Dirty Little Secret

four

A/N: If you're uncomfortable with mentions of marijuana I suggest not reading this entire chapter. You can skip to the last few paragraphs for the ending or just message me & I can give you the gist of what happens!
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"Aiden!" I nearly shout. He keeps laughing but doesn't answer me when I ask him why, and it's beginning to make me nervous.

I call his name one last time and finally get his attention. When he stops laughing he looks over at me as he slips the remains of my brownie past his lips.

He still has yet to explain anything to me, but he stands up from his spot on the couch and pulls me up with him. I'm led through the sea of bodies toward the front door and am quickly met with a cool summer breeze on my warm face.

"Uhm, hello? Are you gonna tell me what's going on or are we just gonna keep walking? 'Cause quite frankly I'm still a little bit too tipsy to be doing all this walking..." I trail off.

Aiden laughs from beside me and glances over with a smile. "Charlotte, have you ever been high?" he asks nonchalantly.

"High as in smoked weed high?"

He nods his head and, as lame as I feel, I admit to him that I've never gotten high. "Well... In about an hour or so, you will be."

I stop dead in my tracks and give him a serious look. "Aiden, no. I'm already wasted. If I go home high or smelling like pot I will never hear the end of it from my mother. I am not smoking weed with you."

He laughs just as hard as he had been inside when he came and sat next to me. "Oh, man. You're so innocent, it's actually quite adorable." I give him a quizzical look and he takes that as his cue to further explain. "Charlotte, I'm not asking you to smoke weed with me. You just ate a pot brownie."

I must look like I've just seen a ghost because I can literally feel the color drain from my face. I try to speak but all that comes out is a bunch of jumbled up words.

"I... wait wait wait... I did what?! This is what it feels like to be high? I don't feel any different, I still feel drunk. Aiden, I think I might throw up."

He laughs and leads us farther down the street until a small park is in sight. We take a seat on a big open field of grass and I look up at the starry sky, trying to figure out how in the world I'm going to explain this all to my mom when I come home drunk and high.

"So basically, when you ingest marijuana, you end up way more high than you would be if you just smoked it because it goes through your blood stream. But it takes a while for it to kick in so you won't feel anything right away."

"Can I die from this?" I'm quick to ask. "Like, is it even safe to eat weed?"

I'm glad Aiden finds all of this funny, because I'm honestly trying not to freak out.

"No, you can't die from it. Unlike alcohol, there is no lethal dose of marijuana. So you could eat, like, a whole pound of it in one night and you'd be fine... You'd be tripped out a lot, but you'd live."

"So, how long will it last?"

"Not too long, you didn't eat much. But you've never been high before so you're gonna feel pretty crazy."

We sit in silence for a few minutes before I finally decide to lay down on the cold grass. Aiden lays down beside me and I look over at him through the darkness. The moon is the only light we have and boy, does it make him look good.

"If it was just a weed brownie and all that'll happen is we get high, why did you seem so scared when you first saw me eating it?"

Aiden shifts so he's laying more on his side and has a better view of me. "For the same reason I told you not to take a drink from someone. Because we were at a party full of dumb, drunken assholes and I didn't want anything to happen to you. But when I found out it was Miles who gave it to you I knew you'd be fine. He puts weed in all types of food and I've known him for years, he'd never drug someone. He can be a real dick sometimes, but he's not like that."

We continue to talk for a little while. He tells me stories about other crazy parties he's been to and the first time his friends got him drunk and high. But he also tells me about his adventures, and his childhood and all the places he wants to go when he "becomes rich and famous." At one point he makes a joke that, tomorrow when I think back to it, probably won't be so funny, but right now is the most hilarious thing I've ever heard.

Aiden is laughing too, and when we look over at each other we end up laughing even harder. I'm laying down but I'm nearly in fetal position trying to clutch my aching stomach.

"If we don't shut up someone is going to come out here and make us," he comments, which only makes us laugh even more.

"If this is what being high feels like I really would like to know why I've always been so opposed to it in the past."

Aiden smiles as we both turn back onto our sides to face each other. He reaches into his pocket to retrieve his phone, then scooches closer slightly and shines the light from his screen on my face.

"Your eyes are so red and puffy," he chuckles, then turns the phone to his own face. "How 'bout mine?"

I giggle and push the hair on his forehead out of his face. "Yes, very very red."

When the light from his screen goes dim he takes the phone away, but our eyes are still trained on each other's faces. I'm not sure how long we sit like this for, but I somehow find the nerve to move even closer to him.

"Aiden..." I whisper, my voice so low I'm not even sure he heard me.

But a second later he replies, "Yeah?"

His warm breath fans across my face and I bite down on my bottom lip for a second, nerves welling up inside me from what I'm about to say.

"Aiden... I really want you to kiss me."