White Teeth Teens

23. Green Friendly

"How was the dance?" Liz asks the next day.

We're at the Starbucks in Hudson sipping lattes. I texted Ben while I was in line to tell his mom that the Pumpkin Spice latte is here! Liz and I sit down at a table in the back and warm our hands around our cups.

"It was fun." I say, taking a sip.

"You sound hesitant."

I shrug. "It was fun hanging out with Ben... in his car."

She playfully slaps my knee. "Oh you dirty girl! What did you guys do?"

I lift my shirt up to cover half of my face, like I've been naughty.

"You banged in his car?" She smiles like the idea sounds delicious.

"You're being so loud," I hiss. I look around to see if anyone in the Starbucks it staring at us, but everyone's in their own conversations. "Nothing happened. We just made out a little bit." I drop my head on the table and sigh. "His abs feel so nice."

Liz throws her hands up. "Ugh, you're torturing me!"

We both crack up.

"So what did you do last night?" I ask. Her cheeks immediately color and she grabs for her latte to prolong the moment. "Hello? Earth to Liz!" I wave my hand in her face.

She looks up to the ceiling and groans loudly. Then she looks back at me and sighs, as if my silence forced her to answer. "I was hanging out with Alex."

I squint. "Alex?"

"Alex Cavone..."

I try to hide my giggles. "Wait, really?!"

Liz shoves her hand over my mouth to stop me from being too loud.

"Yes." Liz takes a deep breath. "It's not a big deal."

"I thought you hated him."

She shrugs.

"Did you guys hook up?"

She shrugs again. Then her eyes narrow and she points at me. "You have to promise you're not going to tell anyone. Especially your brother or Ben!"

I wrap my pinky around hers. I have so many questions. Like where do they go? When did they start doing it? What's it like? But Liz seems uncomfortable so I change the subject.

"Hey Liz?" I ask. "Do you smoke weed?"

"I have before. I did a lot sophomore year but not really anymore." Liz takes a long sip of her drink and squints, thinking. "You've never tried it?"

"No." Why is my default to lie?

"It's fun. Sometimes."

"Why only 'sometimes'?"

"I don't know, I guess it depends on why you do it." She taps her nails along the paper cup where they've scribbled her name in black Sharpie. "It's like drinking. Sometimes you do it to have fun with friends, sometimes you do it to escape, because you're depressed. Sometimes weed is fun, sometimes it makes me really anxious, and sometimes it makes me feel worse than I did before it." She bites her lip. "But I still think it's worth trying. At least a few times... You don't usually get high the first time."

I'm suddenly clutching my latte a little too tightly. So I wasn't even high that night... I knew I wasn't—I barely smoked but maybe part of me hoped that's why I did what I did with Jess's brother. Like it was out of my control. But it's not the weed's fault.

"Maybe I'll try it," I say.

Liz agrees. "Just try it with Ben. Or someone you feel safe with."

"You?"

She scrunches her face. "I have this irrational fear that colleges have eyes and ears everywhere and they'll reject me if I smoke." She vents about early decision college applications and long drives in traffic to Pennsylvania for college tours. That'll be me in a year. I don't even want to think about it. After we finish our lattes, she drives me home to study for my Animal Behavior test on Tuesday.

Liz acts different in the car. She listens to top 40 radio instead of her usual alternative pop CDs and I catch her smirking every so often. When she drops me off, she gives me a long hug goodbye even though I'll see her in less than 24-hours. I bet it's because of Alex Cavone.

#

Dean and I spend the afternoon studying in the living room. Mom took away his phone so he'd actually pays attention. If he doesn't get a 90 or above on this test, he'll most likely have a C average for the class. The only thing he seems to remember is the classical conditioning of Pavlov's dog.

"Hey Mom?" Dean shouts as Mom preps for dinner. "How come we've never had a dog?" My eyes jolt up from my textbook.

"You three were enough of a handful."

I hear stomping from upstairs and then Logan screams from the top of the stairs, "CAN WE GET A DOG?"

Colin shrieks happily from his highchair, banging on the tray.

"No way, josé!" Mom says. Dean and I roll our eyes at each other and he mouths, "I want a dog". "Me too!" I whisper.

After an hour of Animal Behavior, Dean grabs his jumbo tub of Nutella. He spoons it into his mouth and goes on a tangent about the Cuban Missile Crisis. I've got a paper on it due Friday and I zone out so quickly in class that I don't retain any of the lesson.

"You should write your paper on 'Cult of Personality,'" Dean mumbles with Nutella stuck in his mouth.

"What the heck is that?" I ask, stretching my finger towards the tub.

"It's a song about politics and stuff." Dean pulls the tub to his chest, out of my reach.

"How is that going to help me?"

Dean shrugs and goes "Mhmhm", which is his way of saying "I don't know".

"Useful," I say. I need a break. I close my laptop and take it upstairs.

Logan's at his computer editing his music video when I walk into his bedroom. I close the door behind me and lean over his shoulder to look at the screen but Logan slams his laptop closed before I can see anything.

"Stop," he says.

"Why can't I see?" I ask.

"Cuz." He pulls off one of his socks and throws it at me. "Not done yet."

"Ew, Logan!"

Logan cracks up, clutching his stomach. I let him calm down and then I say I need a favor.

"I'm listening."

I take a deep breath and squeeze my eyes shut for a second. "Can you..." I lean close and whisper, "teach me how to smoke?"

When I open my eyes, Logan is glaring at me like he wants to wring my neck. "Is that a joke?"

I shake my head.

"You made this huge fuss, told mom and dad, got me grounded and now you want to do it? Woooooow." He waves his hand like he wants me to get out. Ashamed by my own hypocrisy, I turn and start to leave but then Logan goes, "Why? Why do you want to do it all the sudden? For this guy you've known for two seconds?"

I spin back around. "No."

"Liar."

"Fine! But that's not the only reason. I want to be open to it."

He rolls his eyes. "Go ahead. Just don't involve me."