I nodded, “Yeah, I got out man. I’m West Hollywood now. Got a real job, found a place to live. Where are you now?”

Clive shrugged, “I met this guy. He’s letting me stay with him.”

I set my jaw and glared at Clive. “Dude, you’re not. Come on man, you know better than that. Besides, we promised, remember?”

“No, it’s not like that. This guy is sort of like you’re old john, The Talker. He totally just lets me crash there…” Clive reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple bullets. “And he’s like totally hooked up. Here, my gift to you.” He put them in my hand. As if suddenly becoming aware, he glanced at Alice, then back at my hand. “Sorry, I didn’t realise you were with someone…”

I had totally forgotten Alice was standing next to me. I quickly pocketed the bullets, cleared my throat, and looked at Alice. She was watching this whole exchange with curiosity, and a bit of embarrassment at this sudden glimpse of my former life.

“Uh… Al, this is a friend of mine, Clive. Clive, this is Alice.”

Alice awkwardly held out a hand to Clive, but Clive just stepped back and smiled. He shoved his hands in his pocket and looked back to me. “Well, I better go… Uh… It was good to see you again Shane. Maybe we can hang sometime. There’s this really cool club that you should totally check out with me…” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a marker. “Here.” He grabbed my hand and started writing on it. “Let me give you my number. This guy totally hooked me up with a cell phone. Call me and we’ll hang. Have a bit of a trip down memory lane.”

I nodded, not really sure if I was up for that trip. “You take care of yourself. I mean it Clive. Stay safe.”

Clive nodded, waved to Alice, and turned around, walking away quickly. I looked down at the number he had written on my hand, then looked at Alice. She smiled at me. Not really sure what to say, I looked down at my shoes. Luckily, it was one of those times where Alice knew just what to do.