A Night in the Life of Stoner **I wanted to start this thread as a series of short stories about a night in your lives as stoners. I'll post my story. After you've read it, post your own! They don't necessarily have to have a plot or anything. It's supposed to be kind of a "slice of life" thing so just write what you feel!** It's about eleven o'clock or so when the call comes in. It's Luke. He's bored, again, and just got off work. He says he doesn't have much green left, but the stuff he does have is really potent. He reckons a bowl should get us nice and baked. I smile and tell him I'll meet him at the gas station at exit 107 in about fifteen minutes. I sit down in front of my mirror and unload my makeup bag. A few dabs of foundation and just a hint of blush; no lip gloss tonight, it would rub off on the glass piece. I top it off with a coat of mascara and I'm gone. On my way out the door I remember to grab a bottle of body spray, just in case I need to hide the aroma of ganja. I crank up my ford and head out. Luke isn't quite there by the time I reach the gas station, so I turn up my music and chill while I wait. Pretty soon I see his red Jeep whip into the parking spot next to mine. Billy's in the Jeep, too, and he lets me ride shotgun. We smile as our eyes meet, but it's strictly platonic.... right? What am I thinking?! Of course it is. Anyway, it looks like it's gonna be another "ride." The word "ride" means so much more to us than just a drive in a car. For us, it's our time to be social. To talk, to think, to plan, to dream... To listen to great music and just.... enjoy the human experience I suppose. Whenever we say we're going on a "ride" it usually means that we're going to cruise the back-country roads of our native Louisiana and toke. And toke. And toke. The good thing about the back roads is that cops usually don't bother with them, especially on week nights like tonight. There just isn't enough traffic to worry about. So we pull out of the gas station and Billy begins to load a bowl in "Shirley." "Shirley" is a glass Sherlock Holmes-style pipe with a small bowl but one that still packs a lot of punch. She's been our main piece since the heartbreaking fall of "Prometheus's Downfall" out of the Jeep and onto the concrete outside the Parish courthouse. (The resin we got out of the shattered pipe stem eased the hurt a bit.) Pretty soon we've got Luke's I pod cranked up loud, listening to Tom Petty, Sublime, Muse, and some Cake. And yes, we are stoned as hell. Luke, Billy, and I like to record the conversations we have on these rides and listen to them later. It's so funny to listen to us get progressively higher as the night goes on. Right now we've got The Mariner's Revenge by the Decemberists playing, and we're talking politics. Luke tends to share my views more. He's agnostic; I'm atheist. So we're a lot alike. Billy isn't the most conservative person, but he's still Southern Baptist. I tell myself it would never work, and atheist and a Baptist... wait, why am I even thinking of that? Billy's like my best friend, I can't think of him like that... Later we drop Billy off at his car. He has to call it a night early because he has class in the morning. Luke asks if I've ever leaned before and I say no, not sure I even want to. But I kinda have a migraine and the high is kinda starting to wear off so I pop a pill. Tramadol or something. As we ride around, enjoying our high, Luke asks me, "So, what's with you and Billy?" My heart stops for a second as I ask exactly what I was thinking, "So it's that obvious?" He laughs and says yeah it is. I find myself unable to laugh with him. "I don't know," I mumble, "It's all so confusing to me right now." Luke laughed again (he's quite giggly when stoned) and said we were both taking it way too seriously. "Why can't you two just date? Just to try it out?" he asks. "Because," I sigh, "I really don't think it would work out. I mean, our beliefs are so different, and it's bound to come up sooner or later. Besides, Billy needs to clean up his act a little before he tries to be with anyone." Luke nods in agreement. Billy is pretty lazy, and is notoriously unmotivated. He can't hold a job for more than two months and he's always putting everything off. And besides that, he's a bit overweight. He's still cute, and has a dazzling pair of bright blue eyes... but he's really let himself go since high school. He's been saying lately that he's trying to fix things, to get more motivated, but other than trying to get to class on time I haven't really noticed him trying to change. Our conversation trails off as the night wraps up and Luke drops me off at my truck. I say goodnight and start to head home. Right as I begin to pull out of the parking lot, I get a text. It reads: TXT: Hey. Let me know when you get home so I know u made it back ok. K? -Billy