Pulled Within by Marni Mann

they were just here buying shit from us last night.”
    “Brady’s different,” Jeremy said. He reached for one of the cigars on the table and sliced it open with a razor blade, emptying out all the tobacco. Then he wetted the leaves in his mouth and filled the center with weed. “We’ve known him since we were kids. Guy’s got a chance to do something good, you know?”
    “Whatever,” Caleb said. He wiped his hands on his jeans again. “If Brady wants something, Brady’s going to get something. I’m not denying my boy.”
    This was just another thing that would have to change once Brady got out of rehab. He couldn’t come here anymore. I wasn’t even sure if he could still be friends with these guys. I wondered if he’d considered any of that, since almost everyone he hung out with either used or sold. Most did both.
    Pot and alcohol were the hardest things I’d touched. And I didn’t consider weed to be all that bad, since it would soon be legal to buy it in Maine. Still, I’d give it up for Brady because Jeremy was right: he did have a chance to do something good with his life. More of a chance than the rest of us did. Shane was going to eventually give him the business. I wouldn’t let him screw that up.
    “Rae, you won’t believe who I saw at the store the other day,” Caleb said.
    I knew exactly who he had seen. He’d directed the question at me, after all. “Who’s that?” I asked, playing dumb.
    “Hart Booker,” he continued.
    “No shit?” Jeremy said. He was holding the blunt against his lips, licking the inside flap before he finished the roll. “Haven’t seen that kid since…damn, I can’t even remember the last time.”
    Neither of them had hung out with Hart the summer before he left, which would have made it the end of our freshman year when they’d last seen him. He was an athlete; people in our crew were already stoners at that point. We partied in different crowds, which was why I was surprised Hart had even been interested in me. But we went to a small school where everyone knew everyone. And there was just something between us, regardless of who surrounded us.
    Our paths had diverged, and though we’d ended up with very different lives, we were both in Bar Harbor once again. That was a strange thought.
    “He bought that old B&B off Main Street,” I said. “Shane’s helping him convert it into a spa.”
    Caleb’s brows rose, looking like he’d actually gotten a whiff of himself. “Sounds like I’m not the only one that ran into him.”
     I nodded. “I saw him today.”
    And yesterday, which was something they didn’t need to know. Not because I was trying to hide it, but because it just didn’t matter.
    And yet…he was still on my mind.
    I didn’t want this.
    “Maybe he can get one of his girls to cut that fucking bush on top of your head,” Jeremy said, looking right at Caleb. He stuck the end of the blunt into his mouth and lit the tip, taking long, deep drags to really get it puffing. “It looks like a nasty pussy, don’t it, Rae?”
    “I’ve got to get ready for work,” I said, standing from the couch.
    “Pass the blunt, Jeremy, and shut the hell up,” Caleb said.
    I reached the entrance of the hallway and turned around. “I won’t be back until around four in the morning. Will you guys be up, or do you want to give me a key or something?”
    “We’ll be up,” Jeremy said. “Just text us on your way home.”
    “Cool. Thanks.” I went back in my room to grab what I needed.
    With a change of clothes and my makeup bag in hand, I peeked into the bathroom. For someone who made fun of Caleb’s bush, Jeremy wasn’t any cleaner. The inside of the toilet was black. There was a layer of slime on the shower floor. The garbage can overflowed, and musty-smelling towels covered the linoleum.
    I wasn’t a neat freak, by any means. Living with guys since I’d been sixteen years old, I’d learned how to deal with messiness and even was a bit of that