Chapter 20 #3
I honestly didn’t like crowds, not even when they were filled with people I knew. After a few weeks at the school and a while on the team, I recognized almost everyone there. Even the seniors, who mostly stayed in their own hallways, started to look familiar to me.
“You with me?” Phoenix asked and held out his hand. “I’m not leaving you alone at this one.”
Jeremy slipped his arm around my waist, trying to tug me free from Phoenix’s hold. “Or you could come with us. You pick. Regardless, text me if you need anything.”
“She’ll stay with me,” Phoenix said, swinging me back to him like a yo-yo. A very sexy yo-yo who nuzzled at my neck, making my pulse race, before telling his brother, “You go do senior things or water polo things, and leave us lowly underclassmen alone.”
Jer laughed. “Looks like Jules has me covered. I’ll be over there.” He pointed. “Don’t leave without one of us this time, okay? We can leave anytime. I’m gonna go find a beer.”
Phoenix managed to find a quiet corner and tugged me into it, giving us a moment of privacy and stillness. He pulled a bag out of his pocket, and glanced up as Hal appeared around the corner. I noticed Phoenix wasn’t talking to him and quirked a brow.
“Thirsty?” he asked me instead of explaining.
“I can give you a minute and go find you a beer. Stay near here, I’ll be back,” I promised, then slipped back into the bustling crowd. I found soda in the kitchen, so I poured myself a glass. By the time I returned to Phoenix holding one for me and him, he stared into a bag of white powder.
I’d never seen him do drugs, and I couldn’t tell them apart if I tried. Is that ketamine? Marijuana? He frowned and threw a weighted look at Joe, standing to his left.
“Why do I have so much?”
Joe shrugged then glanced at someone who touched his elbow. I set down my drink near Phoenix, considering the bag carefully. “Do you usually have less?”
“This is like a week’s worth of drugs.” He put a little on the table then pulled a straw out of his pocket. In a second, he snorted it up his nose, holding his nostrils closed while I stared in shock. He closed his eyes for a second and then sniffed.
Abject fascination? I wondered. Or am I watching in horror?
Regardless of what I called the emotion, or whether or not I watched, it happened all the time.
He used drugs like that all the time. He casually sniffed white powder up his nose.
I held my fist against my stomach as if in physical pain, because I found it awful.
Am I purposefully pretending he isn’t doing this by not seeing it happen to make myself feel better about it?
I took a sip of my soda, trying to swallow down the bile rising in my throat.
I gulped more, hardly tasting it. His eyes—that strange removed look he got when he was in a k-hole—which I now understood he achieved by snorting things up his nose—took away his gaze.
Okay. I downed my diet soda, closing my eyes as if I could erase it all, but it replayed in my memory crystal clear.
I looked up to see Hal nod toward Phoenix. “Hey, Lent.”
Even in his state, he glared toward Hal. “What the hell you want?”
“Thought you might like to know Maggie stuck something in your girl’s drink. And she just drank it.”
What? I glanced into my cup as Phoenix whirled unsteadily to grab my elbows. “What? What did she put in it?” he asked me.
I sure as hell didn’t know. Maggie? I scanned the room, hoping to see her face, but realizing the colors blurred a bit, lights turning to stars. My heart rate kicked up just as Phoenix stuck the bag of white powder back in his coat pocket.
Whatever, I couldn’t spot her, but then again I didn’t see her when I grabbed my drink, either. My phone dinged, and I reached for it in annoyance. I felt fine. Maybe Hal is full of shit? The twins sent a text saying they went on a beer run—wasn’t there enough already in the building?
Phoenix slid his arm around me. “Are you…are you okay?”
Wow. His gaze seemed so blank as to be nearly vacant, like a sleepwalker. “Yeah, I think so. I don’t feel weird or anything. I also don’t see Maggie, but I haven’t seen her all night.” I shrugged.
“Hal, are you full of shit?” Phoenix called out, but Hal vanished into the crowd. I spotted Murial, though, and waved.
