My Brother's Best Friend Ch. 10a

An hour passes, the sun is beginning to set now, and Ben takes several bags of mushrooms out of his backpack. Jess is also an accomplished tripper, and she helps him get everything ready.

Ben is a total expert. And a snob, if I were to be quite honest! He's got all the gear and takes things very seriously. He weighs everyone's portions out to the number! Nothing over 2 grams each. Little digital scale blinking out its readings 2.00 after Jess slides the next cup forward and Ben measures out the next dose.

"If we want more, we can have more. But let's start slow, see where it takes us." Ben said earlier.

Soon there are 16 coffee mugs laid out on the table and each one Jess and Ben take turns filling with hot water and placing a peppermint tea bag in each.

Our trip master explained mushrooms can taste nasty. Peppermint tea really was the spoonful of sugar that helped the medicine go down. Of course, he put actual sugar in each mug as well.

Ben sets the timer for 20 minutes.

I am a fidgeting mess and I get up to put music on the decent bookcase stereo that Nic's girlfriend, Carla, brought out. It's got a subwoofer and everything. Perfect!

I start us out in something fun. Everyone agreed I was the DJ tonight, basically. So I throw on Mushroom playlist 1 I made specifically for the beginning of the night. The Midnight's Gloria starts to pump out of the speakers softly. I come sit beside Shawn.

"I'm nervous as hell." he whispers, his voice seems tight, not like him at all.

"Me too!" I whisper back to him.

"Kitten, will you come be alone with me for a few?" he asks me. It's then I see the tense expression on his face. Worry. Brows furrowed together.

I never see Shawn like this. Now I'm starting to second guessing things. He looks really apprehensive. And I begin to feel concerned.

I take him over to a group of trees close to where the beach begins.

"Are you ok, babe?" I ask him, concerned.

"Tell me you love me, and you won't let me look like a lunatic in front of the guys, Feline." he levels his eyes at me, taking my hands in his.

"Shawn..." I trail off. Then I straighten and pull back. "I fucking love you. And tonight is going to be amazing, Shawn...AMAZING!" I grin, "We're going to have the best time, together, with all our friends!" and then I kiss him and kiss him and pour every last bit of confidence I can manage into that kiss, into him.

"You looked so hot out there today, Shawn." I sigh, gripping his shoulders and squeezing. "You're a fucking Norse god. Or maybe you're Poseidon." I giggle, stroking my man's bare chest, devouring him with my eyes. "Either way, you're mine. And you're going to fuck me later, and make me cum and cum and cum all over your huge, giant cock." and then I'm biting him like how he bites me.

Shawn does that thing where he growls deep in his throat, and I feel a telltale twitch in his shorts, between us. He takes my mouth fiercely, passionately. By the time the alarm goes off, signalling that our tea was brewed, my viking was glowing with sexual energy. His confidence and his boyish smile are back.

We return to our seats and Shawn looks completely ready.

'Ah, there's my own personal Odin.' I think to myself.

"Last chance to back out!" Ben announces.

No one says anything, well, except Pat who just shouts: "FUCK THAT!"

And then Jess and Ben are handing out mugs to everyone. And we all cheers one another and start drinking our tea.

Shawn, brimming with newfound confidence, downs his in one go.

"Hm." he looks at the cup and puts it back on the table, without a care.

Getting it down was a lot harder for me. I have to take huge gulps of Cherry Coke in between, the taste is so horrible. It's really nasty. And the mushroom chunks are really slimy and gross. It's not enjoyable. Not even in the slightest. I gag and gag.

Cups are collected by Jess and washed and rinsed out. I get up to help her, and she hugs me tight.

"We're gonna get so high. High. High. High. Yessiree Jimbob!" she says in a silly voice.

Shawn and Chad come over and get in on the hug. And then more of our group come over. And then more. And soon we're all in a giant group hug. Jess and I at the very center!

"Damn, that's a way to start a trip." Chris laughs, once we all break away.

Jess heads over to the table, and busts out her giant bag of weed, and starts to roll. I nestle against Shawn, his arm around me, and we watch Jess.

Pat and Angie come over, and he and Shawn smash knuckles leaning against each other.

Jess lights several joints, and we all form a circle.

"Pass left." Jess tells Shawn and me and passes a lit joint to me. I watched what she did, and I also remember what I've read.

Never just haul on a joint. Especially if you're a newb. You will cough your brains out. Some people puke! It's not a good show.

"Slow tokes Shawn. Not big ones, OK?" I tell him and then inhale.

"You've smoked weed, baby?" he asks me, eyebrows furrowed.

