by B. B. Hamel
“I’m pretty sure it was a supply closet before they hired me.”
“Probably. At least you got a desk, though.”
I pat my desk lovingly. “She barely fits in here, but she treats me well.”
Franks laughs. “So what’s up, what’d you want to talk about?”
“I’ve got a weird request.” I frown a little. “What do you know about drugs?”
“Uh,” he says and laughs. “I know a thing or two. Not a whole lot, but you know. Is this about the drug test? Because, man, I’m clean, you don’t have to worry about that.”
“No, it’s not that,” I say quickly. “I mean, sort of. Listen, this is kind of a weird question, but… I was wondering if you could get me something.”
Frank looks surprised then smiles a little, head tilted. “You don’t strike me as the kind of guy to get down with all that.”
“I’m not normally,” I admit. “But I’ve been thinking about trying a new experience. Really, been thinking about it for a long time, and I’m hoping it might help with my coaching.”
“All right then,” Frank says and laughs. “That’s just about the weirdest reason I’ve ever heard, but all right. So what do you want to try?”
“Acid.”
He laughs, this time harder. He bends over and shakes his head before leaning back and putting his hands up. “You want to drop acid, man?”
“Yeah,” I say, smiling, even though I’m so nervous, sweat’s rolling down my back. If Frank takes this wrong, or if he realizes what I’ve done, this can all go up in flames.
“No offense, but maybe we should start with some weed. Smoke a little bit, relax a little bit, you’ll be right as rain.”
I wave that off. “I’ve smoked weed. I’ve done coke. I’ve taken mushrooms and gone to concerts. I want to drop acid.”
Frank lets out a breath and stares at me as he slowly realizes that I’m being serious. I stare back at him, a little bit of a smile on my lips, but I don’t back down.
“Okay,” he says finally. “Say I go through with it and get you some acid. What are you gonna do with it?”
“One weekend when we don’t have any games or practice, I’ll drive out to the canyon and take it.”
“Then what?” he presses.
“I don’t know. That’s the whole point.”
“Look, man, no offense, but it sounds like you’re way out of your depth.”
I let my smile slip. “Frank, I appreciate your concern, but I’m going to drop acid whether you hook me up or not. If you’re not about it, don’t worry.”
“Well, shit, hold up. I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it. I just feel like you should think. I mean, they’re drug testing the team, right?”
“That’s sort of what reminded me that I want to do this,” I say with a nervous laugh.
“Right.” He stares at me. “Okay, I can hook you up.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, man. I know a guy in town, he gets me weed sometimes. He’s offered some other stuff, but I’ve never taken him up on it… until now, I guess.”
“Can you get it for me tonight?”
He laughs and shakes his head. “What’s the rush?”
“I just want to be prepared.”
“Yeah, fine, I can get it tonight.”
“Frank, my man, you’re a dream. How much do I owe you?”
“Honestly, I have no clue. I’ll let you know after I buy it. I guess I’ll just get a few hits and go from there.”
“I really appreciate this, man, I really do.”
“Whatever, hey, maybe I’ll do it with you.” He grins at me. “Been forever since I tripped. Last time was… man, back in high school.”
I keep my smile plastered on my face. “Sure, that’d be cool. That’d be great.”
“Cool.” He stands up. “Look, I’m gonna go start harassing the guys.”
“Tell them about the drug testing.” I check my watch. “I want them to be broken out into positions in an hour.”
“You got it, boss.” He laughs and shakes his head. “Motherfucker wants acid…” He leaves my office, laughing to himself, and I slump back in my chair.
That was the most terrifying conversation of my life.
But it was just the first step, and probably the easiest. If Frank comes through tonight and gets me some acid, I think this might actually come together. But it all depends on what happens over the next day or so.
I pick up my phone and realize my hands are shaking. I have to take deep, calming breaths before they stop enough to dial. Chloe picks up on the first ring.
