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California became the first state to allow medicinal cannabis use when voters passed the Compassionate Use Act in 1996. Today, cannabis is legal in California for both medicinal and adult (recreational) use.
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Zoey laughed as her sister finished her joke. They had been talking about something that happened at Amelia’s office and, when comparing it to Zoey’s life as a K-Pop Idol, there were definitely some jokes to be made. Zoey would be lying if she said she truly missed everything about California. She missed her home, missed her sister, missed her dad, missed American food, missed some American laws, but, by and large, she wasn’t as homesick as she imagined she would have been when she first arrived in South Korea. Now that she’d been there for at least five years, she rarely thought much of California.
That being said, it was nice to take time off of touring and visit her sister. Amelia was three years older than Zoey and had chosen to remain in California after their parents divorced. She got a nice job after college and was living with a good guy in the city, everything parents wanted for their children. However, her job left her little time to head to Korea and Zoey’s job left her even less time to go to California. That’s why, whenever Zoey had the chance, she bolted over as fast as possible.
During this visit, since they had some extra time, they decided to head to an old hang out spot of theirs and pick up some “special” brownies. That was one thing Zoey really missed about California—not enough to stay by any means but there was a longing.
That evening or morning—it would be 2 am when Zoey was supposed to arrive at the private jet and then it wasn’t supposed to land until 4 pm South Korea time—that Zoey was supposed to leave, Amelia had been finishing a work call and packing up tupperware for her.
“Is that what I think it is?” Zoey asked.
“You won’t get any more while you’re in Korea. You should enjoy some while you can.”
“Amelia, it’s illegal. I could get in a lot of trouble.”
“You’re a world famous pop star. What’s the point of having so much power and money if you don’t use it?”
“To smuggle drugs?” Zoey asked with a raised eyebrow and smile.
“It’s pot. It’s a baby drug. Just take it. If you don’t want it, you can toss it out before you get on the plane and you’ll have broken no laws.” Ameila pushed the box into Zoey’s stomach and hugged her goodbye, “And you better hurry. There’s a fancy car outside.”
Zoey groaned. Her bags were all in her hands and she could see the limo waiting to take her to the airport. “You gave me these as I’m leaving so I have no time to say no, huh?” True it was a private jet but Celine always told them to be on time because the jet was trying to get them places. If they were late to the jet, they were late to an event and that was bad for a host of reasons.
“Yup! Once again, your lateness works to my advantage. Tell your girlfriends I say hi.” She laughed.
“Will do!” Zoey cried, racing out the door of the house.
She ran down to the man who was waiting to take her bags. He grabbed all four of her bags, including the tupperware, and placed it in the back of the car while Zoey held onto her back pack. The second she sat down and opened her phone, she planned to make a reminder to throw away the brownies. The last thing she needed was to freak out Bobby or upset Celine because she did something illegal. When she opened her phone though, there was a text from Rumi with a picture of her and Mira on the couch.
Rumi: Miss you! Are you at the plane yet?
Zoey: Not yet. I got a late start
Mira: Better hurry. We have a fan signing when you get back and we need our maknae
Zoey: Trust me. I know. I’m the whole reason people come
Rumi: Wow. California made you rude.
Zoey: Don’t be mad just because I’m right. I guess you guys bring something to the group
Mira: Ha-ha. You’re hilarious. How long’s the flight?
Zoey: They’re saying it’s good flying weather so hopefully about 13-14 hours
Mira: Wow
Zoey: I’ll sleep. I’ll be fine
Rumi: That’s a good idea. Get some rest and then you’ll be all ready for the night you get back.
Zoey: Yes, sir 🫡
Mira: We’ll see you when you land, 😘
Rumi: ❤️❤️❤️.
Zoey: 😍🥰 Great! I’ll text you guys when I’m on the plane and you can track me from there
Zoey moved from her messaging app to social media without a second thought.
And without setting a reminder about the brownies.
—--------------------------------------
When Zoey got on the plane she did exactly as she expected, she fell asleep. The driver placed her bags under the plane—save for the single one Zoey had—and they started everything up. She was in the air by 2 am California time and landing by 4 pm Seoul time. She only woke up at the very end of her flight, when they were low enough that she could see the city beneath her and watch all the little cars and buildings. The plane landed perfectly and Zoey could spot Bobby waiting for her with a little card that she knew Rumi and Mira made for her.
“Hi, Bobby!” Zoey cried.
“Welcome back, Zoey! I hope the plane ride was good.”
“It was great. I slept the whole way through and I am ready to do some signing!”