"Nope, just read about it. A lot." I smile and then take one more small puff before I pass it to him, slowly exhaling, coughing a couple of times.

He cautiously tries a bit, coughs just once. And then passes it on to Pat, who hauls on that joint like he does it every day. And I know for sure he doesn't.

Pat passes it to Angie and so on. Jess passes another to me, I take a small inhale and pass it on down the line.

A few minutes go by, and I start to feel so nice and relaxed and there's a funny weird pressure in my head, but it feels good. It's hard to explain. Things seem more bright. And funny. Things seem so much funnier.

Shawn takes my shoulders and begins an amazing rhythmic massage. I sigh and lean back against him, taking another offered joint from Chad this time.

I take another puff, a little braver with my inhale, and it tastes so thick and stinky. I decide I like weed. And Jess. Very much.

Shawn and Pat start pissing themselves laughing over some joke as Shawn tries to catch his breath. Several of us ask them what is so hilarious.

"Fuck! I don't remember!" Pat is dying.

"Me neither!" Shawn is almost doubling over.

"It's started." Chris nods over at his cousin Benny. Ben smiles, nodding back, and soon we're all laughing because Pat and Shawn can't stop. And their deep belly laughs become infectious! Guys are pounding themselves on the back. Absolutely gasping, trying to reign it in and still Shawn and Pat giggle their faces off, trying several times to straighten and wipe the smiles off their faces only to start laughing again sending us all into another round of belly aching giggles and chuckles.

Eventually we are able to pull it together, and we all breathe in and out, fast. Suddenly realizing, we are getting very fucking high!

Shawn leans down and nips my shoulder. "Kitty Cat, I am fucked!"

"Me too!" I turn in his arms, and we look into each other's eyes.

His pupils are huge. Giant pools of black! They completely cover his iris. No dark green is visible. Wow. His eyes are amazing!

"Damn Feline, your pupils are really dilated babe!" he reaches up, strokes my chin then my cheek. "They're beautiful!" he tells me.

"Yours are." I whisper, reaching to touch his lips.

We hold each other like that, soul gazing. Pat turns and gives us a moment.

I want to try kissing my viking. Just a small one. So I pull him down to me and when our lips meet a spark is let off between us! It's the mushrooms. No doubt about it!

It's a sweet kiss. So affectionate and almost careful. When Shawn pulls up, his eyes are filled with love.

There's a lot of kissing going on at that moment. A lot of kissing. All the couples. Every last one of them, lip locked, legs around hips, hands in hair. Moaning. Kissing. I would learn later that this was common in group trips. Some people named it "call and response". One person or a couple would start something and set off a chain reaction until everyone was doing the same thing. Then. Just as quickly as it started. It would end. And everyone would start talking again. Psychedelics are strange and wonderful!

Slowly, we all start coming back to the others around us and begin chatting in earnest. Shawn and Pat share another of Jess' joints between them, promising they won't make the other laugh. My playlist has some Arcade Summer on now, a track called Traffic Duty. A sound straight out of 1982 except the album is less than a month old. Shawn's gone back to massaging my shoulders as he, Jon and Chris now share a conversation as Pat takes Angie over to the fire and cuddles her.

Kelly and Jess immediately flank me with Lisa and ask me how we are doing.

I try and breathe and remember what words are. Everything is so beautiful! Several of our friends crack glow sticks and hang them up around the trails around our camp site, so we can see where we're going as the sun makes its final losing battle against the night. The ocean doesn't look real under the last of the purple fire of the California sunset.

I know it's the mushrooms, but the patterns rippling across the sky are nothing short of miraculous and incredible.

I lean into my man and then finally find my words.

"I feel amazing." I tell my friends and they giggle.

"How long?" Jess asks Lisa.

"2 minutes 38 seconds"

I laugh. "What?"

"How long it took you to answer us, Cat Woman." Kelly laughs.

Then it's our turn to have a giggle. A giggle that turns into gales of laughter. Laughter that won't stop. O God, my belly hurts! I need to breathe! Holy shit, that was funny!!!

"What's so funny, babe?" Shawn finally asks as I gasp for air.

I think about it a moment.

"I don't remember!" I laugh and then Shawn is laughing with me, and soon we've started another giggle fest and then there's 16 of us slapping our knees, keeling over and dying over nothing. But it sure felt great!

Benny and Kelly start passing water bottles out to everyone, and Shawn downs his in one go. It's then I realize. O no. I have to pee.

"Jess." I whisper.

"What's up, Hun?" she's so pretty in the moonlight!

