UNDER THE CHERRY TREE
By
Rev. Jesse Penfield Gibson, MDiv, DMin
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. The characters and situations are purely imaginary. Any resemblence to any living persion is coincidental. This story is primarily a romance but does contain some scenes of explicit sex, primarily homosexual but not exclusively.
Complaints, compliments and comments to revjpgibson@Hotmail.com
Please remember to give to Nifty to keep the stories coming.
FIVE
The next time I got high was after FYS on Wednesday. There was a crowd at Cass and Dex's apartment to watch a Seth Rogan double feature: Zack and Miri Make a Porno and Pineapple Express. There were a couple of people I didn't know in addition to Cass and Ashley, Dex and Dante, me and Xander. Tommy from next door to me in the dorm was there too. Apparently he and Xander had struck up a friendship. Tommy being there made me more comfortable in addition to the fact that I thought he was hot, having snuck a peek at him in the shower. There was a girl there named Haley, who was clearly thought of herself as Xander's date. She was fairly cute, I guess, but a pretty vapid party girl.
Everyone was getting baked and the higher we got, the funnier the movies were. The bag we were smoking from was Xander's and they called the pot "purple haze". It was light green bud with distinctly purple trichomes present and was very sticky. Personally, I didn't know one strain from another but connoisseurs did. As it happened, I was in a group of them, with Tommy being one or trying to act like one.
"Man, this shit is a great head buzz. Nice body buzz too," Tommy said as they changed the DVD to from the weed movie to porn comedy. "You sure this isn't real pineapple express?"
There was snickering at it. "Nope, just plain old purple haze. Just old fashion sativa," Cass answered. "Grows like a fucking weed, right X?"
Xander shrugged and loaded another bowl from the dwindling supply. "I guess."
"Well, enjoy. That's the last decent pot in Macon." Dex said, taking the bowl from Xander. He lit it and took two puffs from the pipe before passing it on.
"Who knows when they'll be more" Cass jumped in.
"Bullshit. There are a dozen places in town, right now, where you can get a dime bag, curb side service," Xander said.
"Of ditch weed" Dex answered.
"Depends on how bad you want to get high"
"Bad" Tommy sniggered. I laughed too because I was incredibly giddy. "It's always 4:20, you know what I mean."
I thought about for a second. "Actually, that's not true." Tommy responded by punching me in the arm.
"Maybe our guy will come through with some more," Cass observed. He was looking at Xander, who was ignoring him. He was nibbling on Haley's neck as she sat next to him, half on the arm rest of the chair, half in his lap. "The schwag making you horny there, dude?"
"Breathing makes me horny. So, I think we're going to motor. Go back to her loft. Gonna need a piece of that bud though," Xander said, pinching off about a quarter of the remaining bud.
As Xander and Haley left, I got up and went to the bathroom to pee. From there I heard Cass talking to Xander. "Look, I understand about the one kid, he's a stoner. But what about Dylan? No newbie's, that was your rule, remember?"
"He's an exception" Xander replied calmly.
"Well, if we're making exceptions, bro, our business would be a lot better. There's a whole new crop of customers that Dex and I could tap into. But I guess this is a one-time exception because you've got a crush on him. This isn't middle school."
"Cream rises to the top, Cass. The hardcore ones'll find you. Are you completely tapped out? Not even a personal stash?" Xander asked. I noticed how he ignored the part about having a crush on me.
"Totally tapped out."
"Okay, bro. I'll bring you some white shit tomorrow for you guys. Not for resale. I can't stock you up until this weekend. Sorry."
"It's cool, dude. Drives the price up anyway. I guess he's a cool kid. He's smart, too fucking smart for you."
Whatever Xander said in return I didn't hear. It sounded like the conversation was coming to a close and I didn't want to be caught eavesdropping. I needed to get back and be settled in before Cass got there, especially since it would be under the watchful eyes of Dex. For the time being, I would just have to hold in my urine. I went back and settled in on the couch.
"How does that guy get so many chicks?" Tommy blurted out as Cass walked back in.
"Girls talk. Word gets around if you know what you're doing down there, stud." Ashley laughed.
"Boys talk too." Dex said.
