It was a lazy Monday evening, and the sun setting over the mountains north of Shoreville cast a long, brilliant orange glow over the town. Dark was creeping up ever so quickly, as it always did, and soon it would be night time. This short-lived orange mirage of wavering heat and glowing rays was the sight that met Dave Morgan most days as he left his place of work at DevCo, Shoreville's leading workshop for tool makers. Today, he sighed deeply.
With his dirty overalls stuffed into his tote bag, Dave strolled purposefully and by all accounts, happily across DevCo's almost empty lot to where his beaten grey Fiesta was parked. After fumbling for his car keys in the pockets of his jeans, Dave unlocked the driver's door and flung his stuffed bag across onto the passenger seat, before climbing into the vehicle. He now sat eye level with the piercing glare of the sun, and he yanked down his sun visor to block the imposing light.
He caught a glance of his own brown eyes in the rear-view mirror, and considered himself for a moment. Dave was a 26 year old skilled labourer from Oakland in Richmond, the next town over from Shoreville. His hair was black and fairly neat, yet his stubble had started to grow as he had neglected to shave over the weekend. He ran a calloused hand through his hair, messing it up a little.
Dave started the engine of the Fiesta to begin reversing out of his parking space. As the car shuddered into life, music began to play. The FM radio was tuned to Wyrld Ov Rock, which was his favourite channel because they always played a lot of hard rock and heavy metal. Some fairly laid back rock ballad eased out of the car speakers as Dave steered out of Shoreville's industrial estate and onto the main ring-road around town. A few minutes down the road, he signalled right and pulled into the inner lane, before turning off at the intersection sign-posted for the suburb of Venetia.
Fifteen minutes later, he pulled up on the curb outside No. 7 Cherry Grove, and cut out the engine. The house that lay beside the car was that of the typical red-bricked suburban stock; a house that was detached and apparently worth a fair amount of money, yet once you looked carefully you could see how small it really was. At the most there was two bedrooms upstairs. A small patch of grass and a paved driveway made up the garden, and a small stereotypical picket fence running the perimeter topped off the suburban clichΓ©.
Dave got out of the car and walked up the paved drive just like had done so many times before on every Monday evening for as long as he could remember. At the door he paused momentarily, before pressing a finger on the buzzer. He could hear the muffled sound of an electronic bell sounding from within the property, and within a matter of seconds, the door opened on the latch and a pair of bespectacled eyes met him.
"Oh great, it's you again!" spat the face.
"Get over it, Matt!" Dave replied, smiling. "You gonna let me in or what?"
And with that, the bespectacled face chuckled and shut the door. There was a scraping sound of metal on wood, and the door re-opened, this time fully, revealing Matthew in all his glory. Matt always dressed casually in sweats, sandals and vests. He studied Dave with his dark, beady eyes hidden beneath his light-framed glasses. He was a fitness freak, and his visible muscles rippled with every small movement of his body. He worked out every day and often let everyone else know about it. In his day job, he was a personal trainer at the Hamlet Complex gym in the centre of town. He was also a pot dealer.
"So what'll it be? The usual?" asked Matt as he shut the door behind Dave.
"Yeah, another 3 grams should do it," he confirmed.
"Great, great," Matt mumbled, "come on through to the kitchen and I'll hook you up. I got some wicked Hawiian Snow in this morning, it'll blow the socks off ya! I've also got some Diesel left over from last week's batch, if that's more you're thing? And are ya gonna watch the game later, dude?"
"Wouldn't miss it for the world." smiled Dave. "The Shoreville Devils against the Richmond Hell Cats? This match is gonna be insane! As soon as I'm finished here I'm heading home to tune in."
Matt laughed heartily as they both walked across the sparsely decorated but warm living room. A huge painted canvas hung on one wall, an a tremendously over-sized TV hung on the other.
"Dude, is there any more to your life that rock music, hockey games and weed?" Matt asked with a sly laugh. Dave couldn't tell if he was being affectionate or sarcastic.
"Tattoos, I guess." he replied, simply.
"Oh shit, yeah," said Matthew, pushing open the door to the kitchen, "I always forget you got those things on you. How is the ink coming along, dude? Have you run out of room yet? Rather you than me!"
"I gotta keep my arms clean for work, they don't like them to be visible. According to my line manager they don't give off a very professional..."
