Good Vibes

Chapter 3

"And that is why Nurture controls life, and not Nature," Alex states matter-of-factly before he takes a bong hit. I am sitting on the couch with my legs crisscrossed as I listen intently to Alex and Jack's debate on Nature versus Nurture.

Jack, sitting on a brown leather love seat, seems to take a moment to contemplate Alex's argument, before he declares his side of the coin. "Yes, Nurture can have an effect on our life, but Nature is what creates us, therefore your argument is invalid," he smirks.

I shake my head and dramatically stand up, pointing to both of them. "Nature and Nurture play equal roles in our life therefore your," I give a pointed look at Jack," argument is irrelevant," I purse my lips in satisfaction at the choice of synonym to replace invalid with. Before any other irrelevant or invalid arguments can be made, my phone vibrates with the chorus to Natural Mystic by Bob Marley playing in the background. I refrain from rolling my eyes when I see the Caller ID. "Hey," I try to keep my voice as neutral as possible without letting all my thoughts and feelings of last night come over me in a nostalgic u-turn or absorb Jack and Alex's curious stares. If I stay as vague as possible, I can probably make it sound like I'm talking to a customer.

"Hey, I'm leaving right now to pick you up. Meet me outside in ten minutes," Sebastian's voice says on the other line.

"Okay, that'll be twenty dollars for a dub," I shoot a reassuring thumbs up to my bros before moving towards the kitchen so that I'm out of earshot.

"So you've been smoking...this'll be interesting. Have you had lunch yet?" I'm always smoking. I raise my eyebrow at his question.

"No why?"

"Just curious. See you in 10," and the other line clicks immediately before I can even tell him to have a safe ride.

I go back to the couch, this time with a thick nug between my index and thumb. Finding peace in splitting up the weed and packing it, I take greens and leave the rest of the bowl for Alex. "I need to make a couple deliveries, are we still on for poker night tomorrow?" it was a tradition to have poker night every Sunday at my house since I moved here.

They both nod and give me goodbye hugs before I grab my bag and sling it over my shoulder. As I head outside to meet Sebastian, my train of thought leads me to where I was last night; can I really trust this man? What are the consequences of following along this deal? What are the consequences of not following along this deal?

I shake my head, and reflect on the new mantra I'd come up with in the shower this morning-Compromise. "Compromise, compromise, compromise," I repeat under my breath as I exit out of the building to the scene of Sebastian sitting on his bike with his helmet placed behind him. I inhale and exhale my mantra one final time before I advance towards him.

"Did you wait long?" I ask once I'm only a mere foot away from him.

He shakes his head and in the next moment his eyes are sweeping over me curiously. "Get on," he says, pointing behind him.

I shake my head and mentally smiling at myself for coming up with this little so-called step to compromise. "I drove here and I can't leave my car here. You can just chain her up," I direct my finger towards his motorcycle," or whatever it is you do with that contraption. I can drive us wherever we have to go. I happen to have a streak of no accidents, if you've been keeping track of your stalker date," I grin.

Sebastian doesn't hide his grin, which is another Kodak moment since he'd been acting the entire time before yesterday evening, so those fake smiles didn't count to me. Especially since those fake smiles never revealed his pearly whites like his current one is now. "Very nice Lawrence, but don't get used to this kind middle ground," he warns before finding a regular parking space on the street and securing his helmet in some miniscule trunk at the back of his bike. I take into account that no chain is needed when it comes to motorcycles.