Up In Smoke Pt. 04

I quickly made my way down the exterior hallway, speeding up when I passed the doors of those particularly talkative coworkers of mine, got to the staircase and took the stairs down two at a time. As I passed the second floor landing, I think I heard someone call after me, but I didn't slow down and just acted like I hadn't heard them. When I reached the ground floor, the place was still partially packed with students milling about talking to other students or waiting for their rides.

I tried not to make eye contact with any of them. I usually am more friendly than this and open to having conversations after school, but today I was on a mission. I made my way over to the teacher's parking area and rolled my bike out to the driveway near the campus entryway. As I was getting my helmet on I saw a dad waiting down a bit away over by the entry gate.

He kind of stood out and I briefly wondered why a guy with this much obvious money sent one of his kids to this school and not one of the expensive private schools. He was on his phone, sitting on the hood of his brand new, shiny, black sedan, probably answering a few work messages before picking up his kid, thus not getting another ounce of quiet that night. I understood that desire for quiet, and let him have his moment. I did, however, compliment his jacket as I got on my bike. It was a cool jacket, black, long-sleeved, half leather jacket-half hoodie. I wondered where he got it. I might have to track one down. It was maybe a bit too hot for a Vietnamese summer, but it still looked cool and his car looked expensive enough to have air conditioning.

I put my helmet on, got on the bike, and checked the time, [17:52]. I had time to go home, change and get ready before heading to get Amber. I made it through the evening traffic fine, only having to use my horn twice, use a rude hand gesture once, and got home without any real problems.

I left my bike, locked (people steal them all the time) out in the alley in front of my house. I opened the front door and made my way over to the elevator, no one was in the kitchen so I got to make my entry to the house without any distractions. I went up to my room and dropped off my stuff on the floor, no time to put stuff away. I went into the bathroom to relieve myself, and clean up as much as I could in the sink.

Coming out of the bathroom, I looked in my closet for a nice shirt to wear. I found the sexiest, clean one I had, and slipped in on. Then grabbed a tie and my sports jacket. I went to check myself out in the mirror, tie my tie, fix my hair, throw on some cologne, the works. I then walked over to my desk and took out the bag of Desire from the desk drawer I had stashed it in the night before. I retrieved the joints I had pre-rolled and slipped two in my breast pocket and the other two in the case I had used earlier and slipped the case into my pocket. "Just in case," I thought to myself.

I then looked around the room for anything else I might need and I heard a door outside mine, close. I knew it was Giang's, I could usually hear when she opened or closed it, the soundproofing in the house was kind of weird. I usually could not hear what happened in her room, but I could hear pretty clearly what was happening in the hallway. She had either just gone into her room or left, not sure which. Focus, Ben. You're on a mission, remember. I went back to scanning my room and I noticed that the bed wasn't made, so I quickly just threw the coverlet over the bed, making it look mostly made, or at least not like I had just fallen out of bed and left it unmade. Ahem. I didn't think I'd be bringing Amber back here tonight, I still had work tomorrow too, but hey, you never know.

Not thinking of anything else I needed, I checked the time, [18:33]. I thought for a moment, trying to remember where Amber lived, I had been kind of drunk and tired when I dropped her off on Saturday morning. I think I remember where it was and then did some quick math in my head. It should be about a fifteen minute drive to Amber's house, so twenty should be plenty.

I took one final look around the room, and not thinking of anything else, I left my room and got on the elevator. I was planning on just running out the door, but as I passed the kitchen I saw Trinh and Giang moving around making dinner. I almost just passed anyway, but I had to Man-Up. Giang was going to find out about me having a date one way or another, if she didn't know already, and she deserved more than my attempts at lying or hiding things from her. I didn't have long, but I needed to tell her the truth, and hopefully not make her angry. Girls want the truth, right? Right?

I stepped into the kitchen doorway, and watched for a moment as the two women were chatting and moving around preparing to cook.

"Hey ladies. What are you cooking?" I said them.

Both women turned to look at me. Giang looked initially excited to see me, but then her smile faded and she turned back to her work. Well, shit. Good start. Trinh however, acknowledged me.