At this point, both of them had entered the kitchen, which caused Dave to stop talking immediately. Straight across from him, the other side of a wooden breakfast table, stood a girl with bright blonde hair that fell down as far as the small of her back. She was facing away from him; busying herself with something on the kitchen counter, but Dave couldn't tell what exactly she was doing. In his brief moment of surprise, he had managed to drink in the whole of her body. She was glorious. She wore pyjama shorts that barely covered her small bottom, and her slim legs were bare right down to her slippers.
"You going to finish that sentence, then?" asked Matt, breaking Dave out of his reverie.
"Err...professional image, that's it, couldn't find the word I was looking for." he said finally, all in a fluster, causing the girl to turn around.
"Oh, hi." she said quietly with a passive smile.
Dave was still stood still in the doorway to the kitchen. He smiled at her weakly, before mumbling something that was meant to sound like "hello", but ended up more as a small grumble that made no real sense. He was temporarily lost in her wide blue eyes.
"Yo, Dave, quit staring at my bird!" barked Matt, bringing the room and the rest of the world back into focus. "You're freakin' her the fuck out, man!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't-"
"I'm just fuckin' with ya, dude!" he shouted, punching Dave on the shoulder a little too hard. "This is Marie, we hooked up about a year or so ago. I've told you about Marie before, right? We've finally taken things one step further y'know, and she's moved into my place."
"This place definitely beats my shitty apartment over on Fairfax," Marie said with another smile. "Looks like I'm finally living the American dream over here in Suburbanville, USA, huh? What more could a girl want?"
Everybody laughed and then quickly stopped.
"Honey, this is Dave," Matthew continued, "he's another customer, but he's also more than just that. We go way back, all the way back to high school. This crazy fucker used to be the drummer in the sickest metal band! He got me sellin' to all the goths and skater kids, he got me expandin' my empire, babe. If it wasn't for Dave, I wouldn't be where I am today."
"I wouldn't go that far," laughed Dave.
"It's nice to meet you, David." Marie breathed sweetly.
They maintained eye contact for a few seconds when Matthew strutted around the table and pulled open a drawer in the kitchen counter, and lifted out a small plastic box.
"Nobody has ever called me David," he continued, "not even my mother."
"You should insist on it," Marie replied, grinning, "it is much better than just Dave. It sounds more, what's the word...professional."
"Alright, alright, you two quit it; what is this, lessons in how to speak English?" interrupted Matt without looking up from the plastic box. "You gonna finish up that salad or what, Marie? I've been on the go all fuckin' day, I could eat a God damn horse."
Matt reached into the draw again, fumbling around with his right hand before pulling out a small electronic weighing scale. Marie turned back to the counter and continued whatever it was she was doing to the salad. With the couple facing away from him, Dave could not resist another peek at Marie's cute little bum. One thing was certain; this had never happened during his Monday evening routine before.
"I'm gonna give you the Snow," informed Matt without looking up. He flexed his shoulders.
"That's cool, dude." Dave replied casually.
By the time Matthew had weighed out and bagged the pot, Marie had moved to the sink to wash the salad she had cut. Dave could have sworn that she kept sneaking glances at him. Every time he dared to look at her, he felt as if her eyes were moving away; as if he had caught her spying. "She really is a beautiful creature," he thought, shaking the silly idea that she was sneaking glances at him from his head.
After Matthew had relieved him of his hard-earned cash, Dave said his goodbyes and returned to his car for the journey home. The trip was uneventful, barring a lucky escape on 5th Avenue where he just about slowed in time for a mobile police speed camera. Eventually, he pulled his Fiesta up on the curb outside his own house; a small, white-washed bungalow in the Oakland region of town.
Inside, he showered early ready for the game. After the quick wash, he stood at the bathroom mirror and attacked his budding stubble with an electric razor. His mind wandered to the place where minds wander when you are doing a boring, thoughtless task. He though briefly again of his first meeting with Matt's girlfriend Marie, her perfectly rounded posterior and then in more detail the comment Matt made to him about having nothing in his life other than weed, hockey, rock music and tattoos.
Looking in the mirror, Dave studied his own naked torso, plastered almost completely with intricate Japanese tattoo art that had become so thick it almost all merged together into one piece. His back was completely covered, from top to bottom and side to side; the design coming up over his shoulders in a sea of clouds, water and angry elemental dragons, eventually coming to rest on his chest. A large piece concerning three koi danced around his belly, whilst a geisha and a samurai occupied the left and right rib cages respectively.