Ben raised a dubious eyebrow.
I pointed to the last guy in the circle. “I’m sorry—I forgot your name.”
“Ragnar,” he said.
I gave Ben a pointed look. “I rest my case.”
“Nice to meet you all,” Ben said politely.
“What does the hot man do?” Andromeda gave Ben’s arms a once-over. “Construction worker, by the looks of it.”
“He works for the governor,” I said. “Policy director.”
“Oh.” Her face blanked. “Too bad.”
“Let’s get Ben caught up.” Little Timmy tossed rolling paper onto an old birthday card I’d gotten from my grandma—where had he found that?—and tapped weed onto it, folding and rolling slickly. Clearly an expert.
“Very nice,” Lucius said. “Very generous of you, man.”
“No, no—wait.” Kyle’s face was grave. “Ben works for the government. They drug test and shit.” He gave me a proud look. “I learned that when I looked up the law for my new phone app.”
“It’s just pot,” Little Timmy said, unimpressed with Kyle’s warning. “It’s medicinal.”
“Do it, do it,” Andromeda chanted. “There’s no room for government killjoys in this house.”
Ben looked at me.
I shrugged. “You can always leave.”
“No.” His mouth set in a determined line. “No more leaving. I go where you go. Keep your pot, but toss me a shot glass. I’ll at least kick your asses in quarters.”
“Oh,yes.” Lucius clapped him on the back. “Welcome to the party, Guvna.”
“I think I’ll live to regret this,” Ben said, and took his shot.
Much later, when the world returned to me, coming back like a blurry film slowly crystallizing into sharper detail, Ben and I lay side by side on my bedroom floor, looking up at the ceiling. It was eerily quiet.
I looked around the empty room. “Hey. Where is everyone?”
Ben’s chest shook as he laughed, the sound floating up. “They left for tacos like an hour ago. You gave every single one of them your phone number. I’m pretty sure you planned a vacation with Andromeda. You don’t remember?”
“Oh. Not really.”
Ben folded his hands over his stomach. “Man. It’s been a long time since I’ve done anything like this.”
“What? Had fun?”
“No. Said fuck it to everything and went wild. It reminds me of grad school. I don’t know how I was able to party so much back then and still get good grades. Where did all that energy go?”
“Everyone was wild back then.” It hadn’t just been me, dragging people along all the time. Back then, everyone was on my level. “It was fun.”
“Yeah. But also exhausting.”
I yawned. “Very.”
Ben’s voice was light. Purposefully casual. “Hey, Stoner?”
“Mmm?”
