Chapter 36

With the parents gone, we took Jason out back to introduce him to the joy that is the hookah. We invited Kelsi and Gabi, but they seemed to share Sharpay's opinion of the thing. Kelsi and Sharpay glared at us as we made our way out the door. Jesse checked the head while Ryan started some fresh coals.

"So how was work?" I asked Jason while the coals smoldered in the tray.

Jason rolled his eyes. "Fulton's out for blood. I'd lie low next week if I was you."

"Good thing he's so afraid of Sharpay." Ryan said, lifting one of the coals onto the head, and handing a hose to Joey.

Jason laughed. "Yeah, for you." He turned to look at me. "So what are you planning for your birthday?"

My eyes went wide. "Shit. That's next week, isn't it."

Jason laughed again. "Yeah, next Sunday. You forgot your own birthday? And people call me dumb."

I gave him a half-glare. "Hey. I've been a little preoccupied with not having my soul consumed by a monster from another planet."

The hookah bubbled as Joey took a long pull from it.

"I don't suppose you have a gold knife?" Ryan asked before taking a puff of his own from it and handing the hose to Jason.

Jason took it, and stared at it. "Uh… no. If you can get me some gold I might be able to electroplate something."

"Wait? Electroplate? You know what that means?" Jesse asked.

Jason glared at the thinner boy. "Yes, I know what electroplate means."

I looked at the uncapped hose in Jason's hands. "Hey man, puff or pass."

He looked at the hose again, and held it up to his lips. "How do I do this?"

"Just breathe it in." Joey said.

Jason held it to his lips and took a deep breath then pulled it back and exhaled a cloud of thick smoke. "Wow." He said, and took another hit. "That's weird."

"Cap it with your thumb when you're not smoking." Joey said.

Jason looked at the hose and placed his thumb over it. "Why?"

"Because otherwise when he sucks on this hose it'll just pull air from yours." Jesse said.

Jason nodded and looked at the hookah. "So where did you guys get this?"

"Ryan bought it in Arizona." I said. "But there's a coffee shop over by the theatres that serves them."

Jason took another pull, and smiled as he exhaled, then remembered to cap the hose. "Kelsi's going to kill me for this."

"You could always convert her." Ryan said.

"How would I do that?" Jason asked.

"Well, this worked for me." Joey took a very long pull from the hookah, and then pulled Jesse into an open mouthed kiss, forcing the smoke into his boyfriend. When they were done Jesse pulled back and exhaled the much reduced cloud with a look of contentment on his face.

"Have I mentioned how much I love you?" Jesse asked, running his fingers through Joey's dark hair.

Jason just blinked at them; his mouth was hanging open. He looked like he was about to say something, but instead just brought the hookah's hose to his mouth and took a long pull. Jason followed that with another pull and then handed the hose to me.

I took a long pull, the flavor was starting to get a little ashy, we'd have to switch heads soon, or just put the hookah away for the night, we'd been smoking it for hours already. But, then again, Jason had just gotten here, and it had been a long time since we'd been able to hang out.

"So, your birthday is next Sunday?" Joey asked, handing his hose to Jesse.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"What do you think the odds are Paul will attack that night?"

"I'd think that it's too close to the full moon for him to risk it. But, it is my birthday, which means that with the way our luck goes he'll end up summoning something half way through the party." I answered before taking a long drag from the hose.

Ryan sighed. "When exactly did we get cursed? Is there something we can do about it?"

"Garlic?" Jason asked.

"That's for vampires." Jesse said.

Jason shrugged. "It couldn't hurt."

"Right, take a note Troy. From now on extra garlic on all our pizzas." Ryan said.

I laughed and took another pull. "You know, I could go for some more pizza right now."

"We had that for breakfast though." Joey said.

"So?" Jason asked.

"You'll have to forgive them, they're jocks." Ryan said with a smile. "I think they could eat pizza morning, noon, and night for the next century and not think there was anything wrong with it."

Jason rolled his eyes. "That's because there wouldn't be. Duh."

Everyone on the porch laughed.

"What do you think the girls are doing?" Jesse asked.

"Probably watching Legally Blonde, again." I said.