“Love to hear it! Don’t forget your bags.”
“OH!” Zoey suddenly rushed back up the plane steps, having forgotten her carry on on the couch.
Meanwhile, Bobby directed the workers to move Zoey’s other bags into the car. The piece of tupperware, still wrapped up perfectly, was set in the trunk of the car with care before the top was shut down over it. Zoey came bounding out of the plane just as Bobby had closed the trunk.
“I almost forgot my turtle bag!” Zoey cried, holding the green bag close to her, “We can leave now.”
“Alright.” Bobby scooched into the back with her while someone else took to the driver’s seat, “How was California? Did you and your sister have fun?”
“So much fun.” Zoey told him, “Thank you again for letting me go see her. I know with the tour and all our events it was hard to find a time.”
“I understand missing your family and I know it’s harder for you with them being in the States. I’m really just happy that you got to see her.”
“Thanks, Bobby.” Zoey smiled, “Hopefully Mira and Rumi didn’t cause too much trouble without me.”
“Actually they seemed slightly subdued. Like the main trouble maker was gone or something.”
Putting on her best hurt tone, Zoey light punched Bobby’s arm, “Hey! And after I just complimented you!”
“Okay, okay. We’ll be back at the tower soon and then we have an hour before the fan signing. Do you need to wash up or anything?”
“It wouldn’t hurt to get a quick shower in and change my clothes.” Zoey agreed, “Do you mind making sure all my stuff gets into the tower so I can go shower?”
“You don’t have to ask. I’ll get all the bags to your room.” Bobby was already making a note on his phone.
“Thanks, Bobby!”
Upon arriving at the tower, Zoey did just that. She grabbed her turtle bag and headed upstairs to her room to change and shower. There was a private bathroom connected to her room that was supplied with shampoo, conditioner, bodywash, moisturizer, everything she needed. From outside, Zoey could hear Rumi and Mira walking around and she assumed they heard her shower or saw Bobby and he filled them in. Either way, it was nothing she really concerned herself with.
Zoey had finished up her shower and wrapped herself in a towel, with another around her hair, before slipping on her slippers and deciding to head outside for a quick second just to see Mira and Rumi. She really couldn’t help it. She’d only been away from them for a few days but she missed both of them so much. Besides, putting on clothes took her two seconds and she still had almost 45 minutes before they had to be in the car for the fan signing. Stepping out of the room, she could hear their voices coming from the kitchen and made her way over, finding them leaning over the counter with a container open and eating something.
“Hey–”
“Zoey!” Mira and Rumi cried, racing over to hug her.
“I missed you guys too!”
“Welcome back!”
“Hopefully the tower wasn’t too quiet without me.” Zoey smiled.
“How was California?” Rumi asked.
“So much fun! I’ll have to show you guys the pictures later.” She said, “I met a seal!”
“You fight demons nearly every day and a seal impresses you?” Mira asked.
“Yes.” She nodded, “Do we have any good snacks left? I’m starving after that flight.”
“Did you just come out of the shower to say hi and get food?”
“You know me too well.” Zoey grinned, opening a cabinet.
“Why don’t you have these brownies you brought?” Mira asked, pushing the container towards her, “They’re really good?”
Zoey’s eyebrows narrowed, “Brownies? I didn’t bring any—”
Amelia.
The “special” brownies.
The ones she was supposed to throw away because having them was a crime in Korea.
When Zoey arrived, she knew that the tupperware had been full. She remembered because she specifically had a thought about if Amelia had gone out and bought more just to fill it up. Now there was a decent dent in it.
“You…you two ate these?” Zoey asked.
“Yes. Were we not supposed to?” Mira asked.
“....Yeah. Yeah you weren’t supposed to.” Zoey could feel the color draining from her face. Celine was going to kill her. No, scratch that, Celine was going to have her blacklisted from every singing job on the planet then kill her—and then kill her again. That sounded like something Celine knew how to do.
“Were they for someone else?” Rumi asked.
“Not exactly.”
“Zoey, you’re freaking us out. Did we eat poison or something?” Mira asked.
“No! No, it’s not poison!" Zoey quickly waved her hands and shook her head.
Clear relief washed over the two singers, “That’s good. Then what—”
“It’s pot. The brownies are filled with pot.”
The silence that filled the tower could be cut with a knife. Zoey couldn’t even hear the cars outside or the sound of any of their machines working. Even the usual soft hum from the vents had stopped to give their reveal even more of a freezing moment. Normally, Zoey would take silences to try and figure out people’s faces and see if she knew what they were feeling so she could prepare herself. She’d been living with Mira and Rumi for years now and had no idea what was coming next.
