WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF AIDS BY: ZOMBIE ZANE

"So whatta we dooin' for your birthday tonight, bruh?"  Marco said as he put the finishing touches on his joint.

Watching Marco blaze up is disturbing.  His face scrunches up, his eyes water profusely, and he makes a nasal sound like he's trying his hardest to blow one huge booger out of his nose.  Not a pretty sight.
   
"You look like a retard when you smoke bruh.  Just wanted to let ya know.  I bet you give all the girls wetties."  I said.

 "Blow me.  Your mom don't seem to mind.  She still comes over every  weekend."  Marco said as he put the joint to his lips.
   
I grabbed my crotch with one hand, and shot him the finger with the other.  "Whatever. "
   
"So," Marco said, "are you down to bounce tonight?  It's a special night my brotha'.  You're twenty-one now, it's all legal now kid."
   
"Man, yeah, I'm down, always down.  I gotta have dinner with Rae and her folks first though."
   
"Sweet, my man.  Sweet.  Wanna hit of this?  This is some vile weed kid, fuck you up."  Marco said as he held the joint out in my direction.
   
"Naw, I'm good, none for me.  I gotta bolt.  Call me this evening with the details aiight."
   
"Late," Marco said as we dabbed our fists.

Dinner with Rae and her folks went about as expected.  Even though it was my birthday, I let her pick the place. And of course she picked her favorite place, which happened to be one of the noisiest restaurants in the city.  The food was good though so I didn’t mind the racket. Rae and I barely spoke during dinner.  She was pissed at me because she knew I would be going out to the club with Marco after.  She despised Marco. She had all kinds of choice phrases to describe him.  Her favorite, and I quote, “douche bag.”
   
In a way she was right to dislike Marco. I had known Marco almost all of my natural life.  He was arrogant, a high-school drop-out and was always in trouble with the law or a bookie.  Marco was also a professional drug dealer.  And he was very good at his job.  He had done things that I knew were horrible and of bad moral standing, but what can I say, he was my best friend and I loved him like a brother.

"Jackie, why do you hang out with Marco?  He's a shit-bag.  He's a drop-out, pot head and he has no future.  I mean you have great things ahead of you. And Marco is gonna drag you down with him if you don't watch out.  You're so much better than that, baby.  I love you and I care about what happens to you."
   
"Rae, c'mon huh? It's my birthday. It’s just one night of drinkin’. It ain’t gonna hurt nuttin.”
   
"Why do you talk like that? You have an education, you're not Marco.  Every time you hang out with him, you come back talking like some street thug,  So please Jackie, spare me the street talk."
   
My phone chirped to life inside my pocket.  I took it out and looked at the screen.  It was Marco.  "Hang on baby, I gotta take this."  I flipped open my phone and took a few steps away from Rae so I could be sure to be out of her auditory range.

 "Marco, what up bruh?"
   
"Hey my man, you bout ready to bounce or wha?"  Marco said.
   
"Yeah, I'm good, but I gotta do a little bit of girlfriend maintenance first."
   
"Oh snap!"  Marco said.  "She's breakin your balls huh?  Oh, Jackie, stay at home, don't go out. Please pretty please, put your balls in my purse and let me keep them for you!  That's funny shit huh?  I just cracked my ownself up on that one.  C'mon, you gotta gimmie props on that, that was classic!"
   
"Ha-ha, funny.  Where and when shit-heap?"

 "O'Bannons.  Ten-thirty.  I got a surprise for ya ass.  Zee ya there, I'm out."
   
I still had a good piece of work to do before I could leave Rae feeling better.  I never liked leaving things unresolved between her and I.  I could never truly have a good time if I knew we were at odds.  It would eat away at me.  Having her mad at me was like being pecked to death by chickens.  I loved the girl.  I truly did.  And if I would've known that this was going to be the last time that I would ever see her again, I would've relished it.        

