Chapter 33

To Olivia’s credit, she barely even reacted to her phone’s message chirp as she rode Dennis. A quick glance to the side of the bed was the only indication she’d heard it at all before she turned her focus back to him with an amused smile, one hand between her legs, a finger on the other hand held between her teeth in a probably-unconscious gesture that would have been incredibly seductive if Dennis required any further seducing.

He’d been drawn to the tall, slender fashion model as soon as they’d met. While Dennis had rarely lacked for female attention, he wasn’t used to the frank appraisal and approval he’d seen in Olivia’s eyes as soon as she spotted him. With a few very notable exceptions, Dennis’s experiences had been with girls his own age or a little older. Sober sexual confidence wasn’t something he’d seen much of in the fairer sex. He could definitely get used to it.

She’d taken the first opportunity presented to find a semi-secluded part of the plane to climb into Dennis’s lap and get to know him more intimately. He had no doubt that at least one or two of the other models had seen them in that otherwise-empty cluster of seats, sitting face to face and pressed together. But they either knew Olivia well enough to be unsurprised or were simply more blase about sex than he was used to. Dennis knew his discretion was a big part of his charm, but he certainly didn’t mind people knowing he was having sex with a beautiful woman - even if they knew while he was still in flagrante delicto.

Once they’d gotten to the hotel and eaten some dinner, Olivia had sidled up to Dennis. “Should we go see where we’re sleeping tonight?”

Dennis would have liked to eat more, but food never thought you were rude for walking away from it abruptly and would generally be around later if you were still hungry. He’d acquiesced and gone to Olivia’s room with her.

Or he’d assumed it was Olivia’s room until he heard the door from the hallway into the entryway open and close. Dennis’s adolescence had trained his ear to such sounds as they might indicate a soon-to-be-very-unhappy boyfriend or husband coming home. He was pretty sure that, if Olivia had a boyfriend, it wasn’t anyone on this trip. If Olivia noticed the door, she paid it even less mind than she had her phone.

Even when Ruby stepped into the bedroom’s open doorway, crossed her arms, and leaned against the doorframe, Olivia didn’t seem to notice. Ruby had to clear her throat before Olivia twisted to look at her, slowing the pace at which she was riding Dennis’s cock. She made a gesture with her head that could have been an invitation to join them. Ruby scowled and gave a quick shake of her head. “Lex has found someone to do an ayahuasca ceremony for us.”

Olivia turned to face Dennis again, her back to Ruby. “In Tibet? Ayahuasca is Brazilian.”

“We’re in Nepal, not Tibet.” Ruby sounded annoyed.

“Whatever. It’s definitely not Brazil.” Olivia stroked Dennis’s chest.

“Lex says it’s a solid lead. What do I know?” Ruby sighed.

“All right. Do we need to run out right away?” Olivia found her previous rhythm. A small sound of pleasure escaped her throat.

“Or do we have time to finish what we’re doing?”

“If you like.” Ruby strode through the corner of the room into the ensuite bathroom and pulled the door shut with just enough force that it could have been considered slamming. Dennis raised an eyebrow at his partner.

“Whenever Ruby gets into one of her lesbian phases, she thinks everyone should swear off of men.” Olivia leaned down and kissed him. “Do you want to get on top for a while?”

Dennis answered by shifting his hips while gripping Olivia’s. He was sure it was possible for two sufficiently athletic lovers to shift from cowgirl to missionary position without losing penetration, but had never accomplished it before. When he tried it this time, Olivia shifted in the wrong direction against him, bending his cock and causing it to slide free of her while momentarily losing blood flow. Before he could comment, Olivia gripped his cock in one hand, pumped it to full hardness, and slid it inside of herself again.

After that, Dennis was able to focus on having sex with Olivia. With the sound of the shower in his ears, he couldn’t put Ruby out of his mind entirely. But she was something that could be dealt with after the more pressing concern of his and Olivia’s pending orgasms.

It wasn’t the best sex Dennis had ever had, but it wasn’t bad. As far as Dennis could tell, he’d never had bad sex. Short of extreme physical pain, any act that ended in one or more orgasms for all involved was fundamentally a good thing. Olivia lay sated for a little while, but when the shower cut off in the background, she sat up and pulled the sheet over Dennis to the waist. “I should probably get ready if I’m going out again tonight. Do you want to join us?”

“For some kind of tea ceremony?” Dennis shrugged.