“Hey,” she says. “David. What’s up?”
“I just wanted to call and tell you that I have a plan.”
She’s quiet for a long moment. “You don’t have to. I can just…”
“No, listen,” I say. “I really do have a plan. It’s risky and dangerous, but I think it’ll work.”
“David—”
“Do you trust me, Chloe?”
She takes a breath and lets it out. “I trust you.”
“Good. Then believe that I’m going to pull this off.”
“What do you need from me?”
“I need you to meet me in the parking lot after practice tomorrow,” I say. “Bring Sara. Tell her it’s important.”
“Do we need to involve her?”
“We don’t,” I say. “But she can help. We’ll need another pair of hands to help deal with him.”
She’s quiet for a long moment. “Are we kidnapping Erik?”
“Sort of.”
“David…”
“Hey, it’s better than breaking his knees.”
“But how is this going to help?”
“Just trust me, okay? I promise, it’ll make sense tomorrow. Just show up and dress normal. Don’t come wearing all black and a mask.”
“Fine,” she says with a sigh. “Okay, fine. I’m not going to lie though, I’m a little freaked out.”
“That’s okay.” I laugh despite my nerves. “I got this.”
“I trust you.”
“Good. Look, I should get going, practice is starting to wind up. I’ll see you tomorrow. Meet right next to my truck.”
“See you then.”
I hang up the phone and stare at my desk, but this time, I’m not just spinning my wheels.
This time I have a real idea. I have a real plan starting to form in my head. It’s rough, it’s stupid, but it might actually work.
I get up from my desk, stretch, and head out to the locker room to check on the guys with a smile on my face.
20
Chloe
David’s truck is parked in its normal spot at the edge of the faculty lot. I lean up against it as Sara types on her phone. “So what’s the deal?” she asks. “Are we early?”
“No,” I say, frowning at my watch. “He’s running late.”
“Do you know what this plan is?” She puts her pone away and tilts her head. She’s wearing ripped jeans and a long-sleeve gray Henley. Her hair is messy and down, a little bit curly from the salt water. I’m pretty sure she was surfing earlier in the day. “I’m guessing it can’t be good.”
“I really don’t know,” I admit. “Well, okay, I think we’re kidnapping Erik.”
She stares at me. “Are you serious?”
“Sort of. I don’t know. I asked him if we’re kidnapping Erik and he said… a little bit?” I laugh nervously. “I’m sorry, Sara. I don’t know what’s going on or what I’m dragging you into.”
“It’s cool,” she says. “I’m ride or die, bitch. You got a body, I’ll ask if you have an extra shovel.”
I laugh and look over my shoulder. “That’s why you’re here. Good with bodies.”
“Wait, we’re not going to murder him, right?”
I look back at her and grin. “I thought you were ride or die, bitch.”
“I’m ride or die, not ride or murder.”
I laugh and shake my head. “We’re not killing
him. At least, I don’t think so.”
“That’s not reassuring.”
“I’m not down with killing him either, if that helps.”
“That does help a little bit, but I’m not totally sure David’s the kind of guy to back down.”
I nod but don’t answer. She’s right about that, David’s not the kind of man to walk away from something. I’m not sure he’d go so far as to kill someone, but he’d definitely go as far as he thought he needed to get what he wanted.
We wait another ten minutes, and I start to get anxious. I check my phone, but no calls from David and no texts. Another few minutes pass and I start to walk toward the athletics building. “Stay here,” I say. “Just in case he shows up.”
“What should I do?” she asks.
“Just stay here. Call me if he appears.”
I don’t get far though, because coming down the sidewalk is David with Erik leaning up against him.
I stare at the pair of them like I’m seeing some kind of mirage.
David’s in his usual coaching outfit and looks hot as hell like always. Erik’s wearing a jersey and a pair of jeans, like he started to get changed after practice, but only made it halfway. He’s grinning like an idiot and stumbling, leaning heavily on David.