"I need to pee!" I giggle, "Really bad!"

"Shit, let's get you to the crapper!" Jess pulls Kelly over and Kelly grabs Lisa.

"Feline has to pee, Shawn." Jess tells him, jerking her head towards the parking spot where the outhouses were in clear sight.

"You got her?" Shawn gently takes Jess' arm, looking into her eyes.

"You bet, Shawny Boy." she smiles and pats his jaw with her hand.

For one moment, I see my lover's face wash over with trepidation. That horrible night with Steinberg threatens the edges of our happy mushroom womb. I feel a small chill begin to creep up my spine. Fear.

"Harris sisters on the case." Lisa tries reassuring my boyfriend.

There's an awkward, long, hell, 3 weeks overdue pregnant pause as Shawn and Jess lock eyes. Even Pat notices. Ben glances over, and so do Jon and Chad.

And just like that, Shawn smiles and brings my friend in for a group hug. We wrap our arms around Jessie and I have a big sigh. This is so nice, the fear that threatened completely disintegrates.

"I never got to tell you..." Shawn pauses a moment. "Thank you. For trying to save Feline. That night."

he regards Jess by the firelight, affectionately rubbing her arm.

"I don't know what to say...Shawn..." Jess is never at a loss for words. This is a rarity for her.

Shawn just nods and releases my shoulders, relinquishing me to my friends, that big beautiful smile of his so reassuring and gorgeous it's infectious. Our whole group, who seemed to almost not be breathing for a moment, exhales and starts grinning like idiots.

Jess, her sisters and I giggle and stumble, but we make it over to the outhouse. Jess helps me inside. Even undoes my shorts for me because I'm non-verbal, and I don't seem to know what buttons or flies are.

"Feline." she laughs, when I grab her arm as she begins to make her exit. "Just sit, Hun. I'll wait here with you." she finds me amusing. And I am perfectly fine with that as I try to will my body to remember how to pee.

It takes several minutes, Jess just chattering to me about how fun this is and how much more fun we're going to have. Kelly and Lisa start to complain, outside the shitter.

"What's taking so long?" I hear Kel. "I gotta go!"

"Feline's body isn't cooperating. You know how that is." Jess replies, rolling her eyes at her sister.

Then Jessie starts pouring out her water bottle, slowly, onto the ground. That did it! I remember how to pee!!

"How did you....learn that?" I ask, finishing and sitting for another minute. Just because legs don't know what legs are and can't come to the phone at the moment. Please leave a message at the tone. BEEP!

"It happens. Usually, running water helps trigger the piss response. Someone taught me, now I'm teaching you." She helps me to my feet, pulls my bikini bottoms and my shorts halfway up before I manage to figure out what thumbs are and laugh, doing the button up on my fly. Buttons are weird. Flies are weird. I wonder who invented zippers?

"Thanks Jess." I hug her.

"Awwww. Well, as romantic as the shitter is, Feline. Can we leave now? Kinda smells in here." Jess remarks, wrinkling her nose.

I start to laugh again, and my new bestie leads me out of the outhouse and helps me rinse my hands under her water bottle outside.

The water feels so wet! Way wetter than water should feel and that's saying a lot because, well, water is pretty wet. Right? Or am I remembering something wrong again? It doesn't matter. None of this matters!

We wait patiently as Lisa and Kelly follow suit, Jess rinsing her sisters hands as each emerge.

It seems to take us forever, even by light of Kel's phone flashlight, but somehow we all make it back to camp.

"Shawn!" I instantly recognize my boyfriend, and he immediately scoops me up into his arms, his lips are on mine and I come back to awareness and my body like a fucking slingshot!

"Damn, that's an 'I miss you'." Jess whispers to her sisters.

They all nod, in awe of Shawn's strength as he holds me, like a child, in his arms.

~Shawn~

"There's ya girl." Chad jerks his chin towards a forest goddess.

The moon is right behind her, framing her in an ethereal halo. All that hair, a wild array of black springs and corkscrews so soft to the touch, framing her beautiful pale visage.

I cross the distance between Feline and I in three strides. I take my girl in my arms and lift her, pulling her into me. Grasping her legs and her waist against me, she wraps her arms around my neck and I take her lips in a kiss that even surprises me!

"Feline." I moan up against her lips. "O damn baby, you were gone so long!"

"Shawn..." her voice is a little mew as I gently let her feet touch the ground, just barely.

Her eyes are huge pools of black, and she's gripping me to her.

