Page 27 of The Last Special Thing

It had been a couple of days since her dispensary experience, and the ease of it was still the strangest part. Lying on her bed in her silk pajamas, she pulled her phone from the charger on the nightstand and checked the time. Still early enough to reach her sister. She tapped the WhatsApp video. It rang a couple of times.

Georgina answered, “Hey, Sis.”

“Hey! How’s Italy?” Amelia propped the phone up on her pillow. The day was bright on Georgina’s end, and she recognized her historic apartment.

“Oh my gosh. The best! Sorry, I couldn’t come home sooner.” She paused. “Who am I kidding? I’m not sorry. I want to move here one day!”

Amelia stiffened. Their relationship was a predestined obligation, not a friendship. Still, Georgina could shed light on what she had been wondering.

“You went to Amsterdam, didn’t you?” Amelia said tentatively.

“Oh yeah, Amsterdam for spring break, Copenhagen for Christmas break, Paris with this guy Raphael. Did I tell you about him? He brought me home to meet his parents! They were nice and got a good laugh when I asked if we were having escargot for dinner. Apparently, that’s not, like, a dinner staple.”

“Wait, you have a boyfriend?”

“Oh hell no, who has time for that? I know, the parents would love nothing more than for me to find a nice foreign businessman. Oh well, guess you’re their only hope. Mom told me you’re still hanging out with Weston. They would plan that wedding tomorrow.”

Amelia’s head was spinning. This was not why she called. “Okay, back to Amsterdam, drugs are legal there, right?”

“Oh yeah, I’m not sure which ones, but they do have these ‘coffee shops’,” Georgina used air quotes, “and everyone’s high. Also, you can buy a little box of magic mushrooms. It looks adorable, but how wild is that!”

“And everything is safe and legal?”

“Yeah, whatever they sell is kosher. It was a gorgeous city. Everyone was biking over canals. It was a lot nicer than most of the big cities in America.” There was a pause on the line. “Why do you ask?”

Amelia’s eyes dropped to her nails, a French tip after the Fourth of July to reset her palette. “Oh, I have a friend who’s twenty-one, and he was saying how casual dispensaries are. I just didn’t know if drugs got a bad rep. If they are fine in Amsterdam, what’s the issue in America?”

“Amelia, what’s going on?” Georgina’s voice dipped, as if she cared.

“I’m asking a question. Just curious about your travels. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Georgia drawled, unconvinced.

“Okay, well, I gotta go. Have some gelato for me,” Amelia plastered a smile on her face and then hung up. So, hallucinogens were approved somewhere in the world. Good enough for her.

She rolled out of bed and looked out her slider door. The pool water glistened under the sunshine. She sent Art a text.

Amelia

Beach walk today?

Art

Yeah! Swing by around 3? I have band practice and then I need to run some errands.

A few hours later, she approached the complex. Art had his back to the door, a vape cartridge dangling between his fingers. His eyes scanned the courtyard, then a smile spread across his face.

“Hey, stranger,” she said, giving him a curious look.

“Hey, you.” He took a hit of his vape and then pocketed it.

“Nicotine is terrible for you.”

He slung his arm around her. “I’ll work on it.” His tone was non-committal.

She let him steer her away.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Madisson screeched on the other side of the door.