“Ayahuasca tea is a powerful hallucinogenic that Brazilian shamans use in order to reach states of higher consciousness. I’ve tried it a few times now, but I’ve been wanted to try it outside of Western civilization for a while.” Olivia rose and retrieved one of her suitcases from the hallway outside the room. “This is totally the wrong part of the world to get it, so there’s a chance we’ll get some orange pekoe spiked with clove and LSD or something, but Lex is kind of a genius when it comes to finding drugs.”

“Okay. Cool.” Dennis sat up on his elbows. “I tripped a few times on LSD, but it was hard to find in the Mills. Pretty much everybody dealt weed or meth.”

Olivia looked him over like she was evaluating him again, then nodded. “All right. Cool.”

Ruby emerged, dressed in a white terrycloth robe. She turned to Olivia, her back to Dennis. “Lex says to wear good footwear. We’re going outside of the city proper for this.”

Olivia smirked. “You hear that, Dennis? No high heels for you tonight.”

“You’re coming?” Ruby turned to face him. “Do you even know what ayahuasca tea is?”

“It’s a hallucinogenic from Brazil. Right?” Dennis offered. Behind Ruby, Olivia laughed into her fist before disappearing into the bathroom.

“It’s also part of a deeply sacred religious ceremony - not some party drug.” Ruby disappeared into the hallway and returned with a wheeled suitcase.

Dennis was accustomed to being the target of opprobrium without always knowing why and had learned to take it in stride. “So, no stupid jokes. Got it. How are your feet feeling, Ruby?”

Ruby opened her mouth like she had some angry retort to make, then closed it again looking a little remorseful. Dennis was willing to bet she’d already forgotten who carried her on his shoulders to the bus earlier in the day. In a more subdued voice, she said, “Much better. Thank you. I think the heels on my shoes were a little uneven.”

“I was happy to help.” Dennis said agreeably. Ruby might not like him very much right now, but it didn’t seem personal and he hadn’t missed the implication of Olivia’s description of Ruby as going through a “lesbian phase.” He didn’t know much about her personally, but a sexy bisexual redhead was always someone worth trying to make friends with. For all Dennis’s experience, he’d never been with two women at once. Why should Nick and even Simon have all the fun?

“It won’t happen again. I’m retiring those shoes.” Ruby had collected some clothes from her suitcase and turned her back on Dennis again, this time to put on a bra with some modicum of privacy. As she slid a matching pair of panties up her legs under the robe, Dennis said. “Well, if it does, it’s no big deal. You’re light.”

Instead of answering, Ruby dressed quickly in a plain black t-shirt and blue jeans, then sat on the bed with a pair of boots. As she laced up the first boot, she said. “Give me your room key.”

Her tone of voice didn’t suggest she’d been suddenly overwhelmed by Dennis’s charms. In a reasonable tone of voice, he asked, “Why would I do that?”

“If you’re going to be staying in here, I don’t need to spend the night listening to you two.” Ruby made a gripping gesture with one hand. “I’ll take your bed.”

Dennis brought out his wallet. “I’m supposed to be sharing the suite with Skip. I can’t promise he’s planning a monastic existence just because we’re in Nepal.”

Ruby rolled her eyes and made the gesture again. Dennis drew out the card, but didn’t offer it. “Swap?”

Ruby retrieved the pants she’d flown over in from New York and extracted the card before giving it to Dennis. “Does Skip snore?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t slept in the room yet and I don’t remember him sleeping on the plane.” Dennis made the key exchange. “Does Olivia?”

“Sometimes. Air travel tends to dry out her sinuses.” Ruby slipped the key into the pocket of the jeans she was wearing.

All the pieces finally snapped into place for Dennis. He knew he wasn’t always the sharpest knife in the drawer, but still felt a bit dense for not picking up on the cues more quickly. He recognized the kind of jealousy Ruby was exhibiting, but hadn’t earlier because he’d never seen it between two women as far as he knew. He wasn’t just taking Ruby’s room. He was taking her place in Olivia’s bed. Most likely, there was some imbalance in how badly Ruby and Olivia wanted to sleep with each other.

He considered what he should do with this realization. The rookie move would be to invite her to spend the night in this suite in an ambiguous enough way to maintain plausible deniability. But Ruby had already declined what looked like a similar invitation from Olivia. He could try the slightly more advanced move of offering to let Ruby have the room back and go sleep in his own bed, but that could backfire terribly and rob him of what might be the only other chance he’d get to have sex with Olivia. Instead, he chose the master’s path and sat on him newfound knowledge, saving it for when it might come in handier.