"Good Evening, Ben. We are just preparing a hot pot, I thought with our new housemate, it would be good to have a little 'Welcome Party' for her. But I guess you are busy tonight. What time is your date?"

I looked down at my watch, "In twenty minutes. But I just wanted a moment to talk with Giang first."

Trinh turned back to her work and Giang turned around, but she didn't look happy.

"Yea?" Was all she said.

I rubbed my temples for a moment, trying to figure out what I was going to say, knowing I didn't have long.

"Hi." I started, but went on, "Look, so I know you probably aren't happy with me going on a date right now, after...we..."

"Had sex last night? Why wouldn't I be happy? I had a great time." Her look gave me nothing to work with, so I had to just go on.

"So did I. It was wonderful. I just...I already had this date scheduled before we had...last night." I rubbed my temples again, I did not want a headache right now.

"Ok, I'll be direct. A lot happened to me this last weekend, and more than either of you know. More than just Thuy and you, Giang. There were others, and I think I have gotten involved in something bigger and darker than me. Something not so pleasant. Amber, the girl I'm going to meet, is part of that world. I like her, but I also think she is involved with whatever is happening. Last night, I told you about the magic weed and I..."

Trinh had let out a snort and turned around, "Magic weed?"

"Umm, yea. I was given it by a woman named Mai on Friday and it turns out it kind of has powers."

Trinh's face got dark. "Mai?"

"Yes...is she a friend of yours?" I asked Trinh.

"No." She said flatly, but went on, "What kind of powers does this magic weed have?"

"Well, I'm not exactly sure, but apparently it makes girls crazy about me. Or at least, that is what I was told, and it seems to be true. Amber was someone I smoked with on Friday, and Thuy...well, you know all about that, apparently, and with Giang, here, look..."

I turned my attention back to Giang, "I know you said you have had feelings for me for a while, and I feel the same way about you, I have always liked you and that has not changed, but I can't stop and wonder if you smelling the weed yesterday morning had something to do with what happened last night. And then we both had that vision..."

Trinh turned her dark eyes on Giang and asked, "Vision?"

But I answered for her, "Yea, we both had some kind of vision, or hallucination, I'm not sure what it was, but it wasn't a normal weed-thing. It was mind-blowingly fantastic."

I saw Giang start to smile again remembering.

But I plowed on, "Then we had that vision. I'm just worried that the weed has effected you more than either of us know. I never want to hurt you, but I also like Amber and then there's also Thuy. Gah! I'm sorry, I was never this kind of guy. My life has just gotten a lot more complicated this last weekend. I don't want to hurt you and I didn't want to lie to you either. You have every right to know what's going on, and apparently that means telling you that I have become...some sort of...of...sex god, or something." I finished lamely.

Giang just looked at me emotionlessly for a long couple of seconds, but then burst out laughing again as she does. She turned to Trinh and said, "I told you he would tell us, you owe me 500,000 dong."

"Fine." Trinh responded, but turned an approving look at me.

"Sex god, huh?" That glint coming back into her eyes.

"Kind of." I said, confused again.

"Ben, sweetheart." Giang looked at me, "Thank you for telling us that, but we aren't dating. You can have dates with other people as long as you save time in your busy schedule for me too."

"Uhh, sure. I mean, of course. I loved spending time with you and I would like to keep seeing you, but there...."

Giang cut me off now, "Good, because I want to spend more time with you too, and if that means I have to share you with other girls, then I am ok with that."

"Uh, right." I said sheepishly.

"Well, hurry up you don't want to be late for Amber. Tell her 'hi' for me." She finished with a wink.

I just sat there stunned for a moment before turning around, but before I left, I turned my head to Trinh.

"See. Magic weed." I said, point my thumb at Giang.

Trinh let out another snort as I made my way over to my bike, but she called out to me as I moved my bike out the door.

"If your dinner plans fall through, bring her over here, we will probably be eating late, we haven't even started cooking yet."

Giang then yelled out, "Have fun tonight and good luck!"

I waved to let them know I'd heard, as I closed the door and locked it behind me. Jesus, that was weird. I needed to get a handle on what was happening. No one seemed to be getting jealous, and that certainly was not normal with girls in my experience. I quickly checked my phone, [18:49]. Shit, I was going to be late. I quickly opened my messages and sent one to Amber, telling her I was on my way but would be a few minutes late. Then I threw on my helmet, jumped on my bike and was back out into Hanoi traffic. This time I drove fast.

