IV. Let's Get High
The first week back at school was finally over. It was a balmy Friday night. Storm clouds hung low and threatening, and the humidity was thick in the air. Kitty and Brad were at a barbeque/day long house party on the other side of campus with the soccer team. After they had dinner, Adam told Lauren he needed to go back to the library to get a head start on an extra credit assignment. He said it wouldn't take too long, and that he'd be back at the apartment by six that evening. Lauren came home to find Logan and Hanna playing music together in his room, Hanna on her keyboard and Logan on his acoustic guitar. Lauren sat down on Logan's futon and listened to them play for a while, and then they stopped to figure out their plans for the evening.
"I don't really know," Lauren said. "Adam said he'd be home around six, but he didn't say what we were gonna do. I know Kitty and Brad are at some party with the soccer team, they've been there all day. What are you guys gonna do?"
"I was thinking of doing a roadie, but I think it's gonna rain like hell," Logan said.
"A roadie?" Lauren asked.
"Short little road trip, drive around, get stoned, listen to music," Logan replied.
"Sounds good to me," Hanna said. "Call me crazy, but I'm not really in the mood to get trashed."
"Yeah, me neither," Lauren said.
"What do you say, want to take a roadie with us?" Logan asked Lauren. Hanna looked at her.
"I don't know," Lauren said, "Adam's never been a big fan of smoking weed."
"And what about you?" Hanna asked.
"Well, I smoked it a few times..."
"Well, tell you what," Logan said. "If the rain holds off, we'll go around seven. That'll give me some time to figure out where we should go. You can decide then if you want to go."
"All right," Lauren said.
"Hey, why don't you bang on that djimbe drum and play with us?" Hanna suggested.
"Cool," Lauren said, as Hanna placed the djimbe in front of her.
"Just put down a simple rhythm, we'll join in," Logan said.
They played music for almost an hour, until Lauren realized it was six-thirty and Adam still wasn't back. Seven o'clock rolled around, and still no sign of Adam, so when Logan and Hanna said they were going on their roadie, Lauren decided to join them. They all three piled into the front bench seat of Logan's car, and left.
*****
Adam got back to apartment around 8:30, much later than he told Lauren he'd be. He found the place empty. It was a Friday night; he knew Brad and Kitty had been at the soccer team's bar-be-que all day, and he figured Logan and Hanna were out partying or getting high or doing whatever the fuck they did. But where was Lauren? He opened his cell phone and called her.
"Hey, where are you?" he asked as soon as she answered.
"I'm out with Logan and Hanna," she said, "we're just driving around. Where have you been?"
"Are you stoned?" he asked. Something was funny about her voice, and he didn't really trust her alone with those potheads Logan and Hanna.
"Uh, uh, no, where were you? We waited for you."
"You are stoned, aren't you? When are you going to be back?"
"Later," she said, and hung up on him.
"That bitch!" he said, to no one. "Well, shit." He sat down on a sofa and flipped on the TV. He got a beer from the fridge and drank it while watching a baseball game. He finished it and got another one. He felt the buzz coming on as he finished the second beer, and while he was at the fridge getting his third, the front door opened.
"Hello?" Kitty called out. "Anyone home?"
"Hey Kitty," he said from the kitchen. "Want a beer?"
"Oh, uh, sure," she said. He grabbed one for her and went out to the living room.
"How was the bar-be-que?" he asked as he handed her the beer. She was looking good: short pleated denim skirt, frayed at the hem, which fell on her upper thigh, tight little tee-shirt, low cut to reveal some great cleavage from her push-up bra, and short, showing off a sexy dangling belly ring. "You look good," he said.
"Thanks. The party was fun. I'm so drunk, I need to sit down." She plopped down on the sofa, and he sat down next to her. She opened her beer and took a slug, and he did the same. "Baseball, huh?"
"Yeah, it's a good game."