Set Me Free

CH:4 Lovely Shark Eyes

ISSA

We stayed in the pool wrapped in each other's arms for I don't know long before Caseus brought us fully out of the water. Neither of us wanted to go home so we drove around until we somehow ended up on Evans Peak sitting on the roof of his truck. My weepy mood had long since subsided, I was finding it impossible to feel down about almost anything in his company. I was also finding it incredibly hard to refuse a request from the handsome man but that didn't keep me from trying.

"Why did you think I had the lighter in the first place?"

"I thought you smoked cigarettes!"

"You had to save my life from a single drag of a cigarette Issa, if I smoked I'm sure I'd be used to it."

"Caseus I cannot do this. I can't."

"Don't be such a tight ass! You just finished telling me you work for yourself so it's not like your boss is going to pop out with a surprise drug test."

Caseus assured me as he reached out and wrapped the thick white rob tighter around my shoulders and pulled on the sash to tighten it. Did I mention we also stole robes? It was dusk and the already chilled air had grown even cooler so Caseus had the suggested that we should borrow robes. So there we were huddled together waiting for the sun to rise while he tried to talk me into smoking marijuana.

"Still I just ........ can't!"

He lit the blunt and the smoke with its signature smell danced around us no doubt clinging to our robes, his suit, my armor, his ruffled hair, my once straightened now fro.

"You can there's nothing to it have you ever tried it before?"

"Well yea with my best friend Keema in college."

"And did you like it?"

"Well yeah.....but-"

"But what?"

"If I tell you you'll laugh."

"I might," he said putting it to his lips and taking a long pull.

I looked up into the sky and realized all the stars had long gone and the sky was now a mix of pink, purple and blue.

"The one time I did try it, it wasn't bad at all except for the coughing."

As if on que Caseus started to cough and I leaned further into his side and began to pat his back.

"I'm good, I'm good. Go ahead."

"It really wasn't a bad experience for me but Keema became really paranoid and the night sort of went to hell from there."

"What happened?"

"I spent the rest of the night calming her down and assuring her that I in fact could not hear her heart beating and that she wasn't going to have a heart attack."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"Did I mention she went running down the hallway screaming and jumped into the shower with all her clothes on?"

He started to laugh just as he went to exhale and started a whole new fit of coughing that made me laugh too.

"It really wasn't funny at the time. I had to tell our RA she was having a bad reaction to diet pills."

"Diet pill? And they bout that?"

"They did."

I was still laughing when out of the blue he quickly pressed his lips to my cheek. It was so fast I wouldn't have been sure it even happened but for the way he was looking at me when I shyly looked up at him. By the way I was acting one would never know I was a whole grown ass woman and a divorcee at that. Caseus just as cool as he wanted to be held out the blunt to me and I hesitated to take it.