by Bella King
If Emma thought it was a good idea, then it couldn’t be too bad. I wouldn’t have trust Mason had he invited me to something like that, but Emma was a sweet woman, and I knew she only had my best interest in mind.
“I’ll go. Should we drive separately or together?”
“Swing by my house and I’ll drive you.”
“Cool, I’ll be there in like twenty minutes. Is that alright?”
“That’s perfect.”
“Okay, see you.”
“Bye.”
I hung up the phone and put it down on the seat beside me. This would probably be a good opportunity for me to get to know some of the other students in a less formal environment. Although I was nervous about what kind of trouble she was trying to get into, hanging out with her would be better than awkwardly eating pizza with my mother while trying to explain why I was at home instead of out with friends like I said I was going to be.
I took a turn off the highway early and rolled into Emma’s driveway just as she was stepping out of the house. She was carrying a large black purse and dressed in a pair of jeans and a pink hoodie with the word BOSS written on it in glittery letters.
I hopped out of my car and walked up to her, still dressed in the same outfit I had worn to school. It was nice enough to go out in, but she looked considerably more casual than I did.
“Hey Emma,” I said ,m giving her a friendly wave.
She pulled the sunglasses that were seated on top of her head down and clicked a button on her key fob to unlock her car. “Party time,” she said coolly.
I laughed. “Does it get that crazy there?”
“Nah,” she replied, opening the door to her blue coupe and climbing in. “Usually it’s pretty calm unless the jocks start acting up.”
“The jocks?” I asked, not knowing the first thing about the social groups at school.
“Yeah, the meatheads. They’re always running around looking for ass, but you’d better not give it to them. The whole school will be after you if they think they can get it that easily,” she warned as I climbed into the car next to her.
“That won’t be an issue for me,” I said.
“Didn’t think so, but you never know,” she said. “I heard you’ve been hanging out with Mason.”
Oh shit, how did she know that? I had been trying to keep it a secret. “I hung out with him once. Never again.”
“Oh? I thought you were crushing on him really hard. That’s what Naomi told me anyway.”
“What? How would she know?” I asked as the car pulled out onto the road.
“Her boyfriend was at that boxing club that Mason goes to,” she said.
“What is he, like 30 or something?” I asked, thinking back to all the bald bearded men at the grungy establishment.
“Kind of. He’s 26, but he’s a nice guy,” she said with a shrug.
“How old is Naomi?” I asked, curious now.
“She’s 19. They held her back a year because she kept failing classes. She’s still struggling, but not that bad anymore.”
I wondered how anyone could possibly be failing the classes at this school, but I didn’t want to be rude. Naomi seemed nice enough, but her boyfriend sounded a little sketchy. Anyone who hung out at that club couldn’t have been the best influence on her.
“I went to this place to watch him fight because he invited me out, but we got into a bit of an argument,” I said.
“I told you he had changed,” she said, turning down a road I didn’t recognize and climbing up a spiraling hill.
“I didn’t think it would be that bad. What the hell happened to him?” I asked.
“I don’t know. He’s pissed off at his family for some reason, and he used to talk about you constantly. One day he stopped, but you came back, so I can see why he’s all over you again.”
“He’s been strange, so I really don’t want to see him anymore,” I said.
“No problem, I got you. I don’t hang out with his crew, so if you stick with me then you should be fine,” Emma said, pulling the car around a sign blocking the road. We were now on a dirt road, and slowing down as we approached a group of other cars close to a clearing.
“Is this the spot?” I asked, looking out the window at the cars parked around an abandoned dirt lot at the top of a hill that overlooked the city.
“Yessir, it is,” she replied, pulling the car up beside another one and rolling down the windows. She turned the engine off but kept the keys in so that radio would stay on.
“Nice place,” I said.
“It’s about to be even nicer,” she said, bending over and rummaging in the black purse that she had brought with her. She dug around inside before pulling out a home-rolled joint and a lighter.
“You smoke that stuff?” I asked as she lit up the end of it and stuck it between her lips.
“You bet your ass I do. This school stresses me out too much to stay sober all the time,” she said, taking a few puffs before holding it out to me.
I declined, holding up a hand and shaking my head. I was surprised that she partook in the drug, but at this point I shouldn’t have been surprised. So much had changed since I had left. Windsor Elite was a whole different place now.
“You never smoke before?” She asked, her throat sounding like she was holding in air as she spoke.
“No,” I replied.
“You should try it,” she said taking another long drag.
The heavy scent of the substance filled my nostrils at this point. It was pungent, but not especially offensive to me. I actually preferred it to the smell of alcohol. I got curious after a moment and motioned for her to hand the joint to me.
“Be sure to inhale properly,” she cautioned.
I took a drag, trying to copy the way she had done it. I the smoke burned my lungs and I found myself coughing as though I had just inhaled water by accident.
“Pace yourself,” she said, taking the joint back from me and taking a drag.
The thin smoke was pushed out of the window by a breeze, floating through the air and up into the trees. I was sure other people could smell it, but they wouldn’t care. Everyone here was up to something as well. I even saw a car rocking back and forth in the unmistakable motion of sex. In comparison to that, Emma and I weren’t causing the least bit of a stir here.