“Oh, wow,” Erik says. “Look at the ground. Oh my god, David. Have you ever looked at the ground?”
“Sure have,” David says as the pair approaches.
“What’s going on?” I ask, eyes wide.
Erik looks at me and smiles. “Oh, wow, it’s you,” he says. “And you’re all… twisting, and glowing, and beautiful. Look, David, she’s an angel. I can see why you want to protect her so badly.”
“Yeah, she is,” David agrees. “Come on, just a little bit further.”
“And then we can explore the castle?” Erik asks.
David nods and gives me a look. “Yes, then the castle.”
Erik staggers along as David supports him. I fall in beside David on his other side as Sara comes around the truck, gaping at the pair, before throwing open the unlocked doors.
“What’s with him?” I hiss.
“Acid,” David says.
“Acid!” Erik repeats. “Oh, yeah, I thought I might be feeling something weird. Chloe looks like an angel and you look like a cloud.” Erik laughs as David helps him up into the truck’s second row seat. Sara gives us a look then slides in after him as David goes around to the driver’s side and gets behind the wheel. I get in last after making sure the doors are all shut.
“Okay,” I say, staring at David. “What’s going on?”
“Melting,” Erik says, staring at his own hand against the windshield.
“I drugged him,” David says.
“You did what?” Sara says. “Holy shit, are you joking?”
“Drugged me.” Erik laughs and licks the windshield as David pulls out. “Delicious drugs.”
“Yep I put acid in his water bottle,” David says. “The one he drank at the very end of practice. I thought I had like an hour before it kicked in, but after about twenty minutes he started talking weird. I barely managed to get him out of there.”
“Talking is weird,” Erik whispers. “Have you ever talked?”
“It’s okay, sweetie,” Sara says, patting his arm. “We’re talking right now.”
“Oh, you.” Erik grins at her. “You’re an angel too. You’re all angels. Wow, I love angels.”
“Sure.” Sara nudges him and he slumps against the window and starts licking it again.
David drives off campus and starts heading north along a main road.
“What’s the plan here?” I ask. “I mean, I assume you didn’t just drug him and that’s the end of it.”
“No, there’s a plan.” David squints into the rearview. “Is he listening?”
“Yeah, but don’t worry,” Sara says. “When this is over, it’ll all seem like a dream. I took acid once before, it was wild.”
“I want him to hear it,” David says. “Hey, Erik, listen up.”
“Yes, angel man? I didn’t know you were an angel. And you hung out with angels. God, so many angels, and this window. It tastes like a cloud.”
David sighs and keeps driving. “The league is drug testing the team in a few days,” he says. “That drug test will include Erik. If he tests positive for LSD, that’s going to be a problem. But it’ll be even worse if he tests positive for steroids, which I also slipped into his water bottle.”
“Oh, yes, ‘roids,” Erik says, rubbing his face against the glass, his lips smashing and his skin pulling along the slobbery window. “I love ‘roids. Make me very strong. But small balls are bad.”
“You can get steroids through water?” I ask.
“No, but I doubt he knows that.”
“Huh,” Sara says. “Okay. So you’re going to, what, blackmail him?”
“Like I’m doing to you, angels,” Erik groans.
“Right.”
“How will that work? If he’s getting tested, it seems like he’s going to fail no matter what.”
“If he agrees to my terms, I’ll switch his pee with my own.”
Sara snorts. “Can you do that?”
“Yes. The league only sends one person and she’ll be busy testing all the guys. I’ll make sure Erik’s one of the first people tested, and when she’s distracted, I’ll swap them out. She’s not careful around the coaching staff.”
Sara frowns and nods her head. I look back at her for a second then stare at David. “And you think this’ll work?”
“I think so,” he says.
“Okay, I’m following so far.” I stretch a little and glance back at Erik. “But why are we driving right now?”
“We’re going to drive for a couple hours, until his trip is peaking, and then we’re going to drop him off in some random wooded area.”