Cass stared at me. "I can see the wheels turning there. You're wondering if it's weird that my best friend did the dirty with Ashley last week and now she's with me, right?"
"Yeah."
Cass laughed. "I learned a long time ago not letting the fact that he got a girl before stop me. Otherwise I'd never get laid."
"He can suck some dick too" Dante joined in. "I guess practice makes perfect."
I was haunted by it for days. On the one hand, I was deeply attracted to him, more than I wanted to admit. I couldn't even look at him for wanting him. It was an aching sort of longing. The fact that he felt an attraction back was exciting. Exciting enough that my heart beat faster and the air that I pulled into my lungs was cold. The symptoms are classic for fight or flight, the stress response fueled by catecholamine's. His excessive experience and my utter lack of it made it all the more stressful. But I was also troubled by the revelation that he was in the drug business, despite him saying that he wasn't a drug dealer. Clearly, he was Cass and Dex's supplier. It wasn't only that I felt lied to when he said he didn't sell drugs, it was also the fact that he was involved in a dirty, illegal and immoral business.
I went home that weekend with Robbie but I couldn't talk to him about my feelings, for lots of reasons. For one thing, he all ready suspected I was gay and his suspicion scared me. I couldn't confirm to him for fear of his telling somebody back home. Telling Robbie was the same as telling my parents, which I was definitely not ready to do. And then there was the fact that Robbie didn't like Xander anyway because of Erica. So it was a long ride the 2 ½ hours back and we mostly talked about high school and gossiped about people we knew.
Robbie's family's farm is just north of town, actually their fields start just when the houses stop, so he had to drive past home to take me to my house. My dad's land is about a mile south of town. His family has a pretty big commercial produce business, complete with packing sheds and everything. My dad scraps by on corn and soybeans. His family is well to do and mine isn't, even though my dad as a Baptist deacon is a little higher in the local social hierarchy than his dad, who is a big wheel in the Holiness church. But he could afford Willingham even without his baseball scholarship and I couldn't without my academic one.
Being home was great. My mom ran out to meet us, hugging me tightly as if I were the prodigal son. It was a little embarrassing, of course, but Robbie's mom was likely going to do the same. She made over me and took my clothes off to wash. For practically the first time in my parent's home, I didn't have a chore to be done. For now, I was the honored one. Two of my sisters, the older one with a toddler in tow, came with husbands to dinner. Mama made fried chicken with all the fixings for dinner Friday night, because she knew I would be tired from the drive. I wasn't but the chicken was better than anything I've ever tasted. Two weeks of institutional food makes home cooking that much better. Saturday we went to Bainbridge for barbecue.
Sunday, as always, meant church. It was good to see everybody again and I was treated a little bit like a conquering hero. Brother Bob, the pastor, even made special mention of my being home during the welcome. It seemed a little much since I had been gone two Sundays but my mom flushed with pride so it was okay. Lunch was roast beef and it too was delicious. By then, Robbie came to get to go back I wasn't sure I wanted to leave. I hadn't realized how homesick I was until it came time to leave again. Everything in Colquitt seemed to make sense and for about 45 hours I hadn't had to think about all my doubts and confusion. Robbie felt the same way and for the first 45 minutes or so, we talked about how great it was to be home and how lucky we were. Then gradually the conversation turned back to school and to what was now our real life.
Apparently, both Carter and Xander had gone home that weekend too. Carter was just getting back when we did and Xander came in a little later. Then I remembered that Xander's trip home was also to get marijuana for Cass and Dex to sell. Without even realizing it, I had decided that I was going to back away from my friendship with Xander. I could see now that he was dangerous. Despite his attractiveness and charisma, he was trouble just as Erica had said. I decided to give Carter another chance, particularly since he seemed kind of friendless. While we were unpacking our stuff, I heard the sound of loud voices coming from across the hall, indistinct but definitely unfriendly. I told Robbie that it sounded like Carter and Xander were arguing again. After a couple of minutes, the door over there closed hard and someone left. I decided to leave it alone and not check it out.