“I’ve been really into this guy named James. He’s in my science class but I haven’t said a word to him at all this year,” Emma said, passing the blunt to me.
“Are you going to?” I asked, taking another hit. This one sat better in my lungs, but it was still harsh.
“No, not unless he talks to me first,” she said.
I laughed. “That’s one way to do it.”
“Well, he’s like eight feet tall. It’s intimidating.”
“Eight feet?” For some reason I doubted that.
“Okay, maybe like six, but he’s really tall.”
“You’re also kind of short,” I noted.
“Yeah, but don’t tell that to my ex-boyfriend. He was almost my height and used to call me tall.”
I laughed at the image. I couldn’t imagine her dating someone who was that short. “He must have been a good kisser or something, right?”
“Terrible kisser, but I dated him because he was really sweet. Turns out, that doesn’t equate to a good time under the sheets,” she said, finishing off the joint and tossing the end into the dirt outside the car.
“Did he have a small dick?” I asked, curious to know if height had anything to do with it.
“Not really. It was pretty average. I just find that it’s never the nice guys who know how to fuck, but that’s the problem isn’t it? If you want good sex, you always have to seek out the assholes. There’s got to be some healthy in between, but God knows I haven’t found it yet,” she explained.
I raised my eyebrows and tilted my head back to the headrest. I never knew it could be so complicated, but at the same time, I think I understood where she was coming from.
Mason was a rude guy, but fuck if he wasn’t one of the sexier men I had been around. He gave off a powerful energy that probably translated over well in bed. It was a shame I would never find out.
“Thinking about Mason?” Emma asked as though she could read my mind.
I snapped back into reality. “Sort of,” I replied, which was half a lie. I had been really thinking about him and nothing else.
“Don’t dwell on that guy. If you’re into fucking around, I would suggest trying to find someone else who’s a little more stable.”
“I could use stability,” I said, nodding in agreement.
“So, don’t fuck with Mason,” she said, turning up the dial on the radio.
I felt like I was floating, but realized it was probably what I had smoked that was lifting me up like this. My body relaxed in a profound way, and I felt time moving a bit slower than it usually did. Was this what it was like to get high?
I looked over at Emma, who had her eyes closed as the music played. She seemed to be in a deep state of relaxation. It looked comfortable, so I closed my eyes and joined her as the music washed over me.
I felt relieved of the anxiety that had been pressing down on me since I had come back to school. While it was nice to finally be able to socialize with people my age again, I was beginning to wonder what it would have been like if I had been able to skip going back entirely.
I would have never met up with Mason again in that case, and I would still have an unrealistic expectation of how he would be in my head. I guess it’s better to know the cold, hard truth than to live in a soft and sweet lie. I would have felt incomplete if I had never gotten to meet up with him again.
I was disappointed, but satisfied at the same time knowing that I wasn’t losing much by becoming separate from him. As sad as that was, it allowed me to move on emotionally and consider dating someone else in the future.
Chapter 14
“What’s that smell?” A deep voice rumbled from outside the window. It reeked of authority.
Emma and I’s eyes popped open in an instant as we nearly jumped out of our skins. We both turned to see a group of guys wearing muscle shirts and smoking cigarettes, bottles of booze clutched in their large fists. Mason was at the front of the group.
“Jesus fuck, you scared the shit out of me,” Emma said, shaking her head at the guys.
They laughed, and Mason leaned into the car. “Did you think we were the cops?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact,” she replied.
I was still too stunned to say anything, and probably a bit too stoned to process what was going on properly. I smiled at Mason, seeing his face in a new light through my slightly blurry eyes. “Hey,” I said calmly. I didn’t feel very aggressive at the sight of him, which was probably due to the weed.
“You two smoking something loud in here, goddamn,” Mason said, grinning at me. “Mind if we join?”
“Get your own,” Emma said, wrinkling her nose at him. “I don’t think Jasmine wants you here either,” she added, turning to me. “Do you?”
I shrugged, feeling a bit too good to care whether he was here or not. I was a bit sleepy, and my mouth was dry. I wanted water more than anything.
“See, she doesn’t care,” Mason said, leaning further into the window.
Emma rolled her eyes. “Well, you guys aren’t all going to fit in here. There’s only room for two.”
“I see that, which is why you two should come with us. We’re going to go grab some snacks in James’s SUV. It’s fucking huge,” Mason said, winking at me.
I felt strange behind Emma. He was talking to her, but he kept looking at me and smiling. Though, on the suggestion of snacks I was all ears. For some reason, I was super hungry now.
“You want to go with them?” Emma asked, checking in with me.
I nodded furiously.
She laughed. “Alright, let’s get out of here.”
While Emma climbed out of the car and began talking to the guys, I climbed on the other side and tried to make sure I’d be able to walk to wherever we were going. My legs were pretty wobbly after what I had smoked, and I felt the overwhelming urge to stay seated.
After a few steps, I felt better, and I walked around the front of Emma’s car to join the group.
