Page 42 of Against All Odds

When I stepped back into the living room, someone handed me a glass of champagne. Without thinking, I took it.

“Time for a toast!” The girl going around with the plate winked at me before handing the next two glasses to the people beside me.

Kyle cleared his throat. “Ehm, Sarah, Raya actually doesn’t—”

“It’s fine,” I interrupted, flashing a reassuring smile. “I can have one drink.”

His brow furrowed. “Are you sure?”

“Of course.” Still smiling, I lifted the glass. “It’s your birthday, and we’re doing a toast. I’m not an alcoholic; I can have one drink.”

He opened his mouth to protest, but then his attention was caught by Marya, who pulled him in for a deep kiss.

“To Kyle!” Sarah shouted – and we all repeated the phrase, clinking our glasses together.

Just one drink, I sternly reminded myself as the first sip tasted like heaven on my tongue. One drink, and then I’ll go home.

Hours later, I blinked myself back to reality in the alley behind Catchphrase. The amount of ketamine in my veins made it hard to form clear sentences or even comprehend what was happening, but it seemed like the two guys in front of me tried to talk me into a threesome. Who were they again, and had they given me the ketamine? Either way, it was fucking good stuff. If someone told me this was what ascension felt like, I would’ve believed it.

“Ah, come on now.” The blonde guy spread his arms, the motion reminding me of a cartoon villain. The shape of his face was hilariously square, a bit like that of SpongeBob – and the moment the thought popped into my head, I couldn’t unsee it. “How often do you get this offer? Two hot guys, completely under your control, devoted to pleasuring you all night.”

“There is…” My jaws trembled – why was it so hard to get the words out? The world distorted into a pixelated computer game, and I was the printing machine stuck on a single sentence. “There is… literally nothing… that appeals to me about a threesome with… two guys. One is already… too many… if you ask me.” Had I actually spoken the words? I thought I had, but now I wasn’t sure if they had left my mouth.

“Now, don’t be boring!” his friend interrupted, his dark moustache twisting hilariously. Ironically, he had a long, pointed face, reminding me of Patrick by comparison. Had Patrick always had a moustache though, or was he cosplaying an original take on the character? “This has been a fantasy of ours for a while, to take turns worshiping a girl. Maybe even both of us, at the same time, if you’re into that.” He winked. “And we have more ketamine at home.”

Ah, so SpongeBob and Patrick were indeed my ketamine suppliers. Who would’ve thought? But were they actually cosplaying, or had my mind made that up? “Look, I feel like you guys just want an excuse to fuck each other, to be honest.” I pointed my finger at them both, then traced it down over the pixels like it was a video game I had to win. “There’s no shame in that.”

“What the fuck did you just say?!” SpongeBob’s jaw dropped – if he wasn’t careful, it might fall off. “I’m not gay. I love women.”

“Yeah, me too.” Patrick frowned. Why did they both look at me like I was the weird one? They were giving ketamine to a random girl and then morphing into goddamn cartoon characters. “Let’s go, Bryan. She’s no fun.”

“Hey!” I yelled after them as they walked off. “Can I still get more ketamine?”

They turned the corner, leaving me alone in the dark. The atmosphere thickened around me, and suddenly, everything didn’t feel so funny anymore. Something was wrong, but what? My stomach felt heavy, but I didn’t remember what made it so…

Oh.

The realization dawned on me like a blanket of thunder.

“Fuck,” I groaned. Kyle’s birthday.

Just one drink had turned into two, then three, then four. I vaguely remembered standing in line for Catchphrase before I remembered I was banned and snuck away. I recalled disdainful looks from Marya and her friends, as well as Kyle’s disappointed frown – but I didn’t remember what I had done or said to deserve it. Knowing me, it probably wasn’t just one thing.

Well, that was a problem for tomorrow. Tonight, I just needed something to feel better.

“Hey!” I sprinted out of the alley and grabbed the first man I saw by the arm. The ground bounced funnily under my feet, as if gravity had been turned down a few notches – almost like in my lucid dreams. I wondered if walking on the moon was like this. “Do you have some cocaine?”

“I think about killing myself almost every single day,” I told the crack dealer when reality shimmered back into vision. My new friend and I were sitting on the ground behind the supermarket loading dock, a bit away from the city center. The ketamine started to wear off, but now I had something new – something better than coke. I didn’t think it was possible, but here we were. Apparently, coke can be smoked, and when you do, it hits faster and more intensely. Of course, it would also be more addictive, but that wasn’t a problem – I would only do it once. Only tonight.

“That is such a shame, girly.” The man glanced over at me before putting the pipe to his mouth and taking another big hit. He must be well in his fifties and looked like he lived on the street, with his torn coat and his unkempt beard. But he had shared his drugs with me without expecting anything in return, so I liked him. “You’re a beautiful girl. Would be a shame if you ended it.”

I shrugged, taking the pipe from him. Tears stung behind my eyelids as I took another big hit. Closing my eyes, I focused on the feeling of bliss, starting from my lips and spreading through my whole body. Life wasn’t so bad, was it? With crack, it wasn’t.

“Promise me you’ll call me before doing such a thing, okay?” He didn’t take his troubled brown eyes off me, a frown forming on his face.

I shrugged. “Sure.”

Had I just promised a random crack dealer on the street to call him before killing myself? That sure was a new low, even for me. I prayed Seren wasn’t watching.