Page 138 of Never Stop
“Um… okay.”So I was going to do this.
Nicole came back with a glass of water and set it on the table. I watched the bag fill with smoke asFamily Feudplayed in the background.
“Here, I’ll control the whip. Just put your finger on the hole of the elbow adaptor to stop the smoke from coming out until you’re ready.” Easton held the puffy bag out for me to take.
I placed my finger over the adaptor and he took the whip back and held it in his hand. “So I just inhale?”
“Yep,” Easton answered.
Nicole was sitting next to Avery, leaning into him, and they were both staring at me like I was a TV show. It felt weird being the center of attention and doing something I’d never done before.
“Just do it, B,” Nicole said.
I glared at her for a beat and then lifted my thumb from the hole, placed my mouth over the opening and inhaled. I don’t care what Easton said, it burned. It felt as though my lungs were on fire. I could literally envision my lungs turning to ash. I tried to hold it in the best I could, but could only do a few seconds. I blew out, smoke filling the air in front of me.
“Fuck,” I hissed. “It tastes like shit. And it burns!”
The three of them chuckled.
“You’ll get used to the taste,” Easton stated.
I shook my head. “I’m not doing it again!”
“Just trust us,” Avery said.
“It hurts my lungs. Do you know what it’s like to have only one and half lungs?” I whined.
“Baby,” Easton interjected, “do it one more time and we won’t ask you to do it again.”
“No!” I snapped.
“Oh my God, B, stop being a baby.”
I glared at Nicole. “I’m not being a baby—”
“Then do it again.” She waved her hand in the direction of the bag I was still holding. I groaned and did it again. This time I coughed and my chest ached with each one.
“There we go,” Easton said. “Now that was a hit.”
I was still coughing, not able to speak. The pain was severe, and my chest felt as though it was breaking in half. I couldn’t speak as I coughed over and over. I understand what people meant by the term “coughing up a lung”.
Easton took the bag from me and Avery turned off the vaporizer. I didn’t know what to expect or how soon something would happen to me. I did know that I was never doing it again because it hurt like a motherfucker and tasted like… well, it tasted like how it smelled.
“Let me see your scar, B,” Nicole said and sat up from Avery’s side. I lifted my shirt, thankful I had a sports bra under it and Nicole moved closer. “Wow,” she breathed.
“I know. It’s big.” The scar ran from the base of my neck, down on the right side of my spine and then curved under my shoulder blade.
“Yeah, but I was just looking at the actual scar. Your surgeon did a great job closing you up—twice.”
I stopped paying attention to Nicole and started to watch TV again. “If you were setting a girl up with Dracula, name something positive you’d say about him,” Steve asked. The buzzer onFamily Feudwent off.
“He’s a good sucker?”
A smile spread on my face as I watched Steve scold the contestant. “You can’t say that on TV!”
I cracked up. “Oh my God. That’s hilarious!”
Tears rolled down my face, but not from being sad. “He’s a good sucker. Yeah, that will get a chick—wait, that would get aman.”
“Men suck on women,” Easton stated.
I looked at him for a beat and started to laugh again. “Yeah, they totally do.”
I continued to laugh at the TV. It felt good. My pain was gone, and it felt as though I was in a different world.
I was totally high.
