Byulyi pocketed the weed and walked off towards the top of the staircase wondering if she could try and spot Wheein in the crowd. She pulled out her phone again, it read 2:13AM and still no response from Wheein, maybe she was asleep? Byulyi typed out another message [Can we takl? Pleaes?] and sent it, not noticing her typos.

She pocketed her phone and started thinking (which was very hard to do right now) was Yongsun right? Should she wait until she was sober to talk to Wheein? But she knew if she weren’t high, she wouldn’t have the courage to talk to Wheein. She also didn’t like the person she was when she was sober and at the very least when she was high, she could forget she was that person. She got high to balance out her lows.

Byulyi could feel her high coming down with that. She started feeling bad for herself. She started feeling bad about herself. And then she felt the weight of the bag of weed in her pocket and decided that now was as good time a time as any to use it. Now is always a good time to get high.

She looked around the room to see if anyone was smoking and spotted a group of four girls around a table with a water bong on it. They looked nice enough and they were pretty, especially the mean looking one in all leopard in the middle. Wheein had never looked mean, but Byulyi had always had a thing for girls with resting face, and they were usually pretty nice when you talked to them.

Byulyi walked over to the girls with (what she hoped was) her best smile on and asked, “Hey, do you ladies want to smoke with me?” She pulled out the weed baggie from her pocket and dangled it out in front of them. The girl in all leopard smiled giving Byulyi a much needed confidence boost, “It’s on me, smoking alone is just pretty boring, and kind of sad. I’m Byulyi, by the way.”

“I’m Krystal,” said the girl who smiled, “I’ll smoke with you. My friends don’t really care for it.”

“Yeah,” said the one with short hair. Byulyi really liked her hair, she wanted to try a short cut like that one day. Maybe she could ask this girl where she gets her hair cut. Byulyi wondered why it didn’t hurt when you got a haircut, “It smells bad. If you’re gonna smoke, I’m gonna go dance.” She turned to the other two and did the finger guns thing at them, “Vic-unnie, Luna, let's dance.”

The three of them got up and waved goodbye to Krystal and said “Nice to meet you” to Byulyi.

“Their loss,” Byulyi said when they left. She sat down across from Krystal and extended her hand, “Nice to meet you, Krystal. I like your clothes, you look very much like you belong on the catwalk.”

“Really? That’s so nice of you to say. My friends thought I overdid it.”

Byulyi shook her head “Not at all, I think you look really cool!”

Krystal smiled, “Thanks and thanks for sharing your weed.” Krystal shook Byulyi’s hand. It was warm and soft and Byulyi would have kissed it if not for the small amount of impulse control she had left.

Unfortunately she didn’t have enough impulse control to not blurt out, “You’re really pretty.”

Thankfully, Krystal laughed and said, “You’re not so bad yourself.”

Byulyi blushed and hoped Krystal couldn’t tell. “Thanks,” Byulyi pointed to the bong on the table, “Is the water clean? Or do you wanna use my piece instead?”

“We can use your piece,” Krystal said, “I think I’m a little too gone to go through the motions of a water bong right now.”2

Byulyi smiled, “I completely understand, sometimes it’s too much for me even when I’m sober.” To Byulyi’s delight, Krystal laughed at that, “I remember the first time I used a water bong I very much pretended like I knew how to and blew into it instead of inhaling.”

Krystal doubled over, “That’s so cute!”

Byulyi became sheepish, “My friends still won’t let me live it down! It was so embarrassing.”

“Well, I’m sure you’re a pro now.”

Byulyi winked, “Of course.” She pulled out her pipe, a grinder, and a lighter from her jacket pockets and set them on the table. She pulled some weed out of the baggie and started grinding it.

“Do you happen to get your weed from Yongsun?” Krystal asked.

Byulyi looked at Krystal in surprise, “Yeah, she’s a good friend. Do you know her? Well, you probably do. She’s like the king of this place. Er, queen.”

“I don’t know her personally, but my friend Seulgi is best friends with her girlfriend, Irene, so I know of her.”

“Oh, I know Seulgi, very nice girl.” Byulyi put the weed in the bowl of her pipe and handed it to Krystal along with the lighter, “Take the first hit since you’re my guest on this trip to getting high.”

“Well aren’t you chivalrous.” Krystal lit the pipe and Byulyi watched as the light from the lighter enveloped Krystal in a warm glow, accentuating her beauty. Krystal inhaled and exhaled slowly,  smoke danced beautifully around her, framing her like a painting - she looked godly. Byulyi felt like she had befriended someone too special for her. Krystal looked over at Byulyi and smiled, “I guess Yongsun has some really good weed.”

Krystal handed the pipe back to an awestruck Byulyi, “Yeah, probably the best I’ve ever had.”

She lit the pipe and Krystal shrugged, “I’ve had better.”

‘What’s a king to a god?’