Chapter 6: Homecoming Pot Brownies

Sam PoV

What am I doing here? This dance sucks, the music sucks, the people here are boring, Mary Elizabeth and Alice said they were going to the toilet and never came back, probably ran off to Bob's party not that I blame them but they could have said something so we wouldn't have spent half an hour looking for them. Patrick and I were standing by the beverages table hoping that we could find something spiked.

"Explain to me again why we haven't left"

Before I could answer the violin opening of Come On, Eileen "They playing good music"

"Holy shit, they are." he said and after a moment he asked "Living room routine?"

"You've read my mind". I said with a smile.

And we just danced taking over the centre of the dance floor with our craziness. When the slow part of the song was halfway through Charlie came out of the crowd around us. We hadn't seen him all night and I thought he stayed at home but here he was doing an awkward attempt at dancing and I couldn't help myself and laughed at the sheer craziness of what we were doing. We kept dancing or a couple of songs until a slow song came on and the floor was inundated with couples.

"Let's go to Bob's," said Patrick

"Yeah" I answered before turning to Charlie "there's a party at a friend house you wanna come?"

He hesitated before answering yes. On our way out we came across Charlie's sister and her boyfriend sucking each other faces off, and Patrick had to stop Charlie from doing something stupid "Besides there are better ways to make his night suck without getting in trouble and I happen to know where he parked his car"

"Paaatrick" I said with a warning tone.

"Don't worry Sam It won't be that bad and besides you know he deserves it" he turned to the other boy and asked, "what do you say, Charlie, want to introduce Mr ponytail to the pleasures of changing a tire while wearing a suit?"

And Charlie got that grin of his, the same he would get during that first English class when he would write the answer to some question instead of raising his hand. I just rolled my eyes and thought Boys.

"Fine but give me the car keys, I don't want to be near you if you get caught"

Charlie PoV:

We were walking towards the door of a house in one of the richer parts of the suburbs and I asked: "Are you sure it's okay for me to come?"

"Don't worry -said Sam- just remember what I told you about Bob, he's not paranoid just.."

"sensitive, I remember"

"See you'll be fine" she answered while Patrick did a rhythmic knock on the front door.

"Was that..."

"A secret knock? yes it was" Patrick answered with a smile before turning to the door when a voice said

"Patrick also known as Patty also known as Nothing"

"Sod off Bob"

"How are you?" A guy with frizzy hair said while hugging Patrick

"good, Bob this is our friend Charlie, Charlie this is Bob"

And then Bob did something that caught me off guard: he hugged me.

When he let go of me turned to Sam and said:

"Sam... that waitress from the Olive Garden is a tease. Will you marry me?

"Only if I have Patrick's blessing."

"Patrick?" Bob said with a pleading expression.

" Let's see: you're a hopeless stoner whose greatest ambition is to attend the culinary institute. So, I'm going to have to say "no" on that one, but nice try. C'mon Charlie" Patrick and I went in while Sam stayed outside talking with Bob.

As we went in I was hit by the smell of alcohol, it was so strong you could get drunk by smelling it. There was something else that I didn't recognize but was later told it was the smell of pot which apparently was "A signature of Bob's house".

"Ah, there they are. Come, Charlie, I want you to meet some people" said Patrick before setting off towards a couch in the back of the room where two girls were sitting. He introduced them as Mary Elizabeth and Alice.

"This is Charlie's first party at Pittsburg so I expect you two to show him a very good time. If you know what I mean" he said that last part while waggling his eyebrows

"You're such an ass Patrick" answered Mary Elizabeth while slapping his shoulder.

After that, we got talking and I learned that they were best friends. Alice was into vampires and goth things and for some reason, she liked to steal jeans from the mall even though she could easily afford them due to her parents being well off.

As for Mary Elizabeth, she was obsessed with The Rocky Horror Show and had just started a fanzine about it. She was also considering becoming a Buddhist to which Patrick said "you should totally do it, maybe that way you'll stop being so mean" which earned him a punch on the arm.

At this point, Sam came accompanied by a tall athletic looking boy "look who's here" she said. Patrick turned around and got a smile on his face before going out with both of them.

"Who's that?" I asked them

"Brad Hays, he plays quarterback for the Devils" Bob was the one that answered he was carrying a tray of brownies "Want one, Charlie?". I hadn't had anything for dinner and there wasn't any food at the dance so I happily accepted they had a funny taste but it was nice so I finished it in two more bites.