- - -

THE TEASE

- - -

Less than fifteen minutes later, I was on Amber's street but I couldn't remember which house was hers. I drove down the alley looking at the houses but couldn't tell which was which, they all looked the same. I pulled out my phone again, [19:03], and saw I had a response from Amber telling me she got my message and that she was ready whenever I got here. I wrote back to her, telling her I was here, but couldn't remember which house was hers. I quickly got back a response from her "Haha." Then a moment later I heard metal grating from a door being unlocked, and my head turned in the direction I thought I heard it coming from, and saw the outer-gate of a door being opened. I started the bike and drove that direction only to see Amber walking out the door speaking Vietnamese to someone inside the house. All I understood as I stopped next to her was "Yes, midnight, I understand. Goodnight, Mom."

As Amber closed the gate, I saw an older woman sitting on a thick, wooden chair (a kind of chair I really liked, actually) inside in a living room area where my house had its garage. The woman looked remarkably like an older version of Amber, and it didn't take a famous British detective to figure out she was Amber's mom. I tried to say "Good evening, Mam" in my best Vietnamese through the bars of the outer-gate, but either she didn't hear me, or my Vietnamese was worse than I thought, or maybe she just didn't like me, but she just stared at me for a moment, didn't say a word, then turned back to her TV playing inside.

"Don't worry about her. She's always like that. Hi!" Amber said very brightly, giving me a glowing smile.

"Hi, right back." I said taking in the sight of her while walking around my bike. I stood right out of her mom's line of sight and I leaned in to give Amber a kiss, which she returned affectionately, molding herself to my body. An onlooker might have thought we were long-lost lovers who had not seen each other for years, instead of the two-and-a-half days it had really been. After holding the kiss a bit too long near where her mother sat, Amber broke away. I looked at her and could instantly tell why her mom was not inclined to be friendly with me at the moment, Amber had gone all out for the night.

As tall as ever, she was wearing a red, satin, cami dress that started right under her arms and wrapped around her chest, then fell down passed her knees. The dress was only held up by two very thin, string straps around her shoulders that connected to the satin bodice of the dress. The fabric was sort of scrunched together, ruched about the chest to give the illusion that the dress was loose, but it was anything but.

While I knew Amber did not have the largest breasts around, they did fit her form beautifully and this dress did a great job of showing them off. The satin then poured down her belly and hips like the material was liquid, I could even see the shape of her belly button traced through the fabric, it fit so snugly. Then passed her hips, which were likewise shown off proudly, the skirt of the dress continued down her legs ending only after her knees, with a long slit up the side of the skirt which nearly reached her hips. Amber could have been a strawberry dipped in a large vat of molten-red velvet chocolate, and served to me on a platter, the dress fit her so well.

But like good chocolate, she had wrapped herself in a sheer, white collared shirt with the buttons left unfastened. The choice to wear an over shirt could have been mistaken for a trace of modesty, but the see-through fabric of the shirt only accentuated the features of the dress it tried to hide beneath. When she noticed me checking her out, she did a little spin and showed me that the dress was even backless, with a web of strings loosely lacing the dress together, visible even through her shirt. The skirt then flowed around her backside, much as it had with her hips, the satin traveling in sync with every movement of her ass.

The cami dress did a magnificent job of showing off Amber's best features, but what I loved most about it was that it emphasized her tall stature and her long, smooth, bare neck. Her hair had been mostly pulled back into a bun, with what looked to be two chop-sticks stitching it in place, except for a few strands of hair on either side of her face, which had been left lose to fall around her ears and down passed her shoulders, failing to hide her sharp cheekbones. Her sharp, dark-brown, mischievous eyes were not framed by her glasses tonight, but perhaps she was wearing contacts, because I could see a streak of red hidden in the color of her eyes, and she was still able to pierce into my soul with her gaze. Her look was topped off by the deep red lipstick which matched the color of her dress and only made her smile look even more devious.

The look could kill, but all I was able to say was, "You look amazing! Where's Hat though? I wanted to say 'hi'."