As he dressed to go back out, Dennis ruminated on the possibility of getting Olivia and Ruby into bed together with him. At the worst of times, he was never more than two yesses away from a menage a trois and now he was already halfway there.

He allowed himself to fall back a little and observe Olivia and Ruby together as they passed through Kathmandu’s night-time streets on foot. Ruby was a few inches shorter, but the two walked in near-lockstep, holding a conversation in counterpoint to the general talk around them. Olivia mostly kept her hands at her sides when she spoke, but Ruby gesticulated and frequently took the opportunity to lightly touch her friend. Olivia showed no objection.

Dennis hadn’t realized how confined he’d felt at the Loft until he had a chance to get well and truly out of it. He was a firm believer in the version of the bro code that said you didn’t hook up with your friends’ girlfriends, but some of the firmness of that belief had been predicated on the fact that his friends hardly ever had girlfriends. Solidarity had been much easier when it was largely theoretical.

With Nick and Max and even Simon having sudden success with women, Dennis had felt frozen out by his own propriety. He doubted anyone recognized the sacrifice he’d made to come to New York and live with them, but his summer had been pretty well mapped out back in Brownfield Mills, including the culmination of some flirtations that had been going on for years, just waiting for graduation. If Emily hadn’t shown an interest when she did, he’d been all ready to start building a whole new social network around himself, independent of Nick’s.

Thinking of Emily made him smile. Dennis doubted she really meant what she’d said about him coming to Kathmandu and living like a rock star, but he wasn’t about to deny himself opportunities by second guessing her. If she got mad because he’d done as he was told, they would have to take it from there. At the very least, he hoped she would stick around long enough to get back on both feet again.

“Where are we going again, Lex?” Jade asked.

“Our host is meeting us at a bed and breakfast in the...” Lex held up a piece of paper and read off “ ... Chapali Bhadrakali. It’s not too far from here.”

“And this guy’s cool?” Jade prompted.

“He’s a big fan of Tiffany’s. His family did a lot to help make this concert happen.” Lex answered. “He seems cool.” Lex either misunderstood the directions he’d been given or had a different definition of ‘not too far’ than Dennis. They walked more than an hour before Soup pointed at a wooden sign on what might have been a large personal residence - a three-story structure with pagoda-style roofs and a wide wrap-around porch. Lights burned from inside.

As they approached, Dennis realized there was a young man sitting in a swing on the porch, reading something on a backlit tablet. He might have been night-blind because he didn’t look up until they were close enough to hear and even then he blinked and seemed confused.

“Nugah?” Lex called out.

The young man’s face broke into a grin. “Lexluthor, you made it. Is Tiffany here?”

“I’m afraid not.” Lex strode forward and shook Nugah’s hand. “The concert took a lot out of her and she needed to get some sleep. But she’s very eager to experience the tea and she asked us to check it out for her.”

Nugah’s face fell, but Lex kept talking. “Did you meet Tom and Skip from the band yet?”

Both of the band members came up onto the porch, crowding around Nugah, shaking hands and patting him on the back. They were all at least a head taller than the Nepalese man and almost obscured him from sight. If he’d been planning to object their arrival without the star, his objections died quickly.

“Wait here.” He gestured to the group. “I will get the keys to the van. The temple is not far from here.”

He disappeared into the inn and could be heard calling back and forth with what sounded like an older woman. Ruby walked up to Lex. “What’s this about a temple?”

“I told you. The ceremony will be outside of town. Nugah’s family has a Shinto temple on their estate.”

Ruby argued that he hadn’t mentioned a temple and they went back and forth a bit until Nugah emerged with a set of keys in hand and led them around the side of the inn where a beat-up white panel truck was parked.

“There are no seats in the back, I’m afraid. There are blankets and some cushions, though. And it’s not very far.”

“I hope his sense of ‘not very far’ is better than yours.” Ruby grumbled to Lex.

As he climbed in the van, Dennis thought the whole group seemed oddly trusting, considering they were a group of beautiful women climbing into an unmarked van in a foreign country on the say-so of a less-than-reputable-looking roadie. There was certainly a nervous energy among the group, but an eagerness as well.

He settled into one corner of the van with a nest of blankets and cushions. Olivia folded herself in with her back to his chest. Ruby shot him a warning look he didn’t know how to interpret and cuddled up on the other side of Olvia.