I was probably around half an hour later, I was sitting on the carpet in front of the couch where Mary Elizabeth and Alice still sat. "Charlie, what do you think of high school?" Someone I didn't know asked, people had started gathering around us because apparently, I say a lot of funny things while I'm high.

"High school? Bullshit. The cafeteria is called the Nutrition Center. And people wear their letter jackets even when it's 98 degrees out. And why do they give out letters to the marching band? That's not a sport, and we all know it." And people laughed, It was a weird feeling because they weren't laughing at me but they were laughing because of me, it was the first time something like this happened.

That's when Sam came back in "Look, Sam, I'm high!" I said while smiling. She looked at me for a second trying to understand what was happening before turning to Bob who was sitting on the couch in front of me "YOU GOT HIM HIGH?!" She kept talking to him while he tried to sink deeper and deeper into the couch but I had stopped listening and stared at Sam. She looks beautiful when she's angry except when she's angry at you then it's just scary. I'm really failing at not thinking of Sam that way. She was kneeling in front of me and said: "how are you feeling, Charlie?"

"Light" that's odd I hadn't realized until she asked.

"Are you thirsty?"

"Uh-huh." Hadn't noticed that either.

"What would you like to drink?"

I don't know. Actually, I do. "A milkshake." And everyone in the room, except Sam, erupted in laughter.

"C'mon. We'll get you a milkshake." As we were leaving, Sam turned to Bob. "I still think you're an asshole." All Bob did was laugh. And Sam finally laughed, too.

We made it up the stairs and she turned the lights on and sat me down on a bar stool while she opened the fridge. I watched her for a couple of minutes as she ran around preparing milkshakes for the both of us before asking her where the bathroom was and she gave me directions that in my current state I couldn't hope to understand but I sat off anyway. I managed to find a bathroom but when I was making my way back I got lost. After wandering for a while and founding the laundry room and two closets I was getting desperate and opened a door without knocking and I saw Patrick kissing Brad. It was a stolen type of kissing. They heard me open the door and turned around. Patrick spoke first. "Is that you, Charlie?"

"Sorry, wrong door, I'll leave you to it"

As I was turning to leave I heard Brad asking Patrick who I was in a very nervous voice and Patrick told him not to worry and that I was a friend before coming out to talk to me.

"Listen, Brad doesn't want anyone to know... wait, are you baked?"

"That's what they said downstairs And Sam is making me a milkshake"

He laughed at that before saying:

"Okay, Charlie, listen. I need you to promise that you're not going to say anything to anyone about me and Brad. This has to be our little secret"

"Our little secret. Agreed."

"Thank you. We'll talk later."

Sam PoV

I was starting to get worried, I had finished making the milkshakes and was halfway done with mine and Charlie hadn't come back. That's it I'm going to find him. But before I could get up I saw him come down the hallway. "There you are, I was getting worried"

"Sorry, I got lost." He said as he sat down on the barstool.

"Well then, One milkshake for the blue-eyed gentlemen". I said while giving him his drink, making him blush and mumble a quiet thank you. It was fun to make him blush and he does look cute when he does. I turned around to clean up and heard him moan and say: "Best milkshake ever" and I just laughed before finishing and sitting down with him, he had been staring at me while I cleaned up.

"I really like what you did with your hair," he said as I sat down, so that's why he's been staring.

"Thank you" I answered with a smile, I had decided to cut it short earlier that week and honestly I wasn't too sure I liked it. I wonder if he's still high.

"Though I miss the way it used to bounce when you walked, it doesn't do that anymore"

Yep definitely high. "Really? I used to find it annoying"

"Oh yes I really liked it, I would sometimes walk behind you just to see it bounce"

I raised an eyebrow at this "Really Charlie you would walk behind me and ONLY look at my hair?"

"That's right" you can't be this good Charlie:

"You wouldn't look at anything else?" this time with a teasing tone.

"Nope, nothing else," he said. Oh my god, he's not lying.

"Well I'm sure that you'll find something else to look at while walking behind me" I leaned in and whispered in his ear "my suggestion would be to look lower" as I stepped back I gave him a wink and as I started walking out the kitchen I may or may not have added a little extra sway on the hips. I stopped at the kitchen door to look back at him "You gonna stay there all night charlie?" It shouldn't be this fun to tease him like this.

