“What? A junkie? Do you think I’m a junkie? Huh?”
“Fuck! No! I didn’t say that!”
Rosa smiles and closes in on me. “I’m just messing with you. They’re for… pain. Okay? Are you in pain, Jaci? You look like you’re in pain.”
I bite my bottom lip for a moment, then nod.
I open the baggie and fetch one of the small baby-blue pills.
I pop one into my mouth and wash it down with orange juice.
Rosa takes a pill for herself.
She shows me the pill on her tongue and then shows me when her tongue is empty.
Just in case I don’t trust her.
I appreciate her doing that.
“Now we wait,” she says. “Sit with me. Let’s talk and get… high…”
I giggle and sit next to Rosa.
“Who are you, Rosa?” I ask. “I feel like I know you. I feel like we’re so close. This is weird.”
“Some people just have a connection.”
“Tell me the truth. Are you part ofDSC?”
Rosa looks at me. “No.”
“I am,” I say. “I think I hate it. Yet I kind of love it. I don’t know who I am.”
“Neither do I,” Rosa says.
We both start to laugh.
“I’m being serious,” I say.
“Me too.”
“No, Rosa. My name is Jaci Ruby. But it’s not really my name. It’s fucking insane. Right?”
My body suddenly feels warm.
Very warm.
Like every muscle in my body melts like butter.
Rosa smiles at me. “You feel it.”
“Oh, I feel it. This is… amazing…”
“Good,” Rosa says. “Enjoy it. I feel it too. Fuck everything, Jaci.”
“Yeah. Fuck everything. Nothing is going to ruin this moment for me.”
Rosa and I nod at each other.