8 The Drug Squad #2
“Do you have anything on under this?” he asked.
“Look at it, Ross. It’s a cheap piece of garbage. Of course I have something on under it. Otherwise it would itch.”
“Fine. Lift up your arms.”
“Yes, Captain.” I chuckled.
I did as he said, and he lifted the sweatshirt over my head.
I liked it. It almost felt like he was undressing me, especially when he brushed my hair back afterward.
I was there in a sleeveless undershirt, chilly, and I rubbed my forearms. Ross tossed my sweater into the dirty clothes basket and looked back at me, clearing his throat and saying, “We ought to…”
But I cut him off. “I took off my sweater,” I told him. “It’s only fair that you take something off, too. That’s called equality, and it’s something we’re all striving for nowadays.”
I saw a mischievous gleam in his eyes as I rested both hands on his shoulders.
The air seemed to get thicker. Especially once he grabbed me around the waist and his fingers touched a bit of exposed skin above my hips.
My body temperature went sky-high. But then he closed his eyes and asked, “Jen, how much did you smoke?”
“A little too much,” I admitted, edging closer to him.
“Don’t do anything you’ll regret tomorrow, Jen. Is it your first time?”
I was floored. How could he ask me that just then? But I was too stoned to think of anything snappy to say, so I answered honestly, “No, I’m not a virgin. I mean, technically I’m not. It’s a long story, OK. The thing is…”
“I was asking if it was your first time smoking weed.”
“Oh. Ha-ha. Yeah. Sorry. I thought you were getting pervy for a minute. I mean, not like I should be surprised. With that comment you made about me taking off my towel the other day, for example. Now that I think about it, you really are pervy!”
“Yeah, but I’m the sweet kind of pervert,” he protested.
“Sure,” I responded. “I’ll give you that.”
I guess he thought that was enough, because he let me go then and stepped back, and I hugged myself again to try to stay warm as he asked me what I wanted to wear.
“It’s kind of late,” he said, “Maybe you just want to throw on your pajamas. Or you could go back to stealing my clothes. Even if you seem to have given that up, for some reason I wouldn’t mind you explaining. ”
“Why do you care?” I asked.
“Because I do.”
I narrowed my eyes. “It’s just, you know…because we’ve been mad at each other, Ross. And so I thought you wouldn’t like me using your stuff.”
“ We haven’t been mad at each other. You’re the one who’s been acting weird for days now.”
“Fine, then I’m mad, Ross.”
“May I ask why?”
I sighed and fell back in bed. I wasn’t in the mood to talk. I just wanted to lie back and relax. With him, if possible. Curled up together, if possible. I had liked it more than I’d been willing to admit to myself. Much more.
“Why did it take me so long to discover marijuana?” I asked.
“Because it’s a drug. You shouldn’t have even tried it. And I’m going to give Mike a piece of my mind about it.”
“Mike’s a good guy,” I said. “Why do you dislike him so much? I mean I get he’s not Mother Theresa or whatever, but he cares about you, right?”
His expression was cold. Calm, but not in the least amused. He even seemed to be gritting his teeth. I knew he didn’t want to talk about it. At least not with me. After a few moments, he said, “Look, it’s complicated.”
“Sure. No worries. It’s not my business. I get it.”
“No,” he responded. “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, but…another time, you know? Preferably when you’re not high.”
He was crouched down looking for something, and for a second, I had the urge to jump on him, throw my arms around him, roll with him on the floor.
But I didn’t want to risk it. I said his name, and he looked up, and our eyes met, and I saw clearer than ever those brown irises with little green flecks around the pupils. I grinned.
“You OK?” he asked.
“You have very pretty eyes,” I said.
I reached out and touched his chin, ran my finger up his jaw, felt the soft prickle of his three days’ growth of beard.
“You could use a shave, though,” I continued.
He grinned and said, “Thanks for the advice.”
I wanted to touch his lips, but instead I traced a line down to his clavicle, uncertain whether he was tense or just holding his breath.
“I wanted to tell you something else, though,” I said, my thoughts racing. “Have you ever dreamed something you weren’t supposed to?”
He hesitated, then cleared his throat. “What, like, that I killed someone or something?”
“Not exactly.”
“So…?”
I nearly told him. I was right there. But something stopped me. My survival instinct. So I faked a yawn and said, “Jeez, I’m tired.” I know he didn’t believe me, but he smiled at my attempt to throw him off and said gently, squeezing my knee, “No problem. I’ll leave you alone so you can change.”
