Chapter #45Dealers and Supplies by: rugal b.   You want to slow down a bit because things have been such a whirlwind the last few days. However you can't help but to feel like you're on a roll right now and want to keep moving forward lest you lose all your momentum. "If we want stick around Keyserling right now, when's the earliest we could get a mask on someone?" you ask.
"Probably ASAP if Lina's not doing anything," Zoe answers. "Actually, I think Zoe's stash is running a little low and she's been meaning to score some more anyway so I can probably set up a meeting."
That seals it for you then. "Okay, then that's what we'll do," you tell her. "Do you can have her come out here so there's no risk of us getting caught when we try and get a mask onto her?"
"Probably," she replies. "Usually Zoe just does it at her place but I guess if we don't want to risk her roommate finding anything..."
Not that you couldn't fit her roommate with a mask at the same time but you only have two left out of the supply that Sydney had brought a few days back and you're not even sure if this roommate would make a good addition. But this Lina girl, if she's supplying weed? Well that's a hard opportunity to pass up. "Okay, well, let's go with that then," you say. "Tell her that you're going to be getting ready for work so you won't have time to stop by."
"Right," she nods, "that's what I was going to do. But, you know, it's kinda hard to do anything with you straddling me like this."
"I'll get the stuff," you reply.
You give her another kiss before hopping off and heading back to Jelena's room where you find the bag with everything you need. Just to be doubly safe you check to make sure everything is there and then haul it out. You place the bag onto the kitchen counter and then place yourself back onto the love seat and begin browsing through Jelena's social media liking and commenting as required until you finally hear something from Zoe.
"Okay, she should be out here in like fifteen or twenty minutes."
You look up from your phone. "Not enough time for us to do anything it seems."
"Well I actually do have to start getting ready for work so I'll probably get started on that," she states. "You'll be alright getting her?"
"I don't see why not," you answer. "Actually if it's fine with you I might give myself a day or two in her mask to see where we should be making inroads."
"No skin off my nose," she says before coming over to give you yet another kiss. It seems that after last night she's quickly gotten used to having to be "a bit sapphic". You watch her walk down the hall and disappear into her room. Zoe Sabin is cute in an unconventional sort of way you admit and while Jelena has certainly never had any sorts of thoughts, romantic or otherwise, towards her sister's best friend you do feel a part of her that thrills over what's just happened over the last twenty minutes or so.
Probably the part of her that likes going against the conventional.
But it's nothing more than a passing thought and you go back to your phone and social media until you hear the doorbell ring. You get up and answer it and are greeted by a young woman a little shorter than yourself. Her hair is a long dark brown in very loose gurls that frames a face with large chipmunk cheeks and squinty smile. She doesn't look like a particularly chubby girl but her face and the bulky Keyserling hoodie she wears certainly make her look meatier than she actually is.
This must be Lina.
"Oh hey!" she greets you. "Is Zoe here, ah..."
"Jelena," you answer. Clearly the handful of times you've met hasn't left much of an impression on her.
"Right, yeah, I've seen you around. Uh speaking of is Zoe? Around I mean? She wanted to get some, uh..."
"Don't worry, no narcs here," you declare before inviting her in. "She's getting ready for work but she'll probably be out in a few minutes. Come in; take a seat."
"Right, thanks," she says as she goes to take a seat on the couch. "Sheesh, I can't remember the last time I was out here. Usually when I meet Zoe and K.C. and them it's at a show or party or something. You know K.C. I take it?"
"Well, I'm her sister so I suppose I do."
Lina's eyes go wide. "Right!" she exclaims. "Yeah, okay, the one staying with her. Oh and you're in her band too aren't you? Shit, I thought you looked familiar! Sorry about that, I'm Lina."
"Jelena," you reply in turn. "So can I get you something?"
"Nah, that's fine. I'll just be in and out as soon as Zoe's out here."
"No way. I was actually about to get myself something so I don't want to be rude." You give her a friendly smile. "I refuse to be a bad hostess."