Charlie PoV:

It was half-past two in the morning and most people had already left and it was only Sam, Bob, Alice, Mary Elizabeth, a couple of people I had forgotten the names of, maybe I never knew them to begin with and I'm guessing Patrick is still around though I haven't seen him since I walked in on him and Brad. Sam has been showing me her favourite songs, there were some by The Beatles, The Smiths, U2 among others and I really liked all of them but I would have to listen to them sober to really appreciate them, she also promised me to lend me some mixtapes.

That's when Patrick came downstairs he had a big smile. And Bob started to make fun of him having a crush on the quarterback. And Patrick's smile just got bigger. I don't think I ever saw Patrick smile so much. Then, Patrick pointed at me and said something to Bob. "He's something, isn't he?" Bob nodded his head. Patrick then said something I don't think I'll ever forget. "He's a wallflower." And Bob really nodded his head. And the whole room nodded their heads. Patrick sat down next to me. "You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand." I didn't know that other people thought things about me. I didn't know that they looked. I was, and I remembered that Sam introduced me as her friend to Bob. And I remembered that Patrick had done the same for Brad. And I started to cry. And nobody in that room looked at me weird for doing it. Bob raised his drink and asked everyone to do the same. "To Charlie." And the whole group said, "To Charlie." And then I really started to cry. I didn't know why they did that, but it was very special to me that they did. Especially Sam. Especially her. She put her arm around me and said "Welcome to the island of misfit toys" and I couldn't help it and just laughed, there I was sitting on the floor of a basement of my first real party between Sam and Patrick with a glass filled with the remains of a second milkshake crying and laughing at the same time.

After the party we got on Sam's truck, Patrick was driving this time, I sat on the passenger seat while Sam was between us fighting with the radio to find a decent song and not some trashy music or commercials, why would someone pay for their brand to be on the radio at 3 am, and suddenly she found this great song that none of us knew the name of, it was a beautiful song, it was one of those songs that weren't just words but it was one that told a story and we just listened for five minutes we just listened the rest of the world didn't exist. It was only the three of us in a truck speeding down the highway and when it ended there was only one thing on my mind "I feel Infinite" and they both looked at me like it was the best thing anyone had ever said and we sat in silence until Sam said: "Patrick, Let's go through the tunnel!"

"You want to do that insanity again?" answered Patrick.

"Patrick, it's the perfect song!"

I was so confused, I mean what's so insane about going through a tunnel so I asked them and Sam answered "You'll see. Come on Patrick I'm begging you we have to show Charlie"

"Ok fine but only because Charlie is here". That was a lie, something else about Patrick that I learned is that Sam has him wrapped around her little finger but he didn't like to admit it so he would find these feeble excuses to agree to what she wanted, it was amusing.

We were nearing the Fort Pitt tunnel and Sam took a tape from the glove box and put it in the player before climbing out the rear window into the truck bed before standing up and holding to the fog lights while David Bowie's Heroes started playing. Right before we went into the tunnel she screamed for Patrick who was driving faster and faster with a massive smile upon his face to turn the music up. As the truck went into the tunnel she let go of the floodlights and raised her arms. I was so mesmerized that nothing could have made me take my eyes off her windswept from the tunnel could have collapsed and I wouldn't have cared as I memorised every detail of her from her shivering legs past the band-aid on her left kneecap to the way her dress flowed with the wind to the way she flapped her arms as if they were wings. Finally, I saw her face, the dimples on her cheeks that formed with her smile, the way her eyes shined while bathing in the Downtown lights and the scream of pure joy she let out as we came out of the tunnel. We all smiled and laughed for the rest of the way. And at that moment, I swear we were infinite.

A/N: Did you know that even though the book used "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac for the tunnel scene and the film used "Heroes" by David Bowie there was actually a third song "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" by Stars. It was only mentioned in the script for the film as a prototype for the scene, you should listen to it but when you do it think how different that scene would have been. I like to believe that this song is the unknown song in the book, the Infinity song if you will.

A/N 2: it was this chapter that I finished writing on Saturday the 29th of January just 20 days after I wrote the first chapter that made me decide that this story will be published. Don't expect updates to be on any type of schedule because I don't have one.