Things took a turn for the worse Monday afternoon. When I got back from class, the door to Chip's room, our RA, was open and there was a man in a suit and a university police man there. My door was also open and Robbie and Erica were there. I asked them what was up and Robbie told me that the cop was waiting for Xander. My heart sank. It had only taken him two weeks before he got arrested and I worried if I might be in trouble too for having partied with him. We didn't have to wait long before the scene played out. The man in the suit was the Residence Life director and he caught Xander in the hall. We could hear him tell Xander that there had been an accusation that he was a drug dealer and that they were to search the room. Xander asked, fairly politely, if they needed a warrant for that and the cop told him they didn't. The university owned the property and could search anything anytime they wanted.
The cop and the Residence Life director went into his room with a pass key and closed the door. Chip stayed with Xander in the hall.
"Okay, Xander. You need to tell me now if there's anything in there. It won't be so bad if you own up to it now. It'll still be bad but not as bad."
I couldn't see Xander but his tone was calm and even. "There's nothing there. It's just Carter making trouble."
"It may not even have been Carter."
"Get real, Chip." Xander shot back.
"No, you get real, kid. They are going to look at everything. This is a real search by law enforcement, you understand that. If they find so much as a roach, they are going to bring the hammer down on you. Any drug paraphernalia and it's same thing. They are going to test for residue. This is serious but you can get out from underneath a little bit if you just admit that you use. Some personal use, no selling and you get by with drug counseling. But your window of opportunity is closing."
"Nothing to find," Xander said.
"They are going to talk to everybody on the hall ..."
"And not a one of them can truthfully say I sold them anything." Xander shot back.
"Look, we both know that you do in fact use drugs. For a fact. You may not like me, but you need to trust me ..."
"I like you, Chip. I just liked you better before you found Jesus, that's all. I do trust you. But, I'm not admitting to anything. And they don't have anything."
It seemed like it took forever but eventually they came out from Xander's room. They didn't tell him anything except that they needed to search his car.
" I think I need to talk to my lawyer about that"
"You have a lawyer?" the residence life guy asked.
"I'm going to call him. If he says I have to, then I have to"
"You have to" the cop said
"I don't think I do. You own the building but I own the jeep. I think you need a warrant but let's see what the lawyer says" Xander replied, still very calm.
He dialed the number and put the phone to his ear. "Hey, Joe. I got a problem. The Dub was searched my room and now they want to search the jeep.... No, they said they didn't need it .... Yeah, they did. .... No .... No, I couldn't find a space. It's parked on Montpelier... You want me to tell them to fuck off? Seriously?"
The Residence Life guy didn't like that and the cop sure didn't. Xander turned to them and stuck the phone out. "He wants to talk to you"
The Residence Life guy snapped up the phone. "WHo am I speaking with?" he said, fairly officiously as he walked down the hall away from me. He got to the end of the hall and headed back. "Well, if he has nothing to hide .... No, I am familiar with the Bill of Rights. I'm just saying .... Fine. We can revoke his parking pass for failure to cooperate ... An injunction? Fine,"
He handed the phone back to Xander. By now, there was a gang of people of waiting outside their rooms to see what was going down. He and Xander walked down to his room and Xander opened it. They went inside and a few minutes later the Residence Life guy left.
Robbie spurred me on to go across the hall and find out. Reluctantly, I knocked on the door.
"Well?" I asked.
He shook his head no. "They didn't find anything."
"Thank God," I exhaled. "I was a kind of worried. Are they going to drug test you?"
"They need a warrant and probable cause for that. To be honest, I think they're a little pissed at Carter and his dad. He offered to reassign one of us to another room."
"Sounds like a good idea to me. What did you say?"
"No thanks."
"Why?"
"You're smart. Figure it out."
I stared at him blankly. Then I saw his reasoning. As it stood, he was somebody who had nothing to hide. Plus, he was the reasonable and wronged party in the confrontation. Going forward, anything Carter had to say would be suspect. Plus, since the safest place to be is the last place searched, he had at least one place where he was fairly secure, legally at least. "Yeah, I get it. The boy who cried wolf."
He just raised his eyebrows. He picked up his sketch pad and began to draw. "Did you have a good time back home?"
"Yeah. Made me more homesick, though. How about you?"
He looked up at me. "You were listening in the bathroom. You know I didn't go home. "
"That's why I was worried. Just so you know, if they do interview me, I won't say anything."
"They're not. Not going to interview anybody. They only did it the way they did to shut Carter's dad up."