"I love that movie." Joey said.

"You would." Jason said.

I passed my hose back to Ryan, and he took a pull. "Ugh, it's ashy. Time for a new head?" He asked looking from me to Jesse.

Jesse nodded. "Yeah, but it's Joey's turn to make it."

Joey sighed, and pushed Jesse off of his lap. Ryan handed him the tongs and Joey removed the head and carried it inside, where sure enough I could hear Reese Witherspoon talking. I rolled my eyes.

"You really should give the movie a chance, Troy. It's not that bad." Ryan said.

I grunted noncommittally. Jason rolled his eyes and made a stupid face at me. Ryan just shook his head and prodded at one of the embers still smoldering in the hookah's tray.

"So, after we deal with Paul, that's it right?" Jesse asked. "I mean, there aren't any other ancient horrors lurking around town are there?"

"Just Kelsi's mom." Jason said with a laugh.

"And if Paul isn't working alone." Ryan said.

"Now you're just being pessimistic." Jesse said.

"No, I'm being realistic. After the last year I'm not taking anything for granted." Ryan said.

Jesse sighed. "A year ago my parents were still alive."

Jason gave him a pat on the back. "Mine too."

Jesse gave him a weak smile.

Ryan and I just stared at each other in the awkward silence that descended on the patio. Joey came back out with a freshly packed head, breaking the silence.

"They're doing each other's hair." Joey said before placing the head on the hookah. "They're in full blown slumber party mode."

"Great." I said. "It's only a matter of time before they start playing truth or dare."

Ryan shuddered at the thought. "I don't get what Sharpay's obsession with that game is. You have no idea how many times we played it growing up." He shuddered again.

"Bad memories?" I asked.

"Just so long as no one ever sees the pictures." Ryan said, starting a fresh coal.

"Pictures?" Jesse asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I've said too much already."

"Wait, there are pictures?" I asked. "Why hasn't your mom ever shown them to me?"

"Because she knows that if she did, I'd have to kill both of you." Ryan said with a glare.

"Wow, those must be some pictures." Joey said, picking up the hose he and Jesse had been sharing.

"Don't think I won't kill you too." Ryan said as he placed the coal on the head. "What flavor?"

"It's a surprise." Joey said, before taking the first pull and getting the head started.

Ryan rolled his eyes and took a pull. He exhaled slowly, trying to analyze the flavor I guessed. "Watermelon?" He asked.

Joey nodded. "That's part of it."

Ryan took another pull. "I don't know." He handed the hose to Jason.

Jason took a short puff, and let it roll off his tongue. "Coconut." He said.

Joey nodded again. "Yup, watermelon and coconut."

Jason took a longer pull, and held the smoke in his mouth. He puffed it out and managed to shape it into a few rings.

"How'd you learn to do that?" Jesse asked, staring at the ghostly rings as they vanished into the warm night air.

Jason shrugged. "Just picked it up somewhere."

Jesse tried to get the secret of how to blow smoke rings out of Jason, but Jason ignored all of his begging and refused to give in. He just sat there blowing more smoke rings. About an hour, and a head later Kelsi came out back, shutting the sliding door behind her. Her hair had been put into some sort of frilly braid, by Sharpay I guessed. She glared at the hookah, the hose in her boyfriend's hand, and the smoke rings lingering in the air in front of him.

"That had better just be tobacco." She said.

Jason sighed and handed me the hose. "Yes. Just tobacco."

"Hiding from truth or dare?" Ryan asked as Kelsi walked up and sat down in the only vacant chair, pulling it away from the hookah.

Kelsi shuddered. "I tried to get Gabi to come with me, but she said it sounded like fun."

"Hey. If she wants to shoot herself in the foot, that's her problem." Ryan said. "I didn't know she was such a masochist though."

"Can you even play that game with only two people?" Jason asked.

Ryan nodded. "You can, but you shouldn't. Especially with Sharpay."

"So that means we're trapped back here then?" Joey asked.

Ryan nodded. "There's no force on this, or any other planet, that could get me to go in there right now."

"Aren't you a little curious what they're doing?" Jesse asked.

Ryan shook his head. "No."

