Casting Bones

Chapter 6 - Part 2

He finished the joint with a last, short drag and flicked the end of it out the car window before reaching for his phone. Desi had convinced Casper to fork over his number the day pervious, suggesting they could exchange notes if either of them missed class. Casper had been reluctant of course; as he was with pretty much everything. It was a good thing he finally caved.

/You left your bag in my car. I can swing by tomorrow to drop it off. I got fucked up, shouldn't drive tonight/

He read over the text three times to make sure he hadn't screwed it up; it as always hard to text while high. He forgot what he'd written half way through and had to read it over again before being able to even finish it. Satisfied with the message, he sent it, only to add a second message a moment later.

/Or you can come grab it yourself. I'm having a sleepover at the park on Wesley./

Desi didn't use emoji's often, and yet this message was punctured with a winking smiley face that he realized read suggestive in hindsight. He groaned at himself. "Why are you like this?"

Ashley says that it was because he was a Libra; star signs were her excuse for all their bad behaviors. As if the stars someone was born under justified their shitty personality traits. If that was the case then he's never going to date a Gemini again. Or maybe he just shouldn't date someone who believes in horoscopes and star mapping and magic and auras.

What color was it Casper had said? Blue? No, turquoise. Desi snorted to himself as he rolled his eyes, but was tapping out a search onto his phone at the same time. Out of pure curiosity, of course.

People with turquoise auras share their foundation with blue: tranquility, spiritually stable auras who are intelligent and creative, and trustworthy, loyal friends. Turquoise's specialty is healing and encouraging emotional growth. People with turquoise auras naturally create welcoming, comforting spaces around themselves to combat negativity.

Sounded a lot like Ashley's stupid horoscopes. A bunch of bullshit, if you asked Desi. Maybe Casper was just projecting what he thought he saw, but the ability to smile through even the worse of people's shit was not necessarily the sign of a stable, tranquil person. What Desi had just read, it was a romanticized version of himself that he wished he was but... Casper would be disappointed if he'd seen how particularly unwelcoming Desi had ended up being tonight.

Desi decided that feeling sorry for himself warranted more weed. He ditched his phone, before embarrassing himself further with more high texts, putting it on silent so he wouldn't be tempted, then grabbed his second joint and left the car for some "fresh air".

He wandered across a small field over to the jungle gym, where he occupied himself for a few idle moments. He spun the heavy plastic cubes on an X's and O's game, scaled from one end of a rope bridge to the other with relative ease, then attempted the monkey bars before realizing they were far too short for his tall, lanky body when his knees hit the gravel under them. Getting bored, he abandoned the climbing tests for something a little more his current speed, spinning a sit-in roundabout a few times for himself before plopping down into it, watching the spiral of stars above him settle back into their proper places as his seat slowed to a stop.

Realizing his head had stopped spinning along with the roundabout, Desi dug in his pocket for his lighter, sparking a flame for a top off of his high. As he held in his first drag, it was like someone gave his seat an extra push, gravity shifting a little as the spinning came back. He fed the feeling with a few more drags, aiming for a solid, mindfuck of a trip or to pass the fuck out.

He almost achieved one of the two, nearly falling into a comfortable, well deserved snooze right there under the stars...

A bloodcurdling scream jolted him awake again.