The Trial Of Temptation

demonstration

It'd been a few days since you and Tom had had your big fight. He'd properly moved in with you all, which was met with some pushback from you, but you were eventually convinced by Abbie to let him stay. You'd noticed a few subtle changes in Tom, mostly that he smiled a lot more and seemed more chilled out. The two of you didn't talk a whole lot, other than a few "hi how are you"'s here and there. You knew he'd noticed how much you were using, and you knew that it bothered him loads. He would shoot you looks if you tried to do anything harder than coke around him. You understood. It was like a silent compromise. If he agreed not to bother you, you wouldn't shoot up or anything around him. Seemed fair. Today was an exciting day. Today, Tom, Abbie and Jerry were speaking at a demonstration in downtown LA. That meant you got to make new friends, and try new drugs, which was your favorite type of day. You had some loaded brownies for breakfast, and piled into Tom's car to drive up to LA. It was kind of a long drive, and Abbie insisted that you all sing folk songs on the way there. Abbie was not a good singer, but you encouraged him. He enjoyed it. Hits like "country roads" and "change is gonna come" were featured in his concert. You and Tom and Jerry were great backup.
"Hey, ya know who's gonna be here Tom?" Jerry giggled. Tom turned red and shot jerry an unamused look.
"Do enlighten me." He said. Jerry smirked.
"Jane Fonda." Abbie sang. You saw Tom go beet red. Your heart dropped a bit, but you ignored it. Just old lingering feelings. Nothing to worry about at all. Tom could do, and love whoever he wanted. Jerry and Abbie started giggling wildly. Tom shook his head and picked up some newspaper and started to read it. You shook your head and chuckled. Jane Fonda. He had a type. Not saying you were nearly as pretty as she was, but.. i dunno.. ya know. You eventually pulled up to the stage, where a crowd had gathered that reminded you of a concert bunch. There were a ton of people. You all got out of the car. Immediately, you heard someone say your name.
"Y/n!"
You turned to see Rosemary bounding up to you. She'd gone hippie too. She pulled you into a hug.
"Rosemary! Hi!" You said. She handed you a pill.
"Take it. It's so beautiful and exhilarating. You'll feel like you're flying!" She squealed. Tom was immediately behind you. You turned to him, meeting his eyes. You felt like stirring up trouble. You stuck your tongue out, which made his jaw tense, and placed the pill on your tongue, letting it linger before pulling it back into your mouth. Tom smirked and shook his head, turning to talk to Abbie and some other guys that had gathered to greet you all. Rosemary grabbed your hand.
"It's so wonderful that everyone is back together again." She said. You nodded, starting to feel the effects of the pill kicking in.
"Wanna meet my family?" Rosemary asked. You had been looking up at the trees, which were starting to take the shapes of different people that you'd met over the years. Your attention shot back to her.
"Oh, uh- sure." You said. You let Abbie know you were leaving. You made brief eye contact with Tom, and let Rosemary lead you away to find her "family."
You found that the family Rosemary was speaking of was pretty much a cult surrounded around the idea of psychedelics as a higher existence. That they were sent by god to show us the world as it truly is. You weren't into that type of thing, but the people involved seemed really chill, so you stayed to chat with them until the events started. You felt a tap on your shoulder.
"Y/n?"
You turned around. Bernadine smiled down at you. She hadn't aged a day, and looked exactly the same. You wished you could say the same for yourself. You stood up and pulled her into a tight hug. It was so good to see her.
"Oh my god, you look great!" Bernadine shouted over the loud chatting of the crowd. You smiled.
"Says you!" You shouted back. Bernadine looked down at your hands, which were covered with injection scars, which made her expression darken a bit, but her smile quickly came back.
"Who are you here with?" Bernadine asked. You had decided to stay home the day you were supposed to reunite with her because of your big kerfuffle, so she hadn't seen the boys either.
"I'm here with Abbie, Jerry and, uh, Tom." You shouted. Bernadine raised her eyebrows.
"That fuckhead is here?" She asked. You nodded.
"Yeah, I dunno he's apologized a lot but I'm still not exactly buddy buddy with the asshat." You replied. She laughed.
"C'mon, we'll see them later. Me and my girlfriend have a good spot set up up front." Bernadine told you. You said goodbye to Rosemary and her cult and followed Bernadine. You pushed through the crowd to find a very pretty blonde girl sitting on a red blanket near the front.
"This is Emily, my girl." Bernadine told you. You excitedly stuck a hand out for Emily to shake. She stood up and gave you a hug. You appreciated hug people.
"It's so nice to meet you. I've heard lots of great things." Emily shouted. It was extra loud toward the front.
"Nice to meet you too! I love your hair." You said. She touched her curls and smiled.
