I shivered and felt something wrap around my shoulders. It was Noah, laying a dry, warm towel over my wet body. We were seated in a circle around the fire, and once all the laughter and chatter had died down, we all stared into the flames, watching them dance and curl in front of us. There was something so primitive about watching the flames like this. Probably a throwback from the time we lived in caves. As I watched the dancing flames, I was sure I could see pictures forming and twisting. A bottle of something was being passed around the circle. It went from mouth to mouth, hand to hand, in a kind of easy rhythm, a predictable relaxed rhythm so that, when it came to me, I didn’t hesitate to take a gulp and then offer it to Noah. He shook his head and passed it to the next person, mouthing an “I’m driving” at me.
No one said a word; it was as if we’d agreed to keep silent and listen to the sounds of the waves and the flicker of the flames. The bottle went around again and I took another sip and passed it over Noah this time, to the person sitting next to him. The guy gave me a huge smile and then a small high-five. So this was what it was like being young?
Going from park, to club, to beach. Going where the wind blew you. Ending up somewhere, anywhere. Dancing and drinking and swimming in the sea. I was so lost in thought that when the cigarette came around, even though I didn’t smoke, I took a long, deep breath and then coughed.
“NO!” Noah shouted, and pulled it from my hands. “What are you doing?”
“I’ve never tried a cigarette,” I said. “You said to embrace things.”
“That is not a cigarette,” Noah said, giving it to the next person.
“Wh-what is it?”
“Dude, it’s weed, man,” one of our hooded friends said.
“WHAT?” I sat up straight and held my hand to my chest. “Did I just do drugs?” I looked at Noah, a rising sense of panic bubbling up inside me.
The whole circle burst out laughing. “Man, you are, like, so funny,” one of the twins said to me.
“Totally,” someone else echoed.
“Oh my God, what’s going to happen to me? I can’t feel it yet. I think I feel normal. Am I normal? What will happen to me?”
The people in the circle laughed even more, and Noah put his arm around me and pulled me closer. “You’ll be fine. You only had one drag. And anyway, I’m here.”
“You sure?”
He smiled at me. “You’ll be fine.”
The twins leaned forward and grabbed me by the hands.
“Totes fine,” they said at the same time.
“Although, dude, that was the strong stuff. That’s the shit I get from Barry’s hydroponic greenhouse, man. His stuff is bomb—he uses his own urine to grow it!”
“Ssshhhhh.” The twins looked at Hoodie One then back to me and smiled. “Just chill, babe. Go with it. It’s all good.”
“I am, like, sooooooooooo hungry!” I pushed my way into the store with our three hooded companions and the twins, who were now tagging along with us. The store had an old-school bell on the door that rang when we entered. The man in the store looked up as we stumbled in, giggling.
“Don’t mind them. They’re harmless,” Noah said, trying to placate the man, who was really staring at us now.
“No shoplifting!” The man pointed at a security camera on the ceiling. “I know all about you lot, coming in here in the early hours of the morning, stuffing food up your sleeves.”
“I have no sleeves.” I turned around and showed the man my outfit, then burst out laughing. The twins and the hoodies also laughed, as if I had just made the funniest joke in the world. Who knew I was a joker?
“I’m being serious,” the man said. “I will call the police if so much as a pack of chewing gum goes missing.”
“No shoplifting!” I yelled, then whipped out my credit card and slapped it down on the counter. “All snacks on me!” I said, which was met by a loud whoop from our party companions.
The man looked unconvinced, so Noah leaned across the table and whispered, “She’s good for it, trust me.”
The man scanned me from top to bottom with skeptical eyes. “Suuuure,” he said, but pulled my card towards him anyway. And then we got to work raiding the shelves. It felt like we