stop grinning. Even in the few months they hadn't seen each other, Gus looked a million times better. He'd gained some weight, there was life in his eyes and his appearance wasn't so gaunt and shocking.

"You look good, man," Lucas said.

"Been clean for six months now," Gus said. "The cravings still come but not like before. I don't lose my mind as much."

"I'm clean too, but barely. I think Nora wants to break up with me, and I can't even fucking think about it without craving dope. I just can't lose her."

"Why she wanna break up?"

"I left without telling her. Just left a note. I thought she'd understand. Thought she'd read between the lines and know it had to do with my stepfather, but I guess she doesn't know me as well as I thought. And maybe I don't know her as well as I thought either. She shut down completely. Won't answer my texts, calls, nothing. Silent treatment."

"She'll come around. You guys are inseparable," Gus said.

"That's what I used to think," Lucas said sadly.

"Alright, I didn't come out here to hang with a lil' whiny-ass bitch. I'm takin' you to lunch and then Jeff's shop. Jeff's lettin' me work there as an apprentice. We're gonna have fun whether you like it or not."

"Just knowing you're here now is a million steps up from where I was," Lucas said.

They had to ride the L-train to get to Jeff's tattoo shop. On the way, Gus told Lucas all about his life in Chicago so far.

"I got here three days ago and things have already been amazing! First night, get this, I can't sleep right? So I get out to walk around, visit Adam's bridge, you know, do a little funeral for him. And guess what?"

"What?" Lucas asked.

"No guess!"

"Aliens appeared? I don't know. Get to the fucking point, Gus!"

"You know that girl Hex I told you about? The girl Adam was with? She was THERE! Like it was fate or somethin'! She just showed up at the bridge! Said she goes there a lot. Anyway, we chatted, and she led me to another friend from before- Ember. They're roommates now! Can you believe it?"

Lucas shook his head silently. He couldn't believe it, not really, and it also made him uncomfortable. He knew these were the same people Gus used to get high with. What was to keep him from relapsing?

"Oh and so you don't worry, nobody is using. Hex has a year sober and Ember has... well her kid's like three years old now, so about that long. And Hex? God she looked beautiful, dude! I never saw her look so beautiful! I gave her my number but sorta wanna keep my distance... see if she comes to me, you know? She told me she's over Adam, but it's obvious she ain't. Not even close."

"Well I'm glad you found your friends right away. I know you wanted to," Lucas said.

Gus shook his head. "Not just friends. They were my family before you and Jeff," he said.

Lucas was both surprised and flattered that Gus considered him family. He didn't feel worthy of such trust.

*************

Jeff's tattoo shop was bigger than Lucas had expected. The walls were painted with different bright colors: red, orange, yellow, and there was cool artwork hanging everywhere. At least six different artists worked there on different days, so most of the booths were full. Each booth was separated by a neck high wall. The buzzing sound of tattoo needles filled the air.

"Lucas!" Jeff said, walking out from behind a corner of one booth.

They embraced each other.

"This is cool, Jeff," Lucas said, looking around at the artwork.

"Thanks. You thought about what you want?" Jeff asked.

"Nope," Lucas said. "I thought about something for Nora... but that seems stupid now. Maybe something for getting clean?"

Jeff nodded. "Good idea. Always get a tattoo for yourself. And never get one for a girl, especially. I do more coverup work for girls' names than anything else. And you also don't want something random for your first one. It needs to mean something."

"Unless you're me. Jeff, I'm ready when you are," Gus said, hopping onto a black vinyl table and pulling his shirt sleeve up.

"Gus, I'm not just giving you something random," Jeff said.

"I gotta be tatted up to work here! Just find me somethin' from the flash book!" Gus said.

"That's not a rule and you know it. I've known plenty of artists who have never gone under the needle before. And flash work is for people who already have a ton of tattoos and just want more. I refuse to do flash for a first timer."

"What's flash?" Lucas asked.

"Simple tattoos that we give to walk-ins, usually. Stuff we've already drawn and tattooed a million times. Every artist has a flash book, and it's a place to start for people who don't know what they want."

"I do know what I want! A tattoo!"

Jeff just shook his head. "I told you, Gus. I'll tattoo you when you have an idea of what you want, something that's important to you."

Gus just rolled his eyes.

**********

After lunch, Gus asked Lucas if he wanted to meet his friends, and since Lucas had nothing else to do but think about Nora, he agreed.

"You gotta guess which one of 'em is Hex, okay?" Gus said as they walked up the stairs to Ember's apartment.

It didn't even take five seconds for Lucas to determine the answer. It was obvious to him that the red-head was Hex. Gus had always talked about her red hair, and he was right in saying that she was beautiful too. She had a unique beauty to her, and Lucas couldn't help staring. She caught on to it immediately and turned cold eyes on him. It wasn't exactly a glare, but he instantly knew he needed to look somewhere else, and quick.

Ember was pretty too, but she was more of an every-day kind of pretty. She wore her long blond hair in a braid down her back, and Lucas could tell she was sweet and uncomplicated as soon as she spoke to him. She struck him as a girl who didn't like a lot of drama, and that was refreshing after dealing with Nora's silent treatment.

"We've both got work in a few minutes, but you're welcome to stay and watch TV or whatever," Ember told them, pulling on her coat.

"Where do you work?" Lucas asked.

"I'm a waitress, and Hex just got a job at a coffee shop," Ember said.

"First shift is today," Hex said, but Lucas could tell she was talking mostly to Gus. He knew he had gotten on her bad side by checking her out, and he regretted it.

"You're gonna be awesome!" Gus said, a little too enthusiastically.

Lucas made a mental note to tell him to tone it down. His crush on her was painfully obvious and almost cringey to witness.

"Hopefully we can hang out more next time," Ember said.

"Don't worry, I'll be here all the time!" Gus exclaimed, and Lucas rolled his eyes.

Hex didn't exactly smile, but she looked amused.

"Ember, time to call pest control. You've got a mouse problem," she said flatly.

"A mouse-? Oh!" Ember said, laughing. "Sorry, Gus."

"Whatever. You know you love me," Gus said, hand over his heart as he feigned being offended.

Lucas felt lost, and he was glad when Gus turned to him and explained,

"Everyone used to call me Mouse before."

"Oh gotcha," Lucas said. He felt very much on the outside and was relieved when they all parted ways outside the apartment building.

"So what do you think of her?" Gus asked excitedly when the girls were out of sight.

"Which one?"

"Hex, of course!"

Lucas shrugged. He didn't want to make Gus feel bad.

"Um... she's a little hard to read. Kinda icy."

"You think she's into me?"

"Well... maybe. I'd have to spend more time with her," Lucas said carefully. "You might want to tone it down a bit, though."

"Tone it down? Dude, I thought I was toning it down!"

Lucas laughed. "That's what you consider toning it down?"

"Yeah! I mean, I didn't grab her and hug her this time! I played it cool, kept my distance."

"Sure," Lucas said, but he couldn't help smiling.