"Baby..." she whispers, her hands lift to embrace me and I scoop her up again, glancing back before I back up into our chair that is right behind us. Sitting, taking her with me and straddling her across my thighs.

"Hi." she grins, cute as fuck smile on her face. I swear, she's never looked more beautiful in her life! I can't stop myself, I roam my hands all over my girlfriend. Being gentle. No sexual touching. Not yet anyway.

I am fucked up. To be sure. All the new and strange body tastes, feels and smells were almost overwhelming. But my beautiful baby, she grounds me. Keeps me balanced. That thing she did to me earlier, pumping me up, feeding my ego until I felt I would burst. Making me feel like a god....I never would have drank that tea if she hadn't had done that. I'd be missing out on the time of my life with my girl and our friends if she hadn't stepped in and saved me!

"I was a goner earlier, Feline. I was chickening out hard. You didn't allow that to happen." I tell her, running my hands all over her warm skin. "There's just no way I would have taken those mushrooms if it wasn't for you, the things you told me..." I trail off, not sure where I was going with that.

"I only told you what I am feeling." she nods, all sincerity.

She's such a sweet, gentle soul. I just want to be her viking Norse god forever. Or was it, Norse god of thunder? Vampire viking?...it doesn't matter. I want to be all the things she wants me to be. Needs me to be!

"I'm so glad you're here with us." she gestures to everyone around, some paired off, necking, Others laughing, sharing a beer. Jess is rolling more joints with her sisters. My boy Pat is kissing that cute little brunette. I'll bet he fucks her good tonight. Makes her come and come.

"Me too, Kitten. Goddamn me too." I take a huge inhale and exhale and just FEEL!

Feline lays her legs across me and I take her little feet, sliding off her sandals and massaging them until she's trying to contain her moaning. She has adorable, petite and feminine feet. Perfectly pedicured toes painted glossy black. I would be surprised if she was a size 5 in women's shoes.

We sit for a bit and just breathe together and experience the night. More and more of us start to gather round the bonfire, and I pick my angel up and carry her with me to sit on a log, draping her across my lap. She starts to shiver.

"Babe, you cold?" I ask her. She starts nodding.

I'm actually starting to get rather warm, so I take my blue hoodie off and pull it over my lover. Immediately she is happy.

"Boyfriend hoodie." she smiles and snuggles herself into it. She's the most adorable thing in this entire world. As she would say: FIGHT ME!

Jess passes more joints around and Feline and I keep this one between the two of us until it's gone, and I throw the end of it into the fire.

Cannabis is an amazing compound. I'd be interested in seeing what's this is like by itself.

Feline's cheeks are so rosy and soft. And her legs are smooth as silk. I stroke her thighs and she gets goose flesh all over them.

"Maybe time for some pants or something?" I ask her. She nods.

"Will you come with me, Shawn?" she pleads, tugging on the hem of my t shirt.

"Or course!" I tell her.

I let her up off my lap, and we head over to our tent. I thought ahead, and earlier had put one of our flashlights in my pocket. I take it out, turning it on.

"YAY!" she giggles.

I love how easily excitable my girl is. Everything makes her happy.

Somehow we get to our tent without falling over each other. I have no idea how we accomplished that. It felt like a mission getting here!

Feline is shedding clothes, tossing them into one corner of the tent, and then fishing through her bag until she finds what she's looking for and starts to pull it on. I'm not sure what's she doing, but I wait to shine the light directly on her until she's fully clothed.

"OK!" she tells me.

I move the light and there in front of me is the most adorable cute, funny and hilariously sweet thing I've ever seen. My baby is a baby bat and I laugh my ass off and then realize, fuck she looks really sexy in that somehow!

Feline is giggling as she shows off her bat wings, little bat tail and pulls the hood up to reveal little vampire bat teeth over the brim of the hood and bat ears. Holy shit, she's too cute.

"God, you're adorable." I tell her. Appraising her sweet little ensemble. She looked as innocent as a child, and it makes me chuckle. "What is that?"

"It's a onesie. Japanese call it Kigurumi. Do you like it?" she glances demurely downwards, toeing the floor.

"We gotta show the guys this. Let's walk out there. All casual...see if anyone says anything." I suggest. Feline nods, eyes mischievously shining. "And I fucking love it. You crazy girl. You always surprise me and make me laugh. Come over here."

She leaps on me, reclining on our bed, and kisses me.

Feline's kisses are exceptional. The first time she kissed me, I couldn't believe how good she was at it. I felt like a loser trying to keep pace with her and not come across as a total newb. Good God, can my girl kiss! Her little tongue making the softest meetings against mine. She's so sexy.