Izzy

Heavy, fast footsteps fell upon the cold grass, followed by another pair of faster steps. Ash Williams ran but only found himself cornered in a wall made up of junk metal collected from Auto Haven Gas. “Shit”, he whispered to himself before turning around to face his pursuer: Legion, Susie Lavoie in this case. Ash took a deep breath and stood his ground, raising a hand to point accusingly at the pink-haired girl. “Listen, little lady, why not throw the knife down and fight me, Mano y… womano..?”, prompting a giggle from Susie.

”Yeah, and what’s tickling your funny bone?”

Susie simply raised her hand to her mouth, using the other to point her blade behind Ash. Realizing what she meant, he sighed and rolled his eyes, accepting his fate with an “Aw, hell…” as his throat was sliced from behind and his expiring body pushed into Susie, stabbing him multiple times. The older man put on a brave face despite this, aware that he would simply return to the campfire.

As the light faded from his eyes, Susie continued her stabbing spree. Julie smiled to herself, enjoying seeing Susie’s ravenous side. Susie pulled the knife out of Ash one last time, lifting her mask to lick up some of the blood, but there was something else there. She took another lick and sniffed the knife, making a face.

“It can’t smell that good, Suse”, Julie slighted.

“No, it’s not the blood… I think I taste something else…”, Susie began, rummaging through Ash’s clothes before her face lit up at the noise of a familiar paper crinkle. “No way…” she muttered.

”Well, spit it out already," Julie demanded. Susie locked eyes with her friend and pulled out the holy grail of relaxation: a hand-rolled half-gram joint. Luckily, Susie’s blade had just barely pierced through the paper, only a tiny few micrograms of kief spilling out. Julie looked so happy she could cry.

She joined her friend on the ground, leaning up against the wall and nudging Ash’s corpse to the side, luckily finding a lighter in his pocket. The two took their masks off, taking in the fresh air before it became polluted with carcinogens. Julie took a deep breath before lighting the joint’s tip and taking a deep inhale, then an even deeper exhale. “Fuuuuck…”

”Are you about to cry?” Susie joked. Her friend nodded with her eyes closed, leaning her head onto Susie’s shoulder. “Yeah… I just might.” Julie passed the joint to Susie, the tip now stained by her black lipstick. She gently held it between her index finger and thumb. As she inhaled the smoke, she realized this could be what kissing Julie might taste like. Mostly waxy, but there was a hint of black cherry. She couldn’t linger on this thought for too long as she took way too big of a hit and began coughing a lung out.

Susie ended her coughing fit, desperately handing the joint back to Julie, who happily took another puff. “You’re a lightweight, Suse.”

“No, your lungs are just more tar-filled than mine,” she coughed. “You and Frank always smoke some of Bill’s cigarettes after killing him.”

“Only when he offers. Outside of that, I don’t care for cigs or people who smoke them.” Julie placed the joint back in between Susie’s fingers, her nails lingering on her skin for a moment.

“Y’know, I’ve smoked cigarettes a few times…” Susie began, taking another inhale and holding it in. “One time with Jeff,” she exhaled.

“Jeff? Jeff Johansen?” Julie asked in bewilderment, snatching the joint out of Susie’s fingers.

“Jeff Johansen.” Susie nodded. “One time in between classes, I was smoking a cigarette by the dumpsters, and he was just there. Showed him some of my sketches”

“Oh shit, this was in high school? I thought you meant, like, during a trial,” Julie giggled at her blunder, taking another puff with an exaggerated look in her eye. “I’m starting to think there’s something in this joint.”

“Yeah, it’s this green stuff called weed,” Susie joked.

Julie laughed at their super hilarious bit and gave Susie a playful shove, pushing herself off of her, chuckling darkly to herself. “You’re pretty cute when I’m high”, she said under her breath. Susie’s face froze with a red stain, turned away from Julie. She wanted to play it nonchalant, but she was very fucking chalant about Julie. “Psh… you’re high already? I think you’re the lightweight here.”

”If I’m not high, then maybe…” she paused, taking an inhale. “…I just think you’re cute,” she exhaled, the smoke blowing right in Susie’s face and stinging her nose.

“God damn it, there she goes again,” Susie thought. “Always teasing me. She knows damn well what she does to me… do I like it? No, of course not; you deserve happiness. Julie’s toxic”

”…the toxicity is kind of hot,” her thoughts continued. “I can’t stop thinking about how her hands feel on mine… always reminds me of that night at the gas station. God, why does she have to tease me like this? Does Frank know? Does he even give a shit? He strikes me as a ‘doesn’t count if it’s with another girl’ type of guy. What does it matter anyway? Not like anything would ever happen. She’s just your friend, right? Shit. She’s looking at you. Say something.”

Julie was indeed staring daggers into Susie’s eyes with a smirk, making her weak in the knees. “You’re… uh… hogging the joint, Jules”, Susie peeped quietly. Julie looked down at the joint, about three-quarters done at this point.

“Hmm, no… What if I held onto it?”

”Then how am I gonna smoke, genius?”

”I have an idea. Stay put.”

Julie stood up and mounted herself on Susie’s lap, their faces closer together now, one hand placed against the wall Susie’s head rested on. She held the joint in her mouth, taking a couple of puffs right in Susie’s face before flicking away some hot ash on Ash’s cold hand. All Susie could think about was how good Julie looked. Her piercings sparkled like stars as they caught the light of the moon and the faintly burning joint, which also highlighted her black nails holding the joint in place. The time of night made her eyeshadow and lipstick look like dark voids she wanted to swim in and never leave, the haziness of the smoke clouds adding to the atmosphere. A question from Julie finally broke the silence.

