Backseat Drivers

Amsterdamic Fun

Aika couldn't remember how long ago they'd arrived in Amsterdam, nor how they'd found the little cafe tucked away within the buzz of people, and the whir of bike wheels, with small bouquets of flowers that tinted the place with a purple scent. All she knew was that she'd been ready to try some of Roy's mushrooms ever since the Eurostar. Ever since she'd wanted to know what Sean meant by the fact that he could hear the smell of petrol and coffee - and whether he'd been winding her up or not. It was nearing the evening, and a rich blue was spreading above their heads outside, painted behind the once-invisible stars. 

"How many's that then, for the magical fungi?"

"Just four," Calum said, before chucking a small baggie of white rounded pills beside his plate of fries. "I'm sorted."

He flashed one of his trademark grins - a happy smile that made his eyes light up, but with that underlying cockiness that followed him about. 

"Three," Cindy chimed in, folding her arms and sitting back in her seat.

"You don't want anything?" Roy asked. "Sure?"

"Yes," she smiled sweetly, not sarcastically, though enough to certify her decision. 

"Calum, are you sure about that shit? It looks kind of dodgy."

Sean glanced at Calum, who merely shrugged in response. 

"I'd take a short, good time over that transcendental vegetable shit you got there. Nothing but fun and buzz."

Happily, he swung his little baggie between his fingers, before tipping a couple out onto the palm of his hand and slipping the packet back into his pocket. Roy had already started handing out small doses of shrooms, carefully measuring each portion in his hand before passing it along to Sean and Aika. Whether it was simply the way Amsterdam was, or their mindless assumption about the place clouding any self-consciousness - no one in the cafe seemed to bat an eyelid at this decadent showing of illegal drugs. Aika went first. The moment the dried up fungi touched her tongue, she cringed at the nauseating mud-taste that spread bitterly, quickly swallowing it with disrelish, and then sticking out her tongue to dull the soily aftertaste. Calum watched her, an amused wince on his face at her discomfort.

"Yummy," he grimaced, earning a deadpan look from the girl. 

"I'm enlightening myself," she coughed, and took a sip from the glass of water in front of her. 

"Fuck yeah, enlightenment," Roy repeated enthusiastically, and then threw his own share back with considerably more ease than Aika. "She knows what she's talking about."

-

Nightlife in Amsterdam glowed with thrill, neon lights, and a youthful hilarity as the five of them waltzed the Leidseplein square, bursting with nonsensical ideas and hopping from one luminous bar to the other. Age didn't matter there - you asked, you got, then you left with a vague hope they wouldn't follow you out and rightfully demand their money. That was, if you hadn't entirely forgotten you'd even bought a drink in the first place. Calum bounced ahead of the group as they whirled down the cobbled street, trying to keep their footing in the dimly illuminated, but busy street - Cindy still had a glow-in-the-dark cocktail in her hands from the last bar they'd been to; she'd somehow sauntered out holding it. 

"Who feels alive?!" Calum hollered at the moon, earning laughter from the other drunkards and drug-users that they passed - for no one within a mile radius was sober on this night, it was far too electric. Calum was like lightning - fast moving, eyes sparking, adventure-inducing. Kind of like his own drug. Everything was bright to Aika, but in a pulsating way rather than a radiant way - things were full of light without emitting anything. And then of course, there were the colours, blending into each other like a cacophony of abstraction, bleeding into the sky - everywhere she looked. 

"Hey, Sean," she said, smiling and squinting an eye to see how easily she manipulate the pinks and reds and greens and blues. "I think I got it."

"You got what?" he chuckled, sounding far closer than Aika had initially perceived. 

"The magic," she whispered back, and he started laughing, a musical and resounding laugh. 

"Aika's gone!" he called over - to Roy, or Cindy, or Calum she didn't know, but what she did know was that her mind was expanding, with rich thought. And also that Calum was extremely fucked. Nearly as much as she was. He was dancing now, crooning 'Georgia on My Mind' into a drunken Cindy's ear, taking her hand and twirling her across the shadowed pavement. Her laugh floated momentarily, and then disappeared with the light breeze that rustled Aika's wisp of hair past her eye. She didn't know why this made her envision Tinkerbell from Peter Pan - but suddenly Sean was by her ear, on the other side he'd been originally. 

"Just an old sweet song, old sweet song, keeps Georgia on my mind!"

His throaty rendition tickled her ear, and she waved him away laughing - then as their singing sizzled out, she noticed the man in a uniform walking towards them. It was black with a single neon strip of yellow across the jacket. Traffic warden?

"Hi guys, mind if I ask a couple questions?"

Policeman. It was as if the blaring music in all of their heads was suddenly paused, and their intoxicated joy momentarily dampened at the prospect of this. The officer spoke English, but with a twinge of a Dutch accent - regardless, he sounded absolutely miles away. Aika wondered whether she had something blocking her ear, but then he seemed to walk closer and she gained some more clarity.

"I presume you're English?" 

"Yes, sir."

Calum had taken it upon himself to be the spokesman. 

'Oh dear', thought Aika, plainly. 'We're fucked'.

"How long have you been in the country?"

"Couple hours, couple hours."

Hopefully Calum came across as the naturally energetic person he usually was, though his repetition and fidgeting was hinting reason to be suspicious.

"Do you mind if I ask how old you all are?"

"Eighteen."

"All of you?"

Calum responded with one exaggeratedly sincere nod. Considering he was utterly inebriated, his lying was rather convincing. 

"Birthday?"

"October 23rd, 1999," Calum lied again, knocking his birthday back a year. 

"Right," the officer nodded, a little warily as he flicked through his black notebook. Rather pleased with himself, Calum used this as an opportunity to glance at the others, taunting the devil by giving them a toothy grin. He readjusted himself as the policeman looked up again. 

"Just in case you're unaware, I'll update you on our drugs policy here, since there's a few misconceptions floating round. All drugs, are illegal, though some such as cannabis are 'tolerated' by the law."

"Tolerated by law," Calum repeated quietly to himself, and the policeman gave him a sharp look to double-check he wasn't taking the piss. In his state, who knew? 

"Yes. And I can tell by the size of your pupils, sir, that you are under the influence of a drug other than cannabis, though since you're clearly not locals, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. If I see you again, in a seemingly non-sober state I will be obliged to take your names."

Calum nodded solemnly, and it did seem as though he was trying to keep a lid on the energy bursting out of him - however, it wavered slightly as he then smiled and extended a friendly hand in parting. Understandably, the policeman neglected to shake it, and nodded curtly before walking past them, muttering something to himself that none of them quite caught. Calum spun to face them, smiling happily once they were away from the eye of authority.

"Lucky I'm in the right mind to speak to a representative of the law!" he declared. 

"Come here, you bastard," Sean grinned, slinging an arm around his friends neck. "You're a loveable rogue!"

Sean too, had now begun to succumb to the 'magic'.