"You'll be fine babe, you just need to snap out of it. Come on, come and have a dance with me."
Jason was surprised, Lizzie was so uncaring towards her friend. It was clear she was having some kind of emotional meltdown, due to the chocolate. It appeared Lizzie didn't seem to care. He spoke up,
"Maybe just give her time to chill and ride the wave?"
"No, she needs to snap out of it. Honestly, I've seen it before. Come on babes, come and dance in the living room."
It felt like Lizzie had the attitude of some trained physician who objectively saw patients as a case study, and not people. Well that's what it seemed like to JJ.
"Can't you feel anything JJ." Pen asked, seemingly distracted by their conversation.
"Nothing at all, how about you Liz?"
"Yeah a little, and I just want to dance, come on Pen. JJ, let's go into the living room."
The small party walked through the white french glazed wooden doors that separated the kitchen & living room. Inside, there was a large 'L' shaped sofa facing a huge 50 inch TV screen, hung on the wall. It was blasting out some very loud dance music.
It rattled in JJ's ear's. At that point he couldn't work out if it was genuinely loud, or his ears were getting that little bit more sensitive due to age. He let that latter point go.
Looking at the pair dancing, especially Pen, it was clear she just needed a change of scenery. Clearly, her mood had altered, and it seemed like they were having a good time.
Now on his second bottle of lager, and not feeling anything from the chocolate, JJ was eager for the hallucinogenic to kick in, he wanted to join in on the party. Lizzie looked great, really at ease dancing away with her friend.
A part of his mind drifted off, he envisaged being in bed with the pair of them. He knew his friend was bi-sexual. She was as keen to kiss a woman as she had him, in the past. They'd never gone any further than a dance, drinks, kisses. For him, Lizzie was a predatory female. She was great fun, he loved her sense of humour. But he told her point blank, "There can only be one predator in a relationship, and it can't be you, I'm the bloke in this setup."
That was it. Lizzie was a very attractive lady, great fun, but for him, she had clear masculine energy. On a night out, at a recent gay pride event, he watched her chase and devour many attractive Lesbian women that day. It was hilarious, then it seemed she would come back to JJ for security, she'd kiss him, get her bearings and then head off on the hunt again. He once told her,
"You've got about as much finesse as a herd of elephants", and they both rolled around the club seating area laughing their heads off.
It was a shame, he thought to himself. Lizzie did tick some boxes, but he needed a woman, not a woman who had the sexual attitude of a man. It would be too easy. Still he enjoyed her company, and hopefully now her friend lightened up.
Suddenly, he found himself seated back in the kitchen. How did that happen?, he thought to himself.
"Do you feel anything now JJ?", Lizzie again enquired.
He pondered for a moment, things had slowed down a little, and his vision was a little out. But he still felt fine.
Suddenly, he heard a knocking. It was like someone was knocking on a door. But the sound was coming from the wall next to him. He looked at the wall, it stuck out a little, clearly this kitchen was smaller at one point, and a wall had been knocked through to make it larger. The small wall sticking out was supporting a steel above their heads. But that was where the knocking was coming from.
He looked again at the wall. 'What the fuck', he thought to himself. Am I tripping, is there someone behind that wall? Is it a little Elf, tapping away, making some clothes, jewelry?
Again, a continual knocking could be heard from the wall. It began to pickle his mind. Maybe he was tripping after all. Suddenly, he felt a slight movement down by his feet. It was 'Tink', Lizzie's pet Staffordshire Bull terrier. Looking up at JJ, wanting some affection. Tink's strong tail was knocking against the chair he was sitting on, and the wall. Hence the knocking. So maybe he wasn't tripping after all. Although he did think to himself, it took a few minutes for this to register.
He looked back over towards the ladies. Pen still seemed a little startled, talking to herself, as much as Lizzie, about how she felt. It appeared she kept on flipping between a meltdown, normality, and feeling pleasantly high. It did occur to JJ that maybe Pen had some kind of emotional block going on. Sensing this too, Lizzie explained,
"Pen, you've just gotta let go. Be at one with it all. Let it flow through you. I love taking it, I love having sex on it."
Which came as no surprise to JJ. He watched his friend being in the moment, it was like she was reliving the last time she had a sexual experience whilst high on mushroom chocolate. She was slightly leant over the large island in the kitchen, and continued,
"I just let Graham take me from behind when we went camping that time. Oh yes, yes, take me baby, take me. Yes, harder, ooooooh, oooooh. Harder, yes that's it, harder."
By now JJ, and Pen were in a fit of hysterics watching Lizzie reconstruct her last sexual experience. Her head was rolling backwards, she was pushing back on the island, pretending her lover was behind her, she was moaning, interspersed with laughter.
JJ looked at her features, it was like they were morphing into slightly different shapes. At one point she looked like she had slightly olive glossy skin. When he looked again, it appeared she'd aged 30 years, and resembled an older lady. Then, momentarily, she looked her usual sexually confident self. It was bizarre to see.