“What’s this tea called again?” Dennis pulled out his phone with his free hand.

“Ayahuasca.” Olivia pronounced, then spelled it out as Dennis typed the name into a search bar on his phone.

“Have you ever taken it?”

“Lex, Jade, and I drank some in Baixada Fluminense when I was sixteen. I tried it again a couple of years ago in Milton Keynes of all places.” Olivia offered. “The first time inspired me to change my name and found the New Model Army. The last time, my main takeaway was that England is a clockwork place where I would never find enlightenment and that I would need to travel if I wanted to learn more.”

Dennis had only glanced at the Wikipedia article that came up on his phone. “It’s a hallucinogenic. Right?”

“Maybe.” Olivia smiled. “Maybe it’s a key to higher consciousness and the way we perceive the world around us is a hallucination.”

Dennis laughed before he could stop himself. Olivia raised an eyebrow.

“It also makes you puke your guts up,” offered Jade.

“So, it’s like peyote?” Dennis asked. He’d been tempted to try peyote, but never had a source.

“Kind of,” said Jade. “Ginsberg and Burroughs called it yage. Everybody’s experience with it is unique, but it can be really profound.”

Dennis read on his phone as best he could in the dark with one hand on a bumpy road in a van with bad shocks. While he was all for new experiences, he still liked to do a little bit of research when he could in order to make an informed decision. All substances could do harm if ingested improperly.

From his reading on Wikipedia and LA Weekly, ayahuasca was supposed to be safer than aspirin in terms of physical reactions. The way people described the experience, it sounded like the primary danger of the tea was in having your perceptions permanently changed. The term “life-altering” came up a lot.

That didn’t bother Dennis much. He’d been hoping to have his life altered for so long that, even though it had recently become much better, he was still ready to jump with both feet into any experience that would shake things up.

He didn’t get to read a lot before the van was pulling up in front of a low red, white and black pagoda with multiple roofs. In an oddly ecumenical touch, a big golden Buddha statue sat in a place of honor on the front porch. There were already a dozen vehicles and as many bicycles parked to one side of the building. The vehicles ran the gamut from a well-preserved farm truck that might have been manufactured in the thirties to a shiny silver BMW.

“Is this really a shinto temple?” Dennis gestured with his head at the Buddha.

“My father was Japanese and very devout,” said Nugah. “But he also knew how to hedge his bets. Shinto temple, Buddha on the porch. There’s a shrine to Ganesh behind the house.”

“So, we’re a bunch of Americans taking a Brazilian drug in a Japanese temple built in Nepal?” Ruby asked.

“I’m English.” Olivia reminded her.

“We grow the plants we need in a hothouse.” Nugah opened the driver’s side door. “Wait here, please. I will tell my cousin you are here. He is the priest.”

“That’s globalism for you.” said Tom.

“I’m going to sack out in the van until you need me.” Soup gestured back over his shoulder.

“You’re not partaking?” Dennis asked.

“My consciousness is just the right size - doesn’t need any expanding.” Soup climbed back into the van. “I get to be designated driver on the way back.”

Nugah came back after only a couple of minutes. “Please come in quickly. The ceremony has already begun. My cousin is waiting for us.”

As they entered the temple, Dennis heard drums and someone singing in a low voice. The air was redolent with sandalwood incense. As everyone took off their shoes outside the worship room, Nugah showed them where the bathrooms were and said. “A place has been set aside for you in the room. My cousin hopes you will tell Miss Tiffany good things about your experience.” Inside, two dozen people sat on tatami mats, some in lotus position, others with their legs sprawled out in front of them. The group skewed young, but a few were middle aged and two had white hair and looked to be in their seventies at least. Dennis and his group were the only westerners there. At the front of the room, an older man in red robes chanted melodically, accompanied by two younger men playing large drums that looked like big, elongated bongos. Each mat had a colorful plastic bucket set out next to it.

Dennis took a seat on a mat between Olivia and Lex. Shortly after they were all seated, attendants moved among the mats handing out wooden cups half full of a murky brown liquid. The attendant who handed Dennis his was pretty and youthful. She could have been fifteen or thirty in her simple brown robe. She smiled at Dennis and said something completely unintelligible to him. It could have been a benediction or some last-minute instructions. He nodded and thanked her.

