Hotel De La Cielo

The cocaine had worn off and another line seemed odd this close to morning. But, fuck it. Sleep is for the dead and although I might be closer than most, I have plenty of life left.

The burning sensation lasted a couple seconds and the drip had a surprisingly sweet taste to it. Still the same chemical taste as with any batch made north of the border, but definitely one of the better batches I had in the past 5 years.

I switched the tv on and proceeded to watch the morning news which was a compilation of war and protest. I turned it off after several intolerable minutes and found myself eyeing the last three hits of acid which had been laying on the table since last night.

I added up the time. 12 hours of tripping at most, with these being triple blotter, and about a 4 hour peak. Which would make me tingly but sober enough to sleep by.. 7 pm.

Sounds about right. I don’t leave for LA for another week or so and the hotel’s food wasn’t half bad. So, fuck it. Bottoms up.

The half kilo of cocaine was pulled out of its case about three hours into the trip. It was coming on stronger than last time, but I summed it up to lack of sleep and an abundance of cocaine and grass.

The phone rang about 5 hours in and I could hardly see the phone in the dim multicolored design that danced around the room.

“Eddy?”

It was her. Again.

I stayed silent. Not necessarily because I was still upset but because it was hard to get my brain to send the right signals to my mouth to convey my thoughts.

“Eddy, listen. I’ve been thinking about us... or you.. and Rick isn’t who I thought he was. I’ve been locked inside for a couple weeks and he won’t let me leave. I need you right now Eddy.”

Rick. My old roommate. The son of a bitch who had produced half of the b movies I had starred in. Always so kind. That was until I walked into our condo one July evening and found my fiancée getting pounded on the couch.

I was drunk. Or maybe that’s just an excuse. I had been drinking but I was sober enough to know I wanted to kill the bastard. I threw Lucy to the side and hit him twice, he went limp, and then Lucy broke it up. I almost hit her but instead I bit my tongue and walked out. I went to Nevada and stayed in a nice hotel a couple miles out from the Las Vegas strip and had been there for about two months wasting money and numbing my senses.

But, again, I couldn’t think straight so instead of being angry I was honest.

“Listen Lu...” I paused as the bed started reverberating with color and geometric patterns.

“Yeah?”

“I.. I’m tripping hard right now. I don’t wanna talk about this. You... you..”

What was it? She had something wrong here... but I couldn’t think of what it was.

“Eddy you’ll never change huh?”

Oh great. Here comes the belittling and passive aggressive bullshit.

“You’ll always be the same deadbeat fuck that let his best friend fuck me huh? Everything’s too fucking surreal already without that bullshit. You got a..”

I hung up. Fuck that shit. Not right now.

But her voice had gotten me horny. There was a place I knew on the strip that had call girls. That’d do the trick. Plus, a hooker never declines cocaine and a couple hundred for some sex.

“Great so you’re in room 206?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay honey. I’ll be by soon.”

“Thanks. See ya.”

I had explained my situation. A hard trip and two ways of payment. I ended up getting her for a bill and an eight ball of coke. The coke was practically free so in my mind I definitely got a bargain.

The trip was coming on strong and in about 20 minutes I had completely forgotten about the girl coming to my room. I pretty much forgot about who I was as well. I was starting to float in a sea of color and happiness when I heard a knock on the door.

I somehow found my feet and stood up as the room swooshed around me. The door looked about triple the distance as it usually did but I walked slowly towards it nonetheless. I turned the knob and found myself face to face with one of the most beautiful women I have ever met.

“Hi? Are you Eddy?”

“Umm..” I had to think hard on that one.

“Yeah I believe so.”

She laughed. Her black hair shimmered with shapes and colors as she walked in the room. She sat on the bed in a skimpy dress which showed off her tan thighs that seamlessly blended in with the tan sheets on the bed. She glanced at the side table and saw the large brick of cocaine on the table.

She looked at me and her tone sounded surprised but I couldn’t tell her face was melting into itself.

“Is that for me?”

I had no idea who she was. An angel came to mind. Or maybe a goddess.

“It’s for you if you...” something clever was thought up but it drifted off into the trip.

She laughed again. It relaxed me.

“You okay Eddy?”

She knows my name. She must be a goddess.

“Just tripping... I took... I took...”

How much did I take? A couple hits? A whole blotter sheet? No. Not that much. Hmm..

“I took some acid.”

She laughed.

“You got any left?”

Hmmmm. I wished she stopped asking questions. They took so much time to answer.

“I.. uh. Yeah. In the bag.”

I pointed at the bag beside the coke and she laughed again.

“So, an eight ball and a couple tabs?”

It didn’t worry me, but sort of irritated me. Some random girl comes in here and wants half my supply. But, her beauty made it ok.

“Yeah. Sure.”

I lit a cigarette and laid on the bed watching the wheels turn as she snorted a couple lines and took a couple hits of blotter.

“Damn. This coke is good!” She turned to me and I could feel her gaze but I was floating off again.

She laughed again.

A couple thoughts of her grabbing all my drugs and leaving came to my mind. But I could sense she would stay. She found me interesting. And probably recognized me in her subconscious from some cheesy comedy she’d have watched last year.

She laid beside me after taking the acid and rubbed my chest.

We had amazing, but oddly unenjoyable, sex and she laid beside me again afterwards.

“You mind if I stay here today until the trip wears off?”

“No.” I was somehow watching myself from the ceiling and still in my body at the same time.

She kissed me and we had sex again. And again.

The trip started wearing off and my memory started to come back. We had a funny conversation about how I had no idea why she came to my hotel and I talked her down when she started tripping too hard.

We smoked a couple joints and she had mellowed out a bit as I turned the tv on.

“The US has over 20 casualties today in a skirmish that..”

I turned it off. Fuck the war. Fuck Vietnam. Fuck communism, fuck nationalism, and fuck Johnson.

My trip was fading away as the sun was setting and the girls was too. We sat on the balcony buzzing from cocaine and the comedown of the acid, watching the sun set into the desert horizon.

It glimmered hints of teal, blue, and pink as it slowly got darker and darker.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?” I replied.

“I hate to be a bother but my man needs his money and I appreciate everything of course but I..”

I pulled out my wallet and gave her 300. She numbed the numbness of which I craved so strongly and plus she deserved it. A girl this wholesome never makes it long in the hooking business. Too many people abuse as they use. I hoped I didn’t, but when everything’s washed away with time using is all human contact is anyways. Using for comfort from a mother to a child or using for pleasure from me to a hooker. It’s all the same shit.

She left while I was washing up in the bathroom. I get it. Goodbyes are weird. Especially when you’re lonely.

The phone rang soon after she left. It was Lucy.

“Hey so... I’m calling from a pay phone. I finally got away from Rick. He went too far and I was scared for my life.”

She paused. I had nothing to say.

“I’m sorry about yesterday. I shouldn’t judge you for just tripping. I’m such a hypocrite sometimes...”

Still not good enough for a reply.

“Eddy? I’m really sorry...”

“You know what?” I asked.

“What?”

“It’s ok. But I can’t be with you or help you or care for you or do whatever the fuck it is you want me to do for you. I can only let it go and let it be.”

“But Eddy, I don’t think you’re thinking this..”

“No. I’m thinking this all the way through. I got me. You got you. That might not be good enough for you, but it’s good enough for me.”

She paused. I heard muffled crying which still found a way to torment me as I stood motionless in the expensive hotel room.

“Take it easy Luce. I hope you find whatever it is you’re looking for.”

I hung up.

I looked at my large bag of coke. The hooker had took about half.

I laughed and went to sleep.