Rock All Night

64




Ryan and I got off of the heavy topics and onto some more light-hearted fare – how his sisters kept asking him for cell phone pictures they could show around school, how his mother kept trying to set him up with the daughters of her friends – when I started giggling uncontrollably at one of his comments.

“It wasn’t that funny,” he said.

“I know,” I said, slightly alarmed at my reaction.

“Well, thanks,” he joked.

That set me off giggling again.

“No, I mean… oh my God, is it happening?” I asked, suddenly remembering that I had eaten an illegal substance about twenty minutes ago.

“Could be.”

“Could be?”

“I don’t know. I never did mushrooms.”

“What did you do?”

“Cocaine, pot, some uppers and downers… nothing psychedelic.”

For some reason beyond understanding, that was the funniest thing I’d ever heard.

He just stood back and smiled as I doubled over in laughter.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I was more than okay.

I was absolutely fan-f*cking-tastic.

“I’m just… happy,” I told him. And it was true; the corners of my mouth ached, I was smiling so big.

“Okay, well, that’s a good thing.”

“It is, isn’t it?” I said. I couldn’t have been more overjoyed that we agreed on that fact.

“Do you see anything yet?”

I looked around. “No, I don’t – uh… wait…”

I’d been expecting giant crocodile skeletons in the sky and fire hydrants with feet, so I missed it at first. But as I scanned the horizon, I noticed something odd.

The land kind of moved in… and out… and in… and out. Slowly. Like respiration.

“It’s breathing,” I whispered.

“Breathing?”

“Yeah… it’s like I can see it pulsing… real slow…”

“What is?”

“Everything.”

“O-kaaaay…”

I looked down at my right hand and was suddenly enthralled.

All the tiny, tiny lines – the creases in my palms, the quarter-millimeter grooves in my skin – were suddenly as distinct and obvious as if I were looking at them under a microscope. The blue shadows of my veins were absolutely fascinating as they twisted and branched under the pink of my skin.

Patterns.

Just like Derek had said.

And then my fingers – first the ring finger, then the middle, then the pointer – sloooowly grew longer, maybe a quarter of an inch… and then sloooowly retracted back to their former length.


“Oh my God,” I whispered. “I’m tripping.”

“Are you okay?” Ryan asked in concern.

I looked up at him.

And started grinning again like the Joker.

“I’m AWESOME,” I announced.

He laughed. “Okay, good.”

I looked down the road. Derek was standing out amongst the cacti and rocks, legs spread wide, arms flung out in the air like he’d just won an Olympic gold medal for… something. Probably for being Derek.

Killian was slowing turning around beside him, taking in the whole world in wide-eyed awe.

I gave Ryan a questioning look. “Is it okay if…?”

“Go ahead,” he smiled. “Have fun.”

I whooped, threw my arms around his neck and hugged him, and then ran off to join Derek.

When I ran up to him, he was beaming. “Did it kick in?”

“Yes!” I giggled.

“Isn’t it AWESOME?!”

“YES!”

He took me in his arms and kissed me, and for a moment, it felt like I was on the verge of exploding with happiness. All I was conscious of was that he was kissing me, and I was kissing him, and together we were sharing one perfect moment of absolute bliss.

It was all downhill from there.