Page 102 of Golden Ruin

She snatches both from my hand and doesn’t hesitate for even a second to light up. I watch her, staring way longer than I should, but I can’t help it. She brings the joint to her mouth, and I focus on her lips, how they form around the end of the joint. She sucks the smoke in, and her eyes fall closed.

This was definitely the right call.

Her head settles against the back of the couch as she passes it to me to take a hit. It’s just like old times. I didn’t smoke much, but when I did, it was with her.

There are parts of myself that only exist with Lexi, sometimes making me feel like I’m someone else entirely. Or maybe that’s wrong. Maybe she just brings out the real me. There’s just something about her that knows how to find the guy who laughs easier, the guy who doesn’t take life so seriously, and apparently the guy who gets high on the couch with the woman who sets his whole fucking heart on fire.

I hold the smoke in, letting it linger in my lungs for a bit before breathing.

“Better?”

She nods. “Better.”

I lie back, too, staring at the ceiling with her.

“I’m supposed to be the bad influence. Not you,” she says.

I laugh a little, passing her the joint. Her words trigger a memory, and I laugh harder as I listen to her inhale.

“Remember that time you got me high and made me ride bikes downtown with you?”

“Bullshit. That was your dumb-ass idea.”

I shake my head. “No fucking way. That was all you. I remember because the whole point of us going was so you could see that stupid window display that went viral on Pandora.”

“Oh yeahhhhh! The one that looked like the guy mannequin was banging the girl mannequin against the wall.”

I nod and accept the joint. “Told you.” I take another hit, and a thought pops into my head. “Why the fuck didn’t we just drive?”

She takes a second to think about the question. “I feel like there was a valid reason, but…”

“Shit. I couldn’t find my keys, so we borrowed bikes from some guy down the hall.”

She snaps and points at me. “Yep, that was it. So, bikes it was.”

“Bikes it was,” I nod. “To see the infamous, fucking mannequins.”

Lexi nods. “Yep. And I remember us both standing on the sidewalk, staring at those two badly-dressed, nondescript hunks of plastic thinking it was totally worth it.”

I laugh a little louder this time. “Nah, don’t pin that shit on me. Nothing about a four-mile bike ride in the middle of the night while we were high felt worth it.”

She shrugs. “To each their own.”

I shake my head at her, tearing my gaze away when I realize my eyes are dragging down her legs again. I’m starting to feel the effects of the weed, but just enough that I’m relaxed. Hopefully she’s feeling that too. That was the whole point, to get her mind off everything that has her weighed down tonight.

The song changes and I roll my eyes. “Not this shit again.”

Lexi shifts beside me, staring. “What?”

I gesture toward the speaker. “You ruined this song.”

She sits up a little. “I ruined it? How?”

My smile broadens. “By playing it nine thousand times, back-to-back.”

“It’s a good song!”

“It’s overrated.”