“You want some?”

Susie nodded. “Open wide,” Julie demanded. Her friend acted without question, her braces catching in the moonlight as Julie inhaled from the joint and blew the cloud directly into Susie’s mouth, whose heart fluttered as she inhaled both the weed and Julie’s breath, the latter somehow more inebriating. Julie smiled at Susie, giggling. “Ever done that before?”

Susie shook her head, still not speaking a word. “It’s called shotgunning.”, she explained before taking another inhale. Julie held Susie’s face in her hand to get their mouths closer together as she exhaled slowly. Susie could not believe how it felt to have their lips be so close yet feel so far away. There were brief moments where parts of their lips actually touched, but not enough to count as a kiss. God, she wanted to kiss her so bad. It took all the strength in her body to not just throw their friendship away entirely and just go for it.

Julie exhaled the rest of the smoke into Susie’s lungs and leaned back, making the height difference feel much more extreme. “You look good down there.” Julie teased as she slowly unzipped her jacket, her nails clinking against the metal before she discarded the garment onto Ash’s body, leaving her in a loose sleeveless grey T-Shirt.

“Stay calm. Stay fucking calm,” Susie thought. “Don’t show anything on your face. Don’t push your luck. Whenever she does this, she likes it when I’m quiet. At least, I’ve been quiet so far and she’s continued. Maybe she does like me quiet. I’m a hell of a lot quieter than Frank. Ugh. I hate when I hear them- ugh, stop thinking about Frank. Julie is on top of you. Holy shit she’s not wearing a bra. I swear to god, she dresses like this on purpose. No, she doesn’t, you’re being delusional. Stop overthinking things. Focus on Julie being on top of you.”

Julie shifted more of her weight onto Susie’s stomach, returning to their previous position, a little closer this time. Julie giggled quietly into Susie’s ear, “I’m so high, Suse…”. Susie giggled back, feeling the euphoria as well, enhancing the closeness brought on by this encounter. Julie reached her hands up and entangled them between Susie’s locks of hair, gently feeling and inhaling the smell of her cheap hair dye. Susie’s arms lifted to place a hand on Julie’s back as she bundled her fingers into a fist and tugged roughly, chuckling to herself and playing it off as a joke, but she knew it turned Susie on based on the tiny squeak she let out every time and the way her nails clawed into Julie’s back, throwing her head back and exposing her neck to the cold breeze. Susie pretended it was Julie’s breath.

“Now I want you to try doing it to me.”, Julie demanded, placing the joint in Susie’s mouth as she parted her lips, her tongue piercing catching the light of the joint’s dim flame. Susie took an inhale from the joint and blew it into Julie’s mouth, placing her hand on her chin just so she could get a better angle, and for no other reason. Julie breathed in as she wrapped a hand around Susie’s shoulder, blowing the smoke directly into her face. Susie stared deep into Julie’s half-open eyes as the smoke cleared around her vision, this moment almost feeling like a movie to her.

They spent a while just looking at each other. No real looks exchanged, just two humans taking in another human’s beauty. Julie placed a hand on Susie’s chest, gripping the fabric of her hoodie and releasing the tension after Susie gently placed her hand over hers. They sat like this for what felt like hours, using their free hands to pass the joint back and forth, slowly getting higher, more euphoric, and closer together. Julie’s body melted on top of Suzie’s, the compression intertwining them.

”It’s almost out.” Julie frowned. “One more?”

Susie nodded, her lips parting slightly in anticipation. Julie took one last deep inhale and positioned her mouth over Susie’s, exhaling slowly, perhaps intentionally to make the moment last longer. Maybe it was a side effect of the cannabis, but Susie felt Julie’s lips linger a lot longer than needed. Susie exhaled her smoke, Julie using it as an excuse to take another inhale of her breath. It was almost sweet. Julie exhaled and closed her mouth, lifting her hand to brush a thumb against Susie’s bottom lip, hoping her fingerprint would somehow be able to capture and store this feeling forever.

Emotions swirled around Julie’s head, a little more sober now and finally aware of the tension. Something within her told her to move forward, to give this girl everything she’s ever wanted from her. Leaning forward, Julie’s breath travelled into Susie’s mouth as she inhaled Susie’s, each smelling like weed and yearning. The sound of Susie’s heavy breathing was like electricity in her ears. As Susie’s chest expanded, Julie’s contracted, their hearts feeling closer than their mouths were.

Before things could go any further, Julie sharply planted the still-lit roach into Susie’s forearm, making her scream and push Julie off, who just laughed. “OW! You fuckin… OW!” Susie yelled, rubbing the spot with her thumb. “bitch…” She grumbled under her breath. Julie smiled and stood up, reaching her hand out as a peace offering that Susie accepted. The two gathered their weapons, masks, discarded items, and Ash’s lighter. “Alright, let’s bounce. Frank and Joey are gonna be hyped to hear Ash has weed on him.” The mention of Julie’s boyfriend stung Susie’s heart a little. “Heh, yeah. You go ahead, I’ll catch up with you. I wanna see if he has anything else on him”.

”Alright, catch ya later, Suse.”