“No. Why?”
“You might have a better chance of making it.”
“Honest?”
“There’s a chance.”
“What the hell,” she said. “A chance is a chance.”
Ralph was still handling Elaine’s breasts. She seemed totally removed to a dream world of her own and totally oblivious to his hands on her. He didn’t care. He just wanted to stand there forever with his hands cooled by her soft flesh.
Maria tugged at his arm.
“What do you want?”
“You want to make it with me?”
He flushed, remembering the last time. That time she hadn’t had to ask. She didn’t have a chance to ask, for that matter.
He shrugged.
“Please, Ralph. I’m trying to find someone who’ll make it Greek fashion.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Why the hell not?”
“I’m busy.”
“Busy? All you’re doing is giving her a feel.”
Ralph smiled. “Yeah, but it’s one hell of a feel.”
“Do it Greek with me and you can feel me at the same time.”
“Go away, will you.”
“You go to hell,” she said, leaving him. “You go straight to hell.”
Rhonda said: “If you’re on junk, do you and Luke do anything anymore?”
“No,” Betty said.
“That must be rough to take.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“No kidding?”
“Well,” she said, “he can’t do it any more, what with the junk and all. Sometimes I want to, but it doesn’t matter too much to me. Just being with him is enough.”
“I guess so.”
“It’s a shame,” Betty said. “Luke and I were good together, you know. Luke used to be wonderful in bed.”
“I know.”
“Huh?”
“It was a long time ago,” Rhonda said. “Before the two of you even knew each other.”
Betty relaxed.
“I wouldn’t horn in on you now,” Rhonda went on. “Even if I could. I know how you two feel about each other.”
Betty got a dreamy smile on her face. “We’ve very much in love,” she said.
“I know it.”
“Very much in love. It’s so good this way. He loves me and I love him and it’s wonderful. We’re both pretty lucky, when you stop to think.”
Stella and David Jordan were on the couch. Her arms were around his neck and their mouths were glued together. He had one hand under her skirt.
“I want you,” she said. “I want you bad.”
He lowered his head and began kissing her on the breasts.
“Oh, God,” she said. “I can’t wait, David.”
“Neither can I.”
“Then come on.”
“Where? There’s somebody in the bedroom and the bathroom door’s locked.”
“What’s the matter with right here?”
“Here?”
“Sure.”
“Here? On the couch?”
“Why not?”
“People’ll be watching.”
“I don’t care.”
“You sure?”
“Of course I’m sure,” she said. “I don’t give a damn if the whole world is watching.”
“What the hell,” he said. “Let ’em watch.”
Maria stood in the middle of the living room. She took off all her clothes and stood completely naked.
Nobody seemed to notice her.
“God damn it,” she shouted. “Doesn’t anybody want to make it Greek style?”
Nobody said anything.
“God damn it!”
Everybody ignored her.
“What a dull party,” she said. “What a stinking dull party!”
She sat down on the floor and rested her head on her knees and started to cry.
Jimmy and Roger walked out of the bathroom. “Well? Did you like it?”
“It was a scene,” Jimmy admitted.
“Yeah.”
“I like it better with women, of course.”
“Naturally. So do I.”
“But it’s another way to make it.”
“That’s how I look at it.”
“And everything’s worth a go at some time or other.”
“That’s the way I feel.”
“Yeah,” Jimmy said. “Well.”
Sally was breathing deeply. She snuggled her head against Larry’s chest and kissed him.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” she said. “I’ll be double-damned.”
“I told you it would happen. All you had to do was give it a chance.”
“You were right.”
“See? There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re as normal as anybody else. It was just a question of giving yourself enough time.”
She fell silent.
Then she said: “Could I come and live with you?”
“Why?”
“I like it with you.”
“How about Roger?”
“To hell with Roger.”
He thought for a minute. “Okay. I’ll tell Maria to move out. I was getting tired of her anyway.”
“Good,” she said.
“We’re pretty good together,” he said. “Maybe it’ll work out okay.”
Elaine Jordan seemed to be in a trance. Ralph held her still, his mind wandering into another world. The pot had hit him harder than he had expected and he wanted nothing more than what he had — his hands on Elaine’s lovely breasts and his mind floating through space and time.
Slowly he began to come back to reality. His hands continued their play with her breasts but now the process was beginning to excite him.
He wanted her.
Gently he slipped his hands around her waist and unbuckled her skirt. It dropped to the floor. Then he hooked his fingers under the elastic band of her pink silk panties and pushed them down over her hips and thighs. They dropped to the floor also.
He ran his hands the full length of her body, realizing for the first time what a truly beautiful woman she was. His fingers explored every area of her.
He wanted her. He couldn’t wait.
“Elaine,” he said. “Elaine.”
She was still in a trance.
“Elaine.”
She mumbled something unintelligible.
“Elaine,” he said. “Bend over, Elaine.”
Maria was crying.
Jimmy sat down beside her, slipped an arm over her shoulder. “Hey,” he said. “Why the waterworks?”
She looked up. “I want to make it and nobody wants to make it with me.”
“You shoulda asked me.”
Her eyes brightened. “You wanta make it?”
“Why not?”
“Greek style?”
“Sure,” he said. “Why not?”
They walked toward the bedroom.
“Only one thing,” he said. “Why Greek style? Isn’t that pretty painful for a woman?”
“Of course,” she said, puzzled. “Why else do you think I want to do it that way?”
The party didn’t break up until 5:30 in the morning.
Chapter five
It was well past noon when Ralph awoke and climbed out of bed over the still-asleep form of Stella. He yawned and stretched and reached for a cigarette. After the cigarette was lit and the first puff of smoke taken deep into his lungs he was able to think clearly.
But he didn’t want to think clearly. He didn’t want to think at all. He wanted to crawl back into the bed and pull the covers over his head and never come out. He didn’t want to see anybody or do anything.
He felt sick inside, sick and weak and tormented. He closed his eyes so that he wouldn’t have to look at Stella, but with his eyes closed other images, worse pictures, flooded his mind.
He opened his eyes again.
There are no physical after-effects from smoking marijuana. There is no hangover, no physical craving for the drug, no boggy feeling in the limbs or fuzziness in the brain such as frequently follows a good drinking bout. When the drug wears off, the user is right where he was when he started, right where he would have been if he had never smoked the stuff in the first place.