“WHAT!?” Rumi screamed, rushing to the sink to spit nothing out, “You put drugs in the food!?!”
“Rumi, babe, calm down—”
“I will not calm down! I’m gonna get high…Celine’s gonna kill me! How long does pot take to work?! I’ve never had it before!” Zoey fought back a smile. She couldn’t help it while watching Rumi try to clean her tongue of any crumbs.
“Rumi, Rumi.” Zoey grabbed her shoulders to keep the idol from spiraling faster, “You’re okay. Breathe. How many brownies did you have?”
“....Two. We both had two.”
“Okay. That’s okay.” Every brownie had about 5mg in it meaning that a high was most likely coming but, judging by her own experience, it wouldn’t be anything that wouldn’t go away after two or so hours, “I won’t lie to you. You’ll probably get high but it will be over so fast. Pot brownies are mostly for the chocolate. It’s more chocolate than anything else in them.” A lie but one that would hopefully calm Rumi down.
Rumi still looked on the verge of nausea and she was pushing herself closer to Zoey, “I’ve never been high. Never.”
“It’s okay. Have you ever woken up from a nap and been a little out of it?” Zoey asked.
“Mmhmm.”
“It’s just like that. It’ll just be that for an hour or two.” Zoey told her, “Nothing Ryu Rumi can’t handle.” That got a tiny smile from the purple haired girl but not much else. Rumi remaining quiet is what caused Zoey to realize that Mira hadn’t said a word yet, “Mira?”
“I’m okay.” She nodded.
“You don’t seem okay.”
“I’m fine. Like you said. We’ll just be a little out of it.”
“Mira.” Zoey whispered. Her tone clearly encouraging Mira to come forward.
“Will it…will we…?”
“It’ll be okay.” Zoey promised, “I’ll be right here with you guys. We can just get some water, watch a movie and it’ll pass in no time.”
“The fan signing!” Rumi suddenly cried, “We have the fan signing in less than an hour. We can’t cancel… Celine will be there! She’ll know something is wrong! And she’ll be disappointed and split us up and—“
Zoey winced, “That’s fine. It’s fine. People have done their jobs high for decades—“
“That’s not true.”
“And they’ve never had a problem.”
“Definitely not true.”
“We can do it too.” Zoey said, “We’re just signing our names and smiling. We don’t have to perform.” Now that would be a disaster.
“Yeah. Yeah. Zoey’s right.” Rumi nodded, “We just have to smile and sign our names. Nothing crazy.”
“That’s the spirit!” Zoey grinned, “I’m going to finish getting dressed and we can just relax, drink some water and have a little snack and everything will be fine.” Pulling her towel up, Zoey slipped off back to her room, leaving Mira and Rumi to stare at one another in the kitchen.
—--------------------------------------
After Zoey got dressed and dried her hair, she returned outside. There Mira and Rumi had gotten glasses of water and a single bag of chips each but they were clearly still on edge. Rumi, still wearing her normal hoodie, looked like she was about to explode. Zoey stole a look at the clock when she entered and felt her stomach drop. They had to leave for the fan signing now.
“Guys. It’ll be okay.”
“I feel weird.” Rumi whispered.
“It’s okay. Just breathe.” Zoey rested a hand on Rumi’s back, rubbing circles to calm her.
“Why do you Americans do this?” Rumi asked, “How is this fun?”
“I’ll tell you more about it when you haven’t consumed two pot brownies.”
The elevator door suddenly dinged open and Bobby stepped out, “Time to go, girls! Ready?”
“We’re ready!” Zoey chirped.
For their part, Rumi and Mira made an effort to look excited in front of Bobby, clearly not wanting him to know anything about what had happened. Looking up from his phone, Bobby smiled at seeing the girls happy.
“Then let’s get going!”
The drive there was tense. None of them spoke a word unless Bobby asked a question which was very unusual for the three. Zoey quickly lied to Bobby saying they were just tired and would lighten up once they saw the fans which seemed to hold him over until they arrived.
“Rumi! Mira!” Fans screamed, “Zoey! Sign my face!”
“See? No one suspects a thing.” Zoey whispered.
Mira remained silent but Rumi soldiered forward, moving towards the table with high speed. Celine was sitting off to the side. She was hidden from the fans but once the girls got behind the table they could clearly see her watching them. Normally, she was never here but she’d been in town for a meeting and decided to stop by. Mira and Zoey took their seats while Bobby finished the final check with security.