I laughed and took a pull; Joey had made another coconut and watermelon mix. It wasn't as clean tasting as the mint blends were, but it wasn't too sweet tasting either. "You should really give this a try, Kels."

She shook her head. "Pass."

"What is it with girls hating on the hookah?" Joey asked.

"Did you just sat 'hating on?'" Kelsi asked.

Joey nodded.

"See, that's why. It's killing your brain cells." Kelsi said.

"Jason better watch out then." Joey said.

Jesse cuffed the back of his head.

"Ow. What?"

"Be nice." Jesse said, and then stole the hose from Joey's hand.

"Only I can talk about him that way." Kelsi said with a laugh.

Jason groaned. "I'm not that stupid. Don't I get a say in this?"

We all looked at him.

"Of course not." Kelsi said with a smile. "And since you had to ask, it proves you are that dumb." She stuck her tongue out at him.

Jason groaned again. "Everyone's a critic."

"Get used to it." Joey said. "If you're going to major in film you'll be saying that a lot."

"So you're majoring in film?" I asked Jason, it was the first I'd heard of it. But I knew that he and Joey had a lot of time on the job to talk while I was being menaced by kids who didn't know which end of a golf club was which.

Jason nodded. "Yeah. What about you?"

I shrugged. "I'm still undeclared. I have no idea what I want to do."

"Same." Joey said, and then pointed his thumb at Jesse. "He's majoring in computer science."

"What about you Ryan?" Kelsi asked.

Ryan shrugged too. "No clue. I haven't had a lot of time to really think about it. Sharpay's majoring in theater, of course. What about you? Music?"

Kelsi nodded and laughed. "What else?"

"What's Gabriella majoring in?" I asked.

"Microbiology." Jesse said, taking a puff from the hookah. Kelsi shifted her chair as the slight breeze blew the cloud towards her.

I took a final puff from the hose I was holding and offered it to Ryan.

"I thought it'd be chemistry for sure." Ryan said before taking a pull.

"That was before she became a werewolf." Jesse said. "You know how much she hates to not understand anything."

Ryan and I both nodded, it was that same trait which had led to her calling up the winged thing the night before, and to trying to light my kitchen on fire earlier that day. I suppose it could be a good thing in some people, we wouldn't have any of comforts of modern civilization if there weren't people like that. But Gabi was making it a habit to take it too far.

"She should watch that." Kelsi said, as though echoing my thoughts. "There are things out there that you shouldn't know too much about. Things out there that scare my mother."

"Yeah, she whistled one up last night." I said, pointing at the gouges in the sliding door. "She owes me a new door."

"It's weird owning a house, isn't it?" Jason asked.

I nodded. It hadn't occurred to me that he'd inherited his parent's place. It still felt weird knowing that his parents were dead. I didn't know how he went on; I couldn't imagine what it would be like to know your parents were dead. I guessed that of all of us on the porch on Joey and Jesse could identify with him. An awkward silence descended on the porch again, but it didn't last long before being broken by a shrill squeal of laughter from inside. I couldn't tell if it was Gabriella or Sharpay. Everyone's eyes drifted towards the door. "What do you think they're doing in there?" I asked.

"You remember what Kelsi just said, about things you shouldn't know too much about? That's one of them." Ryan said, handing his hose to Jason.

Joey arched an eyebrow as he watched Jason take a short pull from the hose. "Jason, I can't help but notice that you're girlfriend has joined us, but isn't interested in smoking."

Jason and Kelsi both gave Joey a strange look. "Yeah, and?" Jason asked.

Joey rolled his eyes and gave Jesse a quick peck on the cheek. Jason stared at the two boys, still confused. Jesse sighed and took a pull before handing the hose back to Joey, blowing the smoke in his direction as he did so.

"I don't get it." Jason said.

The two boys looked at each other, and then Joey turned back to Jason. "Do you want me to give you another demonstration?"

Jason's eyes finally registered understanding. "Uh… no thanks. And I'm not doing that. I like my spleen where it is."

"Baby, it'll grow back." Joey said, before taking a puff and pulling Jesse into another open mouthed kiss. The smoke leaking from their mouths as they made out.