You head back into the kitchen and unzip the backpack digging out what you'll need. You briefly wonder if you should remove Jelena's mask but decide against it so as not to miss your chance. You're already a skinny guy anyway and as Jelena you're in a dress over a pair of dark tights so there's no real risk of you Hulking out of her clothes. You place everything you need onto the counter but make it a point to grab the mask.
"Here," you say as you head back out into the living room. Lina barely has time to respond before you've pressed the mask to her face.
You call out to Zoe saying that it's copying her before going over to the love seat and removing your current mask. You come to and it's still another few minutes before Lina's mask reappears. You scoop it up, place Jelena's mask onto her and tell her to head back to her room so the both of you can get changed. She goes and you take a look at the mask before following her. The name LINA SARAH MINKOWSKI is etched into the back.
* * * * *
You have a quite a bit to chew on as you drive back to the student apartments just off the Keyserling campus that Lina lives in. For a start is just how long you're going to stay in Lina's mask. You'd said a day or two to Sydney but will that be enough you wonder? Because you begin to unpack things and quickly realize that while she wouldn't win a popularity contest, Lina Minkowski enjoys a pretty healthy web of connections.
For starters there's where she gets her weed from: an acquaintance and occasional fuckbuddy named Karl Tollefson. A young man who fancies himself a freethinker and a fighter for environmental and leftist causes when the reality is that he's a stoner who's more a freeloader than a freethinker who cloaks himself in righteous causes to downplay his comfortably upper middle class background. If it wasn't for the fact he's got a nice dick and enough knowledge to be able to put it to use (and the weed) then Lina would want nothing to do with him.
Where does he get his supply from? Lina doesn't know nor does she particularly care. All she knows is that she gets some from him and then sells mainly to other girls who don't want to buy from a "dirty hippie" (something that makes Lina laugh; Karl's appearance is as much affectation as everything else) before giving a percentage back to him to, presumably, pass back to his supplier. Apparently the supplier is serious about getting his cut too because Lina once managed to sleep her way out of passing anything back and saw Karl a few days later looking mighty banged up. Of course nobody said anything about what happened but she'd had her suspicions all the same.
But who does Lina sell too? Well a wide variety. There's Mary Johnson and Allison Garner who are friends of Karl (Lina has no idea why they don't just buy from him). Andi Kramer -- a connection to Jelena you realize -- is another. One of the Alphas, that is the popular girls in the Alpha Theta Phi sorority, will usually come by to purchase a larger than normal amount since it's being shared among a sorority house. There's Zoe of course, probably Lina's most reliably customer and someone she actually does consider a friend beyond their "business dealings".
There's also Lizzie and that gives you a pause because you suspect this is the same girl that your girlfriend had mentioned earlier. Lizzie Cates is a girl cut from the same bohemian cloth as those who hang around the Petrovic sisters and while she's willowy with dark hair cut short and shaggy she's got a nice face and nobody would ever mistake her being androgynous like, say, Nadine. She does indeed play a variety of instruments including the drums so you realize this is a stroke of luck. She's a frequent enough customer that getting her should be a cinch.
Should you want to.
Because Lina's roommate, a girl named Melody Weiss, does indeed do work for the professor that Sydney had mentioned. Blackwell is his name and like she'd said, he's an older and corpulent man who sounds very much like he's trying to appear sophisticated and intellectual. Lina knows a few girls who do indeed regard him as a creep though mainly in a more lecherous manner. As for Melody, well, she never really talks about it. Just says that she goes over to help him catalog books and translate some things as she's something of a language wiz.
She too would be someone good to get not just for what Sydney mentioned but with her mind you might have an easier time decoding the book. But as you unlock the door to Lina's apartment and note that nobody's home you give yourself pause. You've got one mask left in your current batch. You're right now wearing one of a girl who can open up a lot of doors for you and the coven that you're building. You've got that music performance on Saturday if K.C. did what you told her to.
Maybe it really is time to let off the gas a bit and just cruise for the rest of the week. Take stock, replenish your supply of materials, figure out your next move and just enjoy the gains you've made so far.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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