When other people drank, Dennis did as well. The tea didn’t taste as vile as it smelled, but it still hit his palate like a combination of dark chocolate and battery acid. When everybody else had drunk, the priest, the attendants, and the two drummers drank in round-robin fashion so that the drumming and the chanting continued unabated.

Dennis felt a wave of dizziness almost immediately and closed his eyes. The dizziness faded almost immediately, but he felt more comfortable with his eyes closed, listening to the interplay of drums and voices and, for a while, people trying to be quietly sick into their buckets. His own stomach roiled for a while, then settled down. When another drum entered into his hearing, he realized it was his own heart beating in his ears. The drums were slower than his heartbeat and out of syncopation with each other. They chopped up time like a mad pastry chef cutting a sheet of marzipan into an intricate mosaic whose logic was hidden from the casual viewer. As the chef cut, the different rectangles changed color based on their dimensions. Dennis watched, knowing there was something written in the pattern, the language tauntingly familiar. He just needed to get closer and go deeper.

“ ... remind her we have a schedule to keep to if we don’t want to ... money.”

Tiffany grumbled and curled up against the wall of muscle in front of her, desperately wanting a few more hours of sleep. She had a moment of confusion as she identified James’s voice and tried to figure out who he was talking to if Tom was right here. Then the night came back to her. She pressed her face against Lev’s back and laughed.

From the doorway, Arwen cleared her throat. Tiffany rolled on her back and laughed again. “Good morning, Red.”

Arwen, wearing only Lev’s t-shirt from the night before, gave an uncertain smile. “Uh ... good morning. How are you feeling?”

“Hungover and sore and very well fucked.” Tiffany sat up, still completely naked. “How are you feeling?”

“About the same and different.” Arwen sat on the edge of the bed. “You know, I didn’t really think we were going to do what we did last night even when we were doing it.”

Tiffany frowned. Last night, she’d assumed Arwen was not just completely on board with what was happening, but the prime instigator. Now, she worried that she’d misread the situation completely, letting the combination of alcohol and post-show euphoria cover up warning signs. Her experience with women was fairly limited, with men only slightly less so. This bed currently contained a quarter of all the people she’d ever slept with.

“It’s cool,” she said evenly. “People do crazy things on tour sometimes. Maybe what happens in Nepal can just stay in Nepal.”

“Maybe.” Arwen seemed to chew the idea over. “Do you want it to stay in Nepal? I know you’ve probably got a reputation to uphold or something. If you want us to play it cool...”

Tiffany definitely didn’t want to play it cool. She’d been attracted to Lev and Arwen right off the bat, but thought it improbable that anything would happen with them. Couples were self-contained and lightning wasn’t likely to strike her twice. Even if it had just been a one-time thing, she’d been glad to get them all into bed together. “We could do that if...”

“It happened.” Lev hadn’t moved or given any indication he was awake until he spoke. Now, he rolled on his back. “Arwen and I have been talking about what we want out of life for weeks now and this is consistent with that. We weren’t so drunk that either one of us couldn’t have said no and I don’t think you were either. Were you, Tiffany?”

“No. I was only half-drunk at most,” said Tiffany.

“And do either of you regret what happened?” Lev prompted.

“No,” said Tiffany immediately. Arwen echoed her a second later.

“Fine. If either of you starts regretting it, do you promise to communicate to the other two of us so that we don’t have to wonder where we stand?” Lev went on.

“All ... right,” said Tiffany.

“Do you regret it?” Arwen asked.

Lev shook his head. “Not at all. I had an amazing night with two beautiful women who wanted to be there and just told me they don’t regret it. I’m also deeply in love with one of them. As long as that doesn’t change, it was wonderful for me.”

“It still feels surreal to me.” said Arwen.

Lev gestured for her to come closer. “All I’m saying is, let’s not borrow drama. I love you with all my heart, Ari. But you do have a tendency to fret over things.”

Arwen knelt on the edge of the bed and leaned over Tiffany to kiss her fiance. Tiffany said, “Is your boyfriend always this bossy?”

Arwen broke the kiss. “No - almost never, really. What’s gotten into you, Lev?”

Lev laughed. “Well, you agreed to marry me and then we slept with a beautiful rock star. I hope you didn’t expect me to remain ... static through all this.”

“Not static.” Arwen frowned. “Just ... solid.”

“Does being bossy make me less solid?” Lev asked.

“I kind of like it.” Arwen turned to Tiffany. “What do you think?