The Bad Boys Are Back

16

Ava's POV

I didn't realize when I was getting 'high' but I felt the 'coming down'.

Because I suddenly recalled I had a Calculus test on Monday. And it was really starting to stress me out.

Advanced Calculus isn't something you toy with.

I had to shove down the sudden urge to beg Finn to return me my worksheets so I could do them on this very patio. The night was too cold for me to be wearing a skimpy crop top and a thin bomber jacket.

"Do you want a stick?" Finn offered as usual.

"I'm good." I said.

What was I even doing here? If this place got raided the police would run a urine test on me and find out I've consumed not one not two but several different drugs. I wasn't a fan of drugs. But I had always fantasized trying weed after I get a career and settle down with my dream husband. He has to be career-oriented too.

I thought of Nancy.

She was probably studying for the Calc test right now.

For goodness' sake.

"You okay?"

"Yes." I replied Finn. "Don't blow smoke at me I don't wanna end up smelling like cigarettes. I had to wash my hair twice the last time you blew smoke at me."

"Alright then." He said, creating some distance between us. "I think you're coming down."

"I know. I can feel all the worries and anxieties those drugs suppressed coming back."

"It'll probably get worse. That's why I don't fuck with MDMA."

"In my defence, she - I mean the girl who called herself Theo - said it was just juice."

"And in my defence I told you not to take any drinks from strangers. Was that a drink? Yes. And was she a stranger? Yes too."

I stuck out my tongue in reply.

Finn turned one corner of his lip up. Guess he wasn't a cheerful person. Not that I didn't know this already.

"What's MDMA? I never bothered researching drugs. Just medicinal marijuana."

"It's ecstasy."

"Why did you imply the comedown would be bad?"

"It drains all the serotonin in your head to give you that happiness you felt earlier. It actually varies across different individuals, but generally if you're not a happy person you're going to feel like shit for a bit."

This might be the longest sentence Finn has ever said to me. Also the most intelligent-sounding thing because for the first time he appeared to know something I didn't know.

Was I considered a happy person?

"Am I a happy person?"

"I don't know." He said, exhaling smoke. "Probably."

"How do I know if I'm an unhappy person?" I asked him.

"You just know it."

"That's very vague, but okay."

"Well what are your chain of thoughts when you get up in the morning?"

I thought long and hard.

"Honestly, I just wanna crawl back in bed. It feels exhausting constantly having to be at the top of my game. But I feel happy when I achieve things, you know? After my dad died I've just been kind of numb." I sighed. "I'm handling it way better than my mom, that's one thing for sure. She just sleeps in the living room watching my dad's favourite sit-coms over and over."