“Hi,” she said and smiled. “What a random party this is.”
“Is it?” I looked around, the lights still going blurry, the way I saw online they did when people had astigmatism.
I wondered if I could be abruptly developing astigmatism.
Aloud, I told her, “Hal just said Maggie put something in my drink. I don’t see her, and I feel fine, so we were discussing whether or not he’s full of shit. ”
She put her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowing in a way that sent a chill down my spine. “She did what, now? Stay here. I’ll find out if she did and what it was.”
Phoenix turned me to face him again, and I remembered how lovely he really was. Truly handsome, with his carved features and shiny hair. “You sure you’re okay?”
I should panic but everyone always seemed so strange to me. Who would make up a story like a drugged drink, though? I wondered abruptly if I could use it for Poor Relation. If it was drugged, the drink tasted fine.
Phoenix started to kind of turn…glowy. In fact, everyone did, but their shades varied.
Everyone in the room glowed, their dancing or moving bodies wreathed with dimly bright color.
It was kind of…awesome. Usually, people at Pullman might seem so full of themselves, but why wouldn’t they be?
They are gorgeous. Bathed in light. Huh.
“Hey,” Phoenix said again. He took my cheeks in his hands, turning my face to his. “Look at me.”
I tried, but I honestly wanted to look at something more interesting. My body was hot, so I tugged at my collar. Oh, I liked how it felt to have his hands on my cheeks. I liked it…a lot. I nuzzled into his touch, turning my head to bite at the pad of his hand.
“Keep doing that,” I said and grinned at him, sliding into his touch. “Forever. I can feel you everywhere.”
Phoenix lifted his lids, his gaze unfocused, but his brows furrowed as if he tried to fight it. “Would love to, but you’re not okay, Red. Your pupils are huge.”
Murial returned. “It’s ecstasy. I am so done with her. Her obsession with you is ridiculous.”
Phoenix sighed. “Well, this will be fun, but it will wear off. Eventually. Why would she give her ecstasy? It’s not painful—just the opposite.”
“Who knows why she does anything? Maybe she thinks that she’ll fuck you then Jeremy won’t like it? I don’t know. I am not going to pretend to understand how a crazy person thinks.”
She patted my arm, and I jolted at her touch.
Murial glittered brightly gold, almost too bright.
It didn’t feel good against my light, like Phoenix’s touch.
I didn’t want her to touch me at all, so I frowned at her.
She stared into my vacant gaze then shrugged.
“Yeah, she’s gone. See you later. Let’s go to the Whitney tomorrow. ”
I couldn’t be bothered to think about her, especially since she took her gold light away, leaving me alone with the much preferable Phoenix.
I told him, “You are so gorgeous. You always are. Have I told you that? How completely beautiful you are to me?” Tears came to my eyes.
“Or how much I love being part of your life? Because I really do. I mean, I love you, Phoenix. I don’t usually say it, because I am such a superstitious scaredy cat, but I love you. ”
He shook his head, his lips thinned. “Say that to me again tomorrow.”
The twins arrived, and Jeremy held a beer. “How’s it going?”
“She got drugged by Maggie. She slipped something in her soda, and now she’s high as a kite on ecstasy.
” Phoenix passed me to Jeremy, as if I were baggage or something.
Luckily, I liked his glow and scent, too, so I burrowed into his arms. “I am not in any condition to know what to do here. Should we call Barrett?”
“What?” Jeremy shouted as his arms came around me gently. I shuddered at his warmth, nuzzling into his neck where his scent somehow smelled warmer. I could really get used to the sensations, especially the lovely glows.
I held onto him, my nails digging a little into his back. “I love you, Jeremy. I love you so much.”
He shook his head, and his voice sounded rough when he said, “Hush. Not here. We need to get you home.”
A loud bang resounded through the house, and everyone went still and silent for a second.
“Fuck,” someone shouted. “It’s the cops.”