“Your eyes are super pink,” Emma said, looking at me.
I smiled and nodded, thinking how funny all of them looked standing there. I never realized how weird people were. I wanted to laugh, but I suspected Emma would make me stay in the car if I started acting too weird.
Mason leaned in to look at my eyes, and I forgot about everything bad he had said to me. I felt myself getting sucked into his gaze before Emma pushed him back. “Alright,” she said, “Enough. It’s her first time.”
“You really baked her good,” Mason said, laughing with the guys as I stood awkwardly in front of them.
Emma shook her head. “Come on, Jasmine. Let’s get some food.”
I followed them, staying quiet as I watched everyone walk from behind. Emma had me under her arm to make sure I didn’t trail behind, but I kept slowing down so that I could look at Mason from behind. He looked so good in what he was wearing, and I thought his butt looked awfully cute in those jeans.
Normally I would have berated myself for getting so affectionate toward my new enemy, but I needed a break from all that. I was here to chill out and relax after a hard week. If Mason happened to be here, well, I would just have to chill out and relax with him. There was no harm in that.
“Do you have water?” I asked, my mouth getting unbelievably dry as we walked to a large black SUV in the middle of the hill.
“Beer,” Mason said, hanging a brown bottle back to me.
I didn’t care what it was. I took it from him and pressed the cool glass against my lips. The bubbling liquid soothed my dry mouth and had me feeling like a new person by my second sip. This stuff tasted a lot better than I had remembered. Mason’s lips had been on the bottle, so that could be the reason.
I handed the bottle back to him and he winked at me again, licked the mouth of the bottle and making eye contact with me before taking a sip.
“Stop it,” Emma said, slapping his arm.
“She likes it,” he laughed.
Emma looked down at me, but I didn’t say anything. I had liked it but I wasn’t going to admit it, even if I was high off my ass. All I wanted to do was to lean back and enjoy the moment. I didn’t have a care left in the world.
The sky was a beautiful rosy pink when we all piled into the SUV. It would be night soon, but I didn’t think I could go home until I was sober again. That might take a while. I would have to trust Emma to get us back at a reasonable hour.
I was seated between Mason and another guy, while Emma sat up in the front with James. She was eying him like he was the last man on earth, licking her lips and blinking rapidly at him. This was the guy she had told me about, and I could see why she was into him. He was very tall, with green eyes and deeply tanned skin. He would have looked like a surfer if his hair was a bit lighter.
“Buckle up,” he said from the front.
I looked left and right for my buckle, but Mason had it in his hand. He reached around and buckled me in, leaning his head against my full bosom as he did so. He thought he was smooth, but I knew exactly what he was up to. I didn’t say anything, but I knew.
“All strapped in?” Emma asked, turning her head back to me just as Mason pulled away.
I nodded, and she squinted at him. He kept a straight face.
“Alright, take it away James,” she said, waving her hand forward as though she were directing traffic.
James chuckled and put the SUV into reverse, backing out through the lines of cars parked alongside the hill.
Mason placed his hand on my thigh and squeezed it as we rolled backward. I looked at his hand on my thigh as though it was a foreign object, something entirely disconnected from me. I guess I was okay with this, but it didn’t mean I was into him.
I was just too chilled out to do anything, and that was totally fine with me.
We were on our way quickly, swerving past the sign that separated the blocked off-road from the public streets. I leaned back and closed my eyes as Mason continued to massage my thigh like it was a piece of dough that he was preparing to roll into a pizza.
The way his fingers dug into my soft flesh sent sparks of pleasure through my legs, radiating especially powerfully between my legs. Was smoking this tuff supposed to make you horny, because I was halfway tempted to start touching myself right there in the car.
It wasn’t like I was blazed out of my mind or anything. In fact, I felt a mental clarity once the initial effects started to pass. I was left with a shimmering impression of everything around me, and I happy awareness of the world. I wanted Mason to keep touching me. I wanted him to touch closer to my pussy, but the car was packed and that would be a poor move on his part. Emma would probably snap his arm.
I looked at him out of the corner of my eye.
Mason smiled, moving his hand from my thigh much to my disappointment. He placed it on my shoulder and squeezed it, sending more electrical sparks of pleasure through me. Everything he did to me with his hands felt good.
“It’s time to get out of the car, Jasmine,” Mason said, shaking my shoulder.
I looked around us. We were parked outside of a convenience store about a mile down the road from the hill.
“No, that’s fine. She can stay in the car if she wants,” Emma said, speaking for me
“I’m thirsty,” I replied, unbuckling my seatbelt. “I’ll come in.”
“Look who’s all talkative now,” Emma teased.
I rolled my eyes at her as Mason got out of the car beside me. He held out his hand to help me out of the SUV, which was quite high off the ground. He was acting like a gentleman, but that was probably because I had calmed down so much around him that he felt like he could start being romantic, as though we hadn’t been arguing the past few days.
I wasn’t going to buy into his act. I may have been high, but I wasn’t stupid. I pushed his hand away as I spring down onto the oily pavement in the convenience store parking lot.
