Senior Year Box Set

“Then get into that frame of mind. When it kicks in, you’ll feel more open. None of the stuff that stops you from connecting with people will get in the way. That’s how I met Kevin, actually. I went to a party, and this guy had some. My roommate talked me into trying it. I spotted Kevin talking to some other girl, and I decided I wanted to meet him. We ended up having this really great conversation, and … well, I don’t want to spoil the fun,” she said.

“Part of the reason I invited Ashley and Scarlet was to get to know them better.”

“So find a quiet place and talk to them. I promise it’ll be worth it. Later, come find me when the Viagra kicks in,” Cindy said and giggled.

“I forgot about that part.”

“They call it sextasy for a reason.”

“I’m not going to run around putting my dick in random people, am I?” I asked.

“Let’s hope so. Just make sure I’m one of them,” she teased and then saw I was worried. “Relax. When you’re on it, you won’t do anything you don’t want to, and the girls won’t, either. Ecstasy just makes it so much better, and your inhibitions will come down. I predict you’ll be a happy boy, even come tomorrow.”

I decided to take Cindy’s advice and try to relax. If I’d known what was in them, I’m not sure I would have done the shots. But what was one of my life goals? No regrets?

◊◊◊

Chapter 11 – I Love Women Thursday March 30

I asked Scarlet and Ashley to join me in our condo. They sat on the couch, and I found a comfy chair and relaxed. I told them we’d been dosed with ecstasy, which they took in stride. They’d both tried it in college and enjoyed it. That put me more at ease.

Over the next hour, nothing much happened, as Cindy had assured me, though the anticipation that we were doing something a bit naughty kept building. My experience with pot had been that the effects kicked in shortly after smoking it. I wondered if Ivanna had been pulling my leg or if we’d gotten a bad batch of ecstasy because it seemed like nothing was happening.

We were talking quite openly and confidently with each other, moving very quickly into exciting conversations. I’m not the shy type, and I admit I probably have never met a stranger. But Scarlet tipped me off that a part of what we had going on was the ecstasy kicking in.

Scarlet had multiple personas, if you will. I’d observed three: ‘business Scarlet,’ a confident, savvy businessperson; ‘mom Scarlet,’ whose sole focus was on the little ones and their well-being; and ‘sex-fantasy Scarlet,’ who wanted to role-play. And I guess one more: when we were alone, or with just Ashley, Scarlet was reserved and deferred to me.

“Ashley told me you weren’t happy because you thought we’d excluded you from our vacation outings. It’s my fault,” she confessed.

I gave her a confused look. No way would I even imagine Scarlet purposely doing something like that.

“I didn’t want you to see me with Paul, so I told everyone you had other stuff to do. Your mom telling Ashley that you weren’t to go to clubs or casinos helped sell the story to the others. Ashley was covering my butt with what she said earlier. Neither one of us thinks you’re neglecting us, as she implied,” Scarlet said.

“After our conversation, I realized how bad that sounded. I’m sorry,” Ashley said.

“Scarlet, I want you to be happy. I have a good idea of what you and Paul do with each other. I don’t understand why you’d be worried,” I said, ignoring what Ashley had said.

Part of me wanted to believe Ashley, but part of me wondered whether there might be something there that I still needed to dig into. She’d been right about what she had said. I’d complained many times that I was always on the go.

“Because Paul isn’t you.”

That jolted me back into the conversation.

“You were worried I would be upset seeing you have a good time with Paul?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said confidently.

If nothing else, taking MDMA had given Scarlet the ability to talk to me about this. I also realized that everything I was saying was consistent with what I really thought, that I hadn’t lost control because I’d taken the drug.

It seemed the little voice in the back of my head, the one that filtered everything I said before it came out of my mouth, had disappeared. Not in a bad way, though. It wasn’t like when I took the painkillers, and whatever popped into my head came out. Ecstasy just freed me to be completely honest with Ashley and Scarlet. When I recognized what had happened, and saw it was the same for them, I relaxed about losing control.

At about the one-hour mark, the next effects kicked in. My eyesight changed dramatically. I don’t mean I started to hallucinate, or that everything got blurry. Instead, everything became enhanced, like seeing high-definition TV for the first time.