The club was absolutely jumping.  O'Bannons was packed with wall to wall people.  All of who were grinding to the sonorous beats that vibrated the floor.  Copious amounts of smoke hung in the air like a dead man.  It was a veritable din of sin.

 "Happy Birthday my brotha!" Marco said as he greeted me at the bar.
   
"Thanks bruh, I need a drink.  Hell, I need a few.  That shit with Rae’s got me all geeked.  I love her, but she has her overbearing ways."
   
"No more girlfriend talk.  I rented the VIP Room and we got stuff do to.  And it don't revolve around ya girl.  Let's head up there, it's crowded like a muthafucka’ up in this bitch.".
   
"Here we be dawg, the VIP!"  Marco said as he pushed the two double doors open that led to the inner sanctum of the club.  I'd been to the club a dozen times with Marco, but never to the VIP Room.  He'd gone all out.  I felt honored.
   
"This place is tight! Damn, man.  I don't know what to say to ya."
   
"Don't need to say nuttin.  It's your twenty-first.  My treat.  We gonna sit back, pound some bitter, toot some lines and get real nice.  Then, I gotta little summick extra fa ya.  You gonna dig it fo sho baby, fo fuckin sho."

 The two of us laughed and drank and drank some more.  My head was swimming and I had two false eyes when Marco jumped up and ran to the door.  "Sit tight a sec man, part two of your surprise is comin right up."
   
She was tall, and had curves in all the right places.  I knew she was a pro, but I didn't care.  Her name was Yasmine.
   
Yasmine and I left the club hand in hand and departed to the hotel room that Marco had arranged for us.  God bless him, he thinks of everything.
   

I did my best to act cool around Yasmine.  She was one of those girls that no matter how cool you thought you were, or how attractive you thought you were, just sitting next to her made you feel inferior.  I couldn't take my eyes off of her.  I'd been with beautiful women before, but she was different.

Upon entering the hotel room, Yasmine wasted little time in getting down to business.  The hotel room was nothing special.  Thick drapes made out of the same material as the bedspread hung in the windows obscuring the view from any curious people who happened to walk by on their way to the ice machine or the vending machines.
   
Yasmine pushed me down on the bed and began to gyrate her hips to the tune of whatever phantom music she had going on in her head.  She removed her dress with one quick motion.  She moved with such ease and grace it was almost unnatural.  Her nipples were set in small pink circles and they jutted out like tiny red thumbs.

  She turned around so that her back was facing me. She bent way over as she slid the small piece of white lycra down her thighs to her ankles.  As she turned around to face me again, I noticed that her pubic hair was trimmed in the shape of a heart.  She was almost too beautiful to take in all at once.  My heart skittered and skipped. I was headed toward sensory overload.
   
Yasmine slowly swayed over to me and removed my pants.  She began doing things down there that I had only seen on internet porn sites.  Her warm tongue glided up and down the length of my shaft before she took me all the way into her mouth.  My cock grew so much I was afraid I was going to run out of skin.
   
We made love...not love...we fucked.  Pure and simple.  Rea and I make love, this was the polar opposite.  There was no love behind any of it.  Just sheer unadulterated sex.  It was the best I'd ever had.

The next morning, I awoke alone and to a pounding headache.  I was naked and I had the worst case of morning wood ever.  I staggered out of bed and performed the old-man shuffle all the way to the bathroom.  What a night.
   
I reached the bathroom and flicked on the light.  The large rectangle fluorescent lights flickered once and illuminated the bathroom.  I went over to the toilet and did my business.  After flushing, I put the seat down and walked over to the sink.  And that's when I saw it.  A shot of adrenaline pulsated throughout my body.  My heart fell to the pit of my stomach and began to beat like a lunatic.  My thoughts spun out of control and I couldn't reign them in. I felt weak kneed and lightheaded.
   
"Oh God," I wailed as I looked at the mirror again in horror.  Scrawled on the mirror in bright red lipstick were the words:

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF AIDS! HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY! LOVE JASMINE :P