He did think this feeling was very similar to the early stages of Ayahausca. The morphing of facial features, geometric patterns, the warping of vision. That drug was also a hallucinogenic, only 50 times more powerful.
Then, surprisingly, Lizzie lifted the top half of her dress up. Out popped her pert breasts, shaking, wobbling. She grabbed hold of both with each hand, cupping them underneath.
"Yes, I love having sex on this, it's great. Pen, you just need to let go, let the energy flow through you."
At this point, all three of the small party were crying out in laughter. It was so funny to see. Lizzie was great fun, he thought. She was wild, carefree, and knew how to have a good time.
Suddenly, he saw two hands appear on his periphery. They came out of nowhere. He looked at them again. In the background, colours were morphing in and out of range. JJ had to ask himself, 'Who's hands are these?' as he didn't recognise them. They were just there. It seemed like they weren't connected to anything.
He looked again, he couldn't work out where they came from.
"You feeling it now JJ?"
Lizzie asked, boobs still out, smiling from cheek to cheek. He looked up at his friend. In front of him was a collection of beautiful geometric shapes, small squares surrounding one another, different colours, creating an outline around the kitchen. And, a great pair of tits.
"I'm trying to work out whose hands these are?."
Still perplexed at the mysterious pair of hands showing on his periphery.
Pen, and Lizzie, looked over at him. Shocked. They both stood silent for a split second before letting out a huge cry of laughter.
"They're yours you nutter. Who else are they going to be?"
Coming back into the moment, Jason realised he was clearly tripping. He just didn't see his arms connected to his hands. He took another mouthful of beer, happily he declared,
"Great stuff this, shall we have some more?"
Lizzie came over with another two pieces of chocolate, smaller than the large one they initially had. She had one in her mouth, another in her hand. With her hands up, her hips wriggling, he suddenly got this vision of her being an exotic belly dancer from the Middle East.
She looked great and knew exactly what she was doing. Lizzie threw her hands around JJ's large frame and placed the piece of chocolate from her mouth, into his.
They began kissing, tongues intertwined, laughing, and dancing together. He really felt comfortable with her, there was no hesitation, no resistance. They were having a lot of fun. Out of nowhere, they heard,
"I ain't being a third wheel, I'm off."
Talk about timing, he thought. He did see Pen's point, but it was clear Lizzie and him were having a laugh.
Disappointed, the vibe of the evening changed again, due to Pen. Lizzie and Jason then had to prize Pen away from leaving, and back to having a good time. They all danced together in the kitchen, hugging.
Again, he felt no tension from Lizzie, she was really in the moment. Whereas Pen, she was as stiff as a board.
"What's going on babe, are you finding it hard to relax.?"
"I'm fine, just having problems with my men."
He pulled away, "What do you mean, your men?"
"I'm dating an armed copper, and I'm dating a 28 year old, he's great in bed, but I haven't heard from him today so I've blocked him on insta."
"She always does that, she blocks her friends, her exes, everyone."
"How old are you again?", he asked.
"42."
JJ stood there, the walls were moving, his vision was wobbly, and he was still seeing a variety of geometric patterns when he looked at something long enough. And now he had to contend with a man hating serial dater that clearly had issues.
He stood there laughing, you couldn't make it up, he thought to himself. Pen, clearly wasn't his problem, and if she lightened up again it seemed like she was good fun. But on this occasion, it seemed the drugs didn't connect with her sense of well being. Or if they had, her sense of well being was all over the place.
Again, he noticed Lizzie asking her friend to calm down, and have fun. They retreated to the living room, aka as the dance floor, once more. The tunes were blasting and this time JJ began dancing between the pair of them. It was funny, Pen seemed to flip between smiling and looking very concerned, like she was fighting an internal battle.
Whereas the very sexually liberated Lizzie was in her element, singing to the music and dancing in a very provocative way. He couldn't help but gravitate towards his friend. She was great fun and at that point in time he felt extremely comfortable with her.
They began dancing together once more, interwoven, and laughing. Naturally they kissed, moving to the rhythm of the music, and having a good time.
"Can you call a friend for me then." Pen interjected.
Again, they found themselves in the kitchen. Drinking, laughing, and trying to contain Pen's emotional charges. He watched her continually look at her phone, distracted by whatever was going on in the world of social media.
"Shall we get some Charlie?" Pen asked the pair of them. "I need to snap out of this feeling, it's dragging me down."
Which did make sense to him, but she was replacing one feeling from another. Cocaine was never his drug of choice. For JJ, it changed the dynamics of an evening.
Previously, he'd seen groups of people having fun on a night out, just on alcohol. Then when a mixture of people started sniffing that shit, it changed things. The evening became about sniffing, talking nonsense, and too deep conversations.
He was beginning to think, again, that he should have stayed in. What was going on with this Pen, he thought?