“Mira?”
“The last time I tried the…the you-know-what I got really…emotional. You cannot let me get emotional, Zoey.” Mira hissed.
“I’ll do my best.” Zoey nodded, “Anything I should watch out for with you, Rumi?”
“Don’t let me remove my jacket.” Rumi said. Her voice sounded more serious in that moment than Zoey had ever heard her before.
“Okay? I won’t let you remove your jacket.”
“Here we go!” Bobby called.
“Alright. Let’s do this.”
For the first thirty minutes everything was great. Fans filtered in wanting autographs and videos and the girls gave it to them without issue. They had to make three lines for each girl so that it would go faster and instructed people that once they got everything signed that they wanted then they had to leave the lines. There were a few stragglers every so often but security was quick to move them along.
Every fan that walked up to their table left with a giant smile on their faces. Even better was that Zoey, sitting between the two, didn’t notice any kind of effects from the brownies. Mira and Rumi spoke to the fans and smiled like they would at any other event.
Then, just as Zoey was handing back a signed card to a man, she saw it. Out of the corner of her eye, a young fan from Mira’s line emerged in a wheelchair with her mom pushing. The girl was missing one of her legs but had the biggest smile on her face Zoey had ever seen. Nothing about the interaction told Zoey this would go bad.
Until she heard the sobbing and saw the girl’s smile fade.
Mira was sobbing to her side, reaching across the table for the girl. Her mom started at Mira and at Zoey and Rumi with wide eyes. She pulled the girl closer to the table and wrapped her hands around her.
“You’re an inspiration!”
Zoey yanked Mira back without thinking, “So, so sorry.” The mom pulled her daughter back, still staring at the group, “She’s just a little tired. Mira did not mean to grab your child.”
“An inspiration!”
“I think we’ll get an autograph later.” The mom winced, “Let’s go, Eun-Ji.” The two were out of the hall without another look.
“Mira, you’re getting too emotional.” Zoey quickly hissed, “Just breath. You’re okay.”
“I’m messing everything up!” Thanks to the size of the room, her wail was magnified for everyone to hear. Everyone including Bobby and Celine who were suddenly very interested in what was going on.
“They know. They know.” Rumi hissed, wrapping her arms around herself, "Everyone knows. Everyone knows everything.” Rumi grabbed at her jacket, about to tear it off when Celine rushed over.
“I’m so sorry everyone!” She called to the remaining fans, “Huntrix will be taking a short break for a few minutes. Please feel free to remain in line and we’ll return soon.” Sending Celine’s plan, Zoey helped to grab Mira while Celine grabbed Rumi and the two sped off to the backstage. Due to the event being a simple signing, there weren’t many people backstage save for Bobby and a couple security guards. All of whom Celine shooed away within seconds.
“What is going on? Why is Mira crying and why is Rumi shaking?” Celine demanded.
“You have to promise not to get mad…or tell the police.”
“Zoey.” Celine’s eyes narrowed.
“Hey. You and Rumi have the same annoyed Zoey voice.” Celine’s glare was more than enough to get her back on track, “My sister bought me pot brownies and I accidentally brought them to Korea and Mira and Rumi ate them.”
Celine’s eyes went scarily wide, “They’re high!” She hissed, trying incredibly hard to keep her voice low.
“Just a bit.” Zoey squeaked.
Pinching her nose, Celine let out a long breath, “Okay. Okay. How long ago did they eat the brownies?”
“An hour? Probably a bit more by now.”
“It should work its way out of their system soon right?”
“I mean…I think so. They didn’t have too too much but they’re probably going to be feeling weird for the next hour or two.”
“Hour or—They can’t finish the signing like this.” Both of them were currently leaning against the wall, giggling at nothing in particular and mumbling to themselves, “I’ll handle the fans. You get them both back to the tower.”
“Okay.”
“And Zoey? We will be having a talk later about transporting illegal drugs on international flights.” Zoey winced under Celine’s glare before she turned and walked off.
“Alright.” Zoey said with a large breath, “Time to get you two back home.”
—--------------------------------------
In the car ride home, both of them were mostly silent with the occasional question or two. Mira asked if technology had a soul and if she was being mean to it by not using it and Rumi asked if Zoey and Mira would still like her if she was ugly. All in all, it wasn’t bad. When they got back to the tower was when things started to unravel. Zoey had planned to bring them both to their rooms and let them sleep off the pot, maybe bring some water and crackers for them to eat. Rumi had only been in her room for two seconds before screaming like she was in a war.