The warmth from his hand stayed there long after he left.
Lazily, I threw on a sweatshirt. Then I looked in the mirror, realized it was on backward, and took it off and turned it around.
I had just pushed my head through the top when the door flew open.
I rushed to cover my boobs, forgetting that I had on an undershirt, but it didn’t matter.
It was just Naya. I pulled the shirt the rest of the way down as she said, with a serious look on her face, “You and I need to talk.”
“Now? I was just about to go eat something.”
She sat on the bed and patted the place beside her, pinning me with her eyes. I sighed and sat down. The weed had pretty much worn off, I felt groggy, and I thought I heard my stomach rumbling.
“Is this going to take long?” I asked. “I’m…”
“I know, you’re hungry. Whatever. Let’s go get a bite. Otherwise you probably won’t listen to me.”
She grabbed my hand and guided me down the hall. Mike and Sue were still in the living room. Will and Ross were now there, too. Everyone watched me as I took out the chocolate bar Ross had bought. He didn’t seem to mind.
“Hey, I’m hungry, too,” Mike shouted. But then everyone scowled at him and he said, “Never mind. I forgot I’m on a diet. Starting today.”
I flopped down with my head in Ross’s lap and Naya sat with Will. Ross reminded me that I hadn’t wanted to buy the chocolate, that he’d had to twist my arm. And I reminded him that I’d had to practically force him to take me to the grocery store. “So we’re even,” I said, and he grinned.
Unsteadily, Mike stood, took a look at his phone, and said he had to go. Then he looked at Sue and me and added, “Feel free to call whenever you like. I’m always up to do it again.”
We nodded, and as soon as he was gone, everyone turned to me except for Sue, who broke off a piece of my chocolate and started chewing it.
“You want to tell us what the hell’s been going on this week?” Naya asked.
“Wow! Why don’t you leave her in peace?” Sue asked.
“I’m sorry,” Ross butted in, “but do you want to tell me when you two stopped hating each other and became super besties?”
“When we both realized how lame you are,” Sue said, and before I could dissociate myself from her, I started laughing.
“Don’t listen to her,” I said. “Have a piece of chocolate. It’s a peace offering.”
“That’s my chocolate,” he replied.
“It’s all I’ve got, though, I said.” He accepted, and I watched almost hypnotized as he broke a piece off and tossed it in his mouth.
“I’m sorry, can we get back to the subject?” Naya asked.
“I literally don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.
Feeling uncomfortable, I looked over at Will, hoping he would rescue me.
In that intuitive way of his, he understood perfectly and stood, pushing Naya’s legs off of him and saying, “I’m going to grab a smoke.
Jenna, why don’t you come with me. I feel like you could use the fresh air. ”
I dropped what was left of the chocolate on the couch between Sue and Ross, where they fought over it, and followed Will out to the roof, where he lit a cigarette, stuck it in the corner of his mouth, and eyed me up warily.
Digging his hands into his pockets, he finally said, “Look, I’m assuming you’re not up here for the views.
You’ve got something to tell me. So spit it out. ”
He was right. The air was helping to clear my head, though. The problem was, what I had in my head wasn’t something I necessarily wanted to let out. So I hemmed and hawed and he interrupted my grunts with the question, “Are you going to the party Saturday?”
“What party?”
“Lana’s party. She invited you.”
“Oh, yeah. Probably not.”
He grinned and said, “You know, it’s actually funny how uncomfortable she makes you.”
“She doesn’t make me feel uncomfortable!”
“What is it, then?”
“I can’t stand her!”
OK, now maybe I was being a little too sincere. But Will didn’t seem alarmed. He just laughed and shook his head. “Lord, you’ve been cranky these past few days. At any rate, I’m sad to inform you that everyone adores Lana. Including Ross.”
“I know,” I responded. “Little Miss Perfect. Perfect grades, perfect hair, perfect smile. Sorry, I should shut up. I realize she’s your friend.”
“She’s not, actually. I’ve never been especially crazy about Lana.
But since Ross and Naya care so much about her, I’ve always tried to be nice to her.
Our personalities kind of clash. She needs way too much attention, and that gets on my nerves.
Plus, after what she did to Ross, I prefer to keep my distance. ”
I worried maybe he was just putting up with me, too, but I was glad he’d noticed she was an attention hog. I couldn’t agree more. I wondered if I should ask him what it was she had done to Ross. Probably he wouldn’t tell me. But still.
Putting on my best innocent voice, I said, “What was it then?”
“He never told you?”
“I never asked.”