I stare at him, my jaw hanging open. I can barely understand what he just said, but his face isn’t changing, and I don’t think he’s joking.
Sara breaks the silence. “That’s insane,” she says.
“Yep.” David shrugs. “But he deserves it. I’ll make sure he has his phone and some money.”
“He could die,” I say. “He could run into the road and die.”
David hesitates. “Maybe. But I doubt it. I think he’ll curl up into a ball and freak out for a while.”
“Freaky deaky,” Erik whispers. He rubs his face against the seat’s upholstery. “Oh, yes, that feels nice. Everything feels nice. I love the way the angels sing.”
“Okay,” Sara says. “I have to admit, this is insane. But I kind of like it though.”
I laugh. I can’t help myself. This is absolutely insane and unethical and messed up on so many levels, and yet I love it too.
Erik deserves this. He deserves so much worse for everything he’s done to me. But this is going to be bad, and he’s going to walk away from it relatively unscathed if he just does what David wants him to do.
David, for his part, doesn’t smile. He keeps driving, not speaking, staring straight ahead.
For the next couple of hours, we head away from LA, up into the suburbs around it. The area gets more rural as we go, and Erik just keeps babbling about angels, about the motion of the truck, about the shapes he keeps feeling in his heart. Sara tries talking to him sometimes, and even helps calm him down once when his trip starts to take a bad turn.
“I’m this kid’s fucking trip Sherpa,” Sara says. “Seriously, I never wanted to be a Sherpa for anyone, but especially not for this asshole.”
“Don’t worry,” I say. “He’ll get his soon.”
“All mine.” Erik swats at the air and laughs.
I almost feel sorry for him. I can’t imagine what it’ll be like to find himself all alone in a strange wooded area, tripping on acid like this. He’s going to have a hard night, and an even harder morning getting home. I think there’s a pretty good chance that he’ll end up injured or dead, but I find it really hard to fee
l sorry for him.
We keep going. Sara alternates between teasing Erik and riling him up, and talking him down from his spirals. She seems to get some joy out of torturing the poor kid, but I don’t say anything and David keeps his eyes on the road.
The sun starts to set. David slows the truck down and takes an exit off the main road. We twist through some small town, up through a hilly area, then down into a valley. We pass through a main street area with shops and restaurants, then go on through it, along another wide road flanked by wineries on either side.
Soon enough, more woods appear, growing up tall on either side of the road. David slows the truck down and pulls off the side of the road into a gravel shoulder. There’s not a lot of space, but just enough that the truck is tucked safely into the trees.
David looks at me then looks at Sara. “This is it,” he says.
Sara looks grim. “This is our last chance, right?”
He nods. “Right.” He looks at me and touches my knee. “We can turn back and take him home. This doesn’t have to be a part of it. I think that choice has to be up to you. We can take him into the woods and leave him here, or we can just drive around until he gets over the hump and starts to come down.”
I want to argue. I want to tell him that it’s not my choice, that none of this was my choice. I’m not the one that decided to drug him.
But David’s right. It has to be up to me. This was all started because of the way Erik treated me, and I’m the one that’s been wronged the most. This is on me, and frankly, I want the responsibility.
I turn and look at Erik. He smiles at me, drool running from the corner of his mouth. He grunts a little, paws at the air. He’s deep in his trip and is barely coherent. He waves his hands and rolls his head side to side, like he’s trying to say something but can’t make his mouth form words. He grunts, groans, and doesn’t move a muscle. He’s vulnerable, almost like a little baby. Even though he’s big and strong and muscular, he can’t do anything right now. He should be protected.
“Let’s dump his ass in the woods,” I say.
“Good girl.” David grins and opens his door.
Sara hops out next and I follow. David opens Erik’s door and grabs him under the arms, but Erik manages to get to his feet and stagger along. David helps him stumble along as we all head into the woods, away from the truck.