No Strings Attached ; j.g

t w e n t y - f i v e

The seven of us piled into a large circular booth, Doobie sat on the floor politely. We all ordered our breakfasty drinks.

A few moments later, the waitress came back with our drinks. "Ready to order?" she asked reluctantly.

"We'll all have Hawaiian waffles," I answered her.

"Easy enough, I'll get right on that," she turned. "Oh wait," she turned back. "What about the dog?"

"Some water, fruit and chicken will do," Ziggy said happily. Doobie's ears shot up and he wagged his tail. We laughed and the lady walked away.

Once she returned with our waffles and Doobie's food, we all dug in. "These. Are. Amazing," Hash said. You could basically see hearts in his eyes.

"They're really good," Cotton agreed. Everyone nodded, Doobie parked and chowed down his chicken.

"I'll be right back," Koi said weirdly and stood up. We all furrowed our brows and watched him, then we shrugged it off and continued eating. He finally came back, his face was a little red and he was coughing. "Are- *cough* there nuts in- *cough* these?" he asks.

"Yeah, why-" I began to ask.

"Koi's allergic to nuts," Hash said and stood up quickly. Koi started coughing and wheezing. We all stood up and crowded around him. "Koi?" He couldn't breath. He couldn't.

"Help! Somebody help!" Cotton yelled.

"Call an ambulance!" Hash said as he held Koi, who was still wheezing. I stared with wide eyes, spacing out. I quickly reached for Jack who was on the phone.

"They're on there way, wh-what do we do?" Jack asked, his hands were shaking. Everyone was crowded around staring in shock. "How allergic is he?"

"Deathly," Ziggy spoke, his eyes were almost teary. Koi coughed a few times and tried sucking in breath. He looked at us and took one more breath, his face was turning purple and his throat was swollen.

Medics soon rushed in and carried him out. I watched in disbelief. I tried talking but my voice shook with fear, a tear slipped down my face and Jack pulled me into his shoulder. "He's gonna be okay, Lex," he soothed, but even he was on the verge of tears.

-

Jack and I met up with the hippies in the hospital parking lot. They were all sitting against the doors with red eyes.

"Is he okay?" I asked as I ran up. Ziggy stood up and walked with me. "Ziggy?"

"H-he uh, we were too late," he wiped his mouth and nose and sniffed.

"W-what do you mean?" I asked.

"They couldn't clear his airway, he couldn't breathe and they couldn't do anything quick enough," he turned to look at me.

"You mean he's-" my voice cracked. "He's gone?" Ziggy nodded and tears fell down his face. I knew if anyone was to be sad, it was Ziggy and the hippies. I had some right to be sad, but they'd known Koi for years. I pulled Ziggy into a hug and he cried in my shoulder. "It'll be okay," I tried to calm him down. "There's probably plenty of weed up there," that made him laugh and me too. He pulled away.

"Thank you," he smiled weakly. "He said something, before he went," Ziggy said and I looked at him. "He said 'I'll be flying higher than ever'," Ziggy laughed sadly.

We walked back to the van, and Doobie didn't even greet us. He stared at his paws and whined. I crouched down and kissed his dry nose. Poor baby.

"We need to have a memorial for him," Misty said. We all looked to her and nodded. "At the beach, the last place he smoked, and we all know that he's truly his happiest when he flying high on earth," she laughed and shed a tear. We all nodded and smiled at the thought of him.

The hippies got into their van and Jack and I got into his car. Jack was driving, giving me the ability to day dream.

I thought about all the good times the hippies and I had with Koi. He was just fun to be around. He was always the life of the party, which sounds a little cliche, but it was true. He was always testing things with weed inside of the van, leaving the van with a good smell that we all grew to love. He'd always pop out of the van at the perfect time and say great things. He'd sing off key, we'd laugh, he'd act hurt. He was always having a good time, no matter the mood around.