Page 71 of Say It Again
“That’s exactly why we should do it!” She held his shoulders again. “I mean, no offense, but your boyfriend is with Rocket Sven and this music has me feeling awfully saucy. What’s holding us back?”
“Well, for one, they’re illegal contraband. And for two, where would we even find them?”
“Where?” She scoffed. “Oh, please. Don’t make me laugh. I know a dude. A mushroom dude.”
His mouth twitched at the confidence. Like a Guido with new hair gel. “Oh, you know a dude, huh?”
“That’s right.” So much winking happening. “A mushroom dude.”
Daniel eyed her for a long moment. He started to speak but hesitated. Barring a few hits from a joint in college that made his heart feel like it had been relocated to his head, he’d never done a drug. “You’re serious right now? Well. What are they like?”
“The mushroom dude?” Olivia shrugged. “He’s nice. He has a porn star goatee that I personally think he’d look better without, but other than that—”
“No, what are the mushrooms like? I mean, are they… safe?”
“Oh, are they safe.” Olivia nodded, a slicked-up Guido. “Probably.”
DANIEL STARED down at his coffee table, where shriveled, illegal contraband had been poured out and scattered around like they were garden-variety risotto ingredients and not highly hallucinogenic.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
“You know, I second that,” Olivia responded. “I also can’t believe you’re doing it.”
“So, what do we do?” He ferociously chewed a thumbnail. “Does one cut them up? Like, with scissors?”
Olivia tipped her head back and forth but said nothing.
“Does one brew a tea with them?”
No response from Olivia.
“Does one answer me while I’m talking?”
She shrugged all puny. Her confidence had diminished terribly. “I feel like we should just eat them whole.”
“Wait.” He gripped her arm. “Have you never done the mushrooms before?”
She gave him the strangest look, kind of like a person who had never done the mushrooms before.
“Olivia!” He widened his eyes. “This cannot be happening. You led me to believe you were the magic mushroom expert.”
“Okay, but in my defense, you probably wouldn’t have agreed if you didn’t think I was the magic mushroom expert. If it helps, I’ve always wanted to be a mushroom expert.”
His eyes rounded more. “Why would that help?”
“I’ll get us some water.” She pointed back on her way to the kitchen. “When I come back, we’ll meet the mushrooms. We’ll greet them. Everything will be fine. Don’t worry about a thing.”
He bounced his knees as he stared down at them. “Girl, I don’t know about this—”
“Picture it like a belly dance, Daniel. A belly dance for your brain.”
“Oh, a belly dance?” His dipped his head. “Well, I do love that.”
“See?” she asked from the kitchen, filling two glasses of water. “And wouldn’t your brain love to take a belly dance break from all your worries? From Aaron? And Sven?”
The studio came crashing into the forefront of his mind, followed closely by Sven and his literal (and figurative) rocket. “Yeah, it would.”
Olivia beamed as she offered him a water and a mushroom. “Cheers. To belly dancing.”