She laughed, but then put on a fake-sad, innocent face, "Sorry, Hat is too tired to come out and play. He has been having a long weekend and needs time to recover and get dry."

She flashed me a wink.

"I understand his pain." I laughed.

"Oh you do, do you? Those hundreds of girls keeping you busy all weekend?" She asked, referring back to a joke Thuy had texted her.

"Well, right now more like four, a hundred would be too many for one weekend, even for me." I told her truthfully, deciding to be honest, as no one has yet seemed to get jealous.

She laughed, maybe thinking I was joking. "You get them, Killer. So what's the plan for tonight?"

"Depends, do you like Italian?"

Her smile faltered a bit, but she answered happily enough, "Oh yes! Of course, Pizza Shack is one of my favorites!"

I just looked at her for a moment before letting out the laugh that I really tried to hold in. I laughed for a few moments before I could stop myself.

"It's not Pizza Shack, it's Pizza...oh never mind. No, I mean real Italian, like an Italian Restaurant?"

Amber looked confused, "Isn't pizza Italian?"

"Yes, but that place is fast food, I had something better in mind."

"Ohh." She looked happier now, "The only Italian I have had was Pizza Shack."

I laughed again, while I handed her my spare helmet.

"Well then, hop on, I'm about to blow your mind." I said, as I swung onto my bike.

She loosened up the strap on the helmet to its loosest setting and daintily sat it on top of her head as not to mess up her hair. She then slid into place behind me, sitting side-saddle, with her legs crossed and her arms wrapped around me, hugging my chest with her head on my shoulder right behind my ear.

"You already did, remember?" She whispered right behind me.

I turned my head towards hers and flashed a smile.

"Yea, I do." I said and gave her a short kiss, then started my engine and we were off.

I chose to drive a bit more cautiously now with Amber on the back of my bike, but that didn't mean I was going to be a pushover either. I have been driving these roads long enough now to understand the game. The best defense is a good offense on the streets of Hanoi, and the driver who is reacting to others around them, instead of being the one others react to, only gets that driver killed.

It didn't hurt either that every time I made a particularly daring move around traffic, Amber would reward me with a tight squeeze around my chest, her voice squealing through the Hanoi evening air. I loved driving with this girl behind me. It felt like I had rescued a princess and was getting her safely to her castle, which in this case was a beautifully hidden Italian pizzeria, on the other side of my lake.

- - -

FOOD RANT (can skip, if your bored)

- - -

Now, I have mentioned that dinning out in Hanoi is a bit different than back in the States or even Europe, for that matter. Most Vietnamese cook at home on a regular basis, and generally eat a variety of the same dishes every day, almost always rice and chicken. If they ever do go out to eat, it might be to a small little 'hole in the wall' where they sit on tiny, plastic chairs and eat boiled chicken, pho, or other street foods. The food is both delicious and cheap, a dangerous combo, but it is not very fancy.

Or, if there is a group of friends all going out and having a party, they might hit up a Bia Hoi - think Beer Hall - a wide open building, with long tables covered in hot pots and plates of squid, with waitresses delivering pitchers of beer to every table. It's a blast and really is fun, but not really the date-night scene, more 'Rodeo-roundup', than 'Dear Penthouse'.

Date-nights are usually either eaten at one of our localized, brand-new, American fast-food franchises (I.e. Pizza Shack, ha!), or if they are really being ritzy, a Japanese BBQ. Don't get me wrong, Japanese BBQ is to die for, but girls usually don't wear their nice clothes out for it, unless they want their dresses smelling of, and strained with, grease.

But then there are the other restaurants around town, the types of places most Vietnamese usually do not frequent, either due to cost or not being the desired target clientele. These are the foreigner owned and operated restaurants, run by long-term expats (Ex-Patriots, long-term residents living in a foreign country, of which I am included) who wanted to bring a taste of home to their new country. There are plenty of these kinds of restaurants around town, some better than others, but their usual clientele are other expats. Hanoi has German beer halls, Irish pubs (see Part 1), English dinners, American burgers, Indian curry, Mexican tacos, Japanese AND Korean BBQs, pretty much anything you can think of, except Chinese food. They don't like Chinese food. But don't even get me started on that whole mess, this story is long enough.