“Rumi?! What’s wrong?!” Zoey cried.
“Ugly! It’s all awful!” Rumi screamed, tearing up her turtlenecks, “You hate me! You’ll break up with me!”
“What?! No! No, Rumi, I don’t hate you. Why would you think that?” Zoey asked.
“I’m horrible! I’m a mistake!” Rumi’s nails were digging into her own jacket by this point, trying to drag the thing off of her, “You and Mira hate me because I never go to the bathhouse. You’ll go and find a new girl to sing and kick me out and—“
“Hey. Hey.” Zoey gently set a hand on Rumi’s shoulder, “Breathe, Rumi. We would never do that. And we don't hate you because you don’t go to the bathhouse. It’s your own choice. We respect that.”
“But I want to go to the bathhouse!”
“Then why don’t you?” Mira asked, flipping onto Rumi’s bed.
“If I do then you’ll hate me and Huntrix will be over.”
“Huntrix is over?” Mira asked. Her bottom lip was starting to tremble and she was staring between Rumi and Zoey, looking for one of them to tell her she misheard or something.
“Rumi, we will not hate you. We could never hate you.”
“Yes, you will!” Rumi sobbed, “I’m an ugly demon!”
“Demon? What? What are you talking about?” She’d heard a lot of weird stuff people would say when they were high but she never pictured Rumi saying she was a demon. Making up backstories for all her stuffed bears? Sure. Asking existential questions about the universe? Probably something Rumi would do even if she wasn’t high. But claiming to be a demon? That seemed a bit too wild a thing for her to just randomly say.
Rumi began to mess with her jacket, pulling it off. Zoey, remembering what Rumi had said early, jumped in and stopped her, “Woah. Woah. Remember what you said before? You don’t want to take off your jacket.”
“Okay.” Without warning, Rumi lifted her shirt.
“RUMI!” Zoey grabbed Rumi’s arms and yanked her shirt back down. As she did though, she noticed the dark purple lines against Rumi’s skin.
Demon patterns.
Rumi had patterns.
“You have patterns.” All the urgency and shock escaped from her voice. It was replaced with an almost disbelief and hollowness, “You’re a demon.” She whispered.
Rumi just curled up as she did before, “I told you! I told you you’d hate me!”
Zoey was too shocked to speak. She could hear Mira crying about Rumi being a liar and how this would ruin the tour. It all faded into the background. Everything did. Rumi had patterns. She lied to them. Was she ever human? Did Celine know?
“Okay.” With a breath, Zoey stood up, “One thing at a time. First, Rumi, I don’t hate you. I just…have questions.”
Tapping Zoey’s lip, Rumi went limp in her arms, “Promise?”
“I promise.” She nodded, “Hey. Do you plan to steal anyone’s soul?”
“No!” Rumi declared, “Not a full demon anyway.”
“Huh?”
Instead of answering, Rumi just giggled, “Funny word. Demon.” She snorted with laughter when her body collapsed onto the bed.
Well, Zoey's plan of asking any further question just went out the window. Forcing her mind to pause and think, Zoey developed a plan, “Okay. You’re both exhausted and clearly not yourself. Why don’t we all stay here for the night and get a little rest, okay? We can talk about all of this in the morning.” Zoey suggested, “I’ll put on a movie.”
“And Huntrix isn’t breaking up?” Mira asked, still sniffling.
“No. No, Huntrix is not breaking up.” At least she hoped not, “Because I can’t go back to waitressing in America.” It was a small joke, said under her breath, but it brought a sense of joy that they badly needed right now.
With the last bit of her strength, Zoey pulled Rumi and Mira close to her, giving them enough space to move if they wanted but also holding them close to her so they knew they could cuddle if they wanted. Judging by the two of them instantly nuzzling closer to Zoey, she took that as a yes.
Celine and Bobby returned to the tower together an hour later. After covering up the girls' disappearance and explaining to fans that they would all receive a refund and signed pictures in the mail, they were both eager to talk to the three about what had happened. They went straight to Rumi’s room when they arrived and that’s when they saw it. All three girls cuddled up and fast asleep in Rumi’s bed. Zoey was in the middle with Rumi and Mira on her sides, both of whom were holding hands.
“Maybe we give them some time to sleep.” Bobby whispered.
“Perhaps that’s a good idea.” The three of them did certainly deserve their rest, “We can talk to them about being high at an event tomorrow morning.”
“Yes, we—“ Bobby froze, “THEY WERE HIGH?!?”