"Thanks!" She replied. The 3 of you sat down and shot the shit until the event started. Eventually, a man came up to the microphone and introduced Abbie, who was the first speaker. Abbie was a real crowd raiser, and did a great job getting the people riled up. He talked about Vietnam, made a few convention references, and ended his speech with a very loud "fuck the pigs" song. He did great, usual. Next, was Jerry, who had a nice little piece about how socialism was the mostilism. Then Tom, who was eloquent and great at his job as usual. You heard lots of whispers around you of girls talking about how "hot" he was and about how they'd, "like to do him right here". He was pretty cute. Especially in the California sun where his hair looked rather red. You noticed him talking to a girl when he got offstage. It stung a bit, but you shrugged it off quickly. You wouldn't let yourself to that again. Finally, the woman of the hour took to the microphone. And by golly was she beautiful in person. Jane Fonda had been at the forefront of the movement in Tom and Abbie's absence, and had done a great job too. She'd shed her girl next door image and replaced it with a short black shag haircut and a passion for anti Vietnam protest. You admired the shit out of her, but couldn't help but notice the way Tom looked at her. You'd seen that look before. You didn't like seeing it directed at anyone but you. You pinched yourself. No, that wouldn't fly. Tom was a fucked-up, dangerous heartbreaker. You would not be putting yourself through that again. No sir-ee. You shook it off and watched as Jane proved herself to be a genius with a mind crafted by god himself. She was exactly what this country needed. Tom still stated her down. You wanted to cry.
After she'd finished, you saw Abbie waving you and Bernadine over. You ran over and gave him a hug, telling him that he did great. Bernadine had her reunions with all of the boys, but paused when she noticed Tom's absence. You knew exactly where he was. Abbie put your thoughts into words.
"He's over talking to Fonda." Abbie said with a giggle. Bernadine looked back at you and bit her lip. She knew you well enough to tell that it didn't, not, bother you. Abbie knew too, and pulled you into a side hug.
"Why don't you get up there and say a few words sometime. You have such great thoughts, why not share em with the good nation of America?" Abbie asked, nudging your side. You blushed and shook your head.
"Never, ever, ever will I do that." You slurred. The acid was still in your system. Abbie must've been on something too, because he was much more giggly than usual. You walked over to see Jerry, who was talking with a few other yippies. One of them, you knew. Why? Because you'd slept with him.
"Hi Seamus." You said. Seamus looked you up and down and smiled a toothy grin. You thought about how most guys you'd hooked up with since Tom had all had big teeth. You shrugged it off. No.
"Hi, y/n. How's it been hangin?" He asked in his deep southern accent. You were  pretty high, so the intensity of his accent took you aback, making you start to laugh.
"I'm- *wheeze* good!" You mustered. Seamus chuckled, and threw his arm around you.
"Lookin good, l/n." He drawled. You laughed
"Lookin good l/n" you imitated him. He laughed.
"Nice." He huffed. He kept his arm around you, and you let him use you as arm candy as he walked around and talked to various friends. You spotted Tom in the corner of your eye, talking to Jane. He was standing pretty close to her. You saw him glance over at you on another guys' arm, and to your satisfaction, you saw him tense up a bit. If you weren't so drugged up, you probably wouldn't care at all. But your intoxication ripped all of your filters from your words, actions, and thoughts. So, you had to deal with the truth of your feelings rather than bury them, because there was no emotional barrier to put them under. You shifted closer to Seamus, leaning into his arm. Tom saw, and put an arm next to Jane's head on the back on the tent. You scoffed and put your arm around Seamus. He looked down at you and winked. You wanted to puke. You looked over at Tom who playfully touched Jane's arm with his hand. You felt your insides turn. You turned to Seamus.
"Can I get on your back?" You asked him. He nodded.
"Of course you can honey pie."
Belch. He was a pretty tall guy, and you weighed roughly 90 pounds so he lifted you up easily. You saw Tom's fist curl into a ball. Then, he leaned over to whisper something in Jane's ear, which made her giggle. You did the same to Seamus. Tom ran his hands through his hair nervously, and you saw a devilish smirk creep across his face. You could only watch in horror as you saw him reach out a hand to tuck a piece of Jane's hair behind her ear. You know what. Nope. It was time. Tom looked over at you and chuckled. You hopped down from Seamus's back, turned to look at him, and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him down to kiss him. When you pulled away, you looked over to see Tom and Jane up against the wall, making out like a bunch of teenager. You stomped your foot and walked away with a stinging pain in your heart. You'd lost the game. Seamus called after you but you held up a hand to let him know that you didn't wanna hear it. You found Abbie again, who was presently sitting in a tent with two naked girls, hitting a bong. You peeped in, but bobbed your head out right away, not wanting to disturb Abbie's weird sex practices. You eventually found a park bench and sat down on it, starting to smoke a blunt that you'd brought in the pocket of your bell bottoms. You lit it, brought it to your lips, and took a long hit of it, the image of Tom's lips on another girl etched in your mind. You shuddered and blew out the smoke, resting your head in your hands. You felt "preppy girl" coming back to bite you in the ass. The fact that faced you was not an easy one to deal with. And that fact was, that no matter how much you'd tried to change yourself, or alter your lifestyle, the one thing that would remain constant was the fact that Tom Hayden had your heart in a chokehold.