Page 69 of The Genius
Alcohol and Weed
Marco
“Sure, you can mix alcohol and weed,” Storm said with an authority that rubbed me the wrong way.
We were all hanging out in my apartment, and Storm had convinced Willow it was time to embrace the culture of the Northlands and get drunk.
“Go easy,” Hunter instructed his sister, who was wrinkling her nose up at the smell of whiskey. “You’re not used to alcohol, so you won’t need much to get drunk.”
“Are you with me, Shelly?” she asked with a playful smile. “I’ll do it, if you do it.”
Taking a small sip from the glass Storm had given her, Shelly gave a grimace. “That tastes awful.”
I was on a chair, facing the sofa where Shelly sat in the middle with Willow and Storm on each side of her. Hunter was sitting on the armrest next to Willow with a glass of whiskey of his own. Tristan was on a chair next to me.
“If you don’t like the whiskey, you can mix it with soda or take this instead.” Tristan held out a weed inhaler.
My nostrils flared a bit when Shelly reached for it and turned it around in the air. I wasn’t her protector and couldn’t tell her what to do, but I didn’t like her getting high or drunk. One of my friends had once confessed that when he got his Motlander wife drunk she became horny. Shelly was already too curious for her own good. I didn’t need her to develop the same type of scientific interest in Hunter, Storm, or Tristan that she had for me. If she did, this whole secrecy thing between us would be off. She might not be mine, but she wouldn’t be theirs either. Not tonight anyway.
“Did you know that archeologists now think that cannabis seeds were used as a food source in China eight or nine thousand years ago? People still use it in the Motherlands for medical purposes, but it won’t give you a high. It’s actually a chemical called tetrhydrocannabinol that causes the high.”
“Shelly, shut the fuck up and inhale the damn thing.” Storm was pushing her with his shoulder and grinning. I clenched my teeth wanting to ask him not to touch her.
While Willow clinked her glass with her twin brother and got some of the whiskey down, Shelly inhaled the weed, and handed the inhaler back to Tristan.
“Do you feel it?” he asked with eagerness.
“I think I do.” She had the cutest expression on her pretty face. Her eyes and mouth widening in a silent “Whoa.”
“Let me try,” Willow said. Tristan was quick to give her the inhaler and watched with interest when Willow took a deep huff and coughed before speaking. “You and Archer used to smoke these sometimes at the school, didn’t you, Marco. I recognize the fragrance.”
“It was rare,” I said and took another sip of my beer.
“We had so much fun at that school.” Willow’s voice sounded wistful. “And that first year when you and Shelly were there was the best part.” She pointed to me and Shelly. “You were always bantering over something stupid and we kids would pick sides and be on team Marco or team Shelly.”
“That’s awful.” Shelly coughed.
“I was on team Marco, but there were a few times when you almost won me over.” Hunter nodded to Shelly. “One time you and Marco were discussing something and you told him in a polite way to go fuck himself.”
“I would never use such words!”
Hunter smiled. “It was in such a subtle way that he didn’t even pick up on it. But we boys did and we thought it was hilarious.”
“What didn’t I pick up on?” I asked with a frown.
“Shelly had you under pressure discussing something and when you ran out of arguments, you pulled the age card saying that you were right because you weremanyyears older than her.” Hunter was grinning as he told the story. “Shelly didn’t buy it and challenged whether five years qualified as many, which of course you insisted it did, telling her that five years was a third of her age.” Hunter pointed to Shelly. “The best part was when you just looked at Marco all cool and collected and said in the driest voice, ‘Thank you for explaining the word many to me, it means a lot,’ and then you walked away.”
Willow grinned. “Hunter always tells that story.”
“Because it was hysterical. I just knew I wanted to grow up and be like you, Shelly.”
Shelly arched an eyebrow. “What, involuntarily funny and socially awkward?”
Willow raised her hand up in the air. “I was always on team Shelly and I loved it when you would tell jokes while teaching.”
“Oh, no, those jokes were awful,” Storm interjected.
Willow grinned. “What made them funny was that Shelly laughed at her own jokes. Don’t you remember how she would sometimes grunt like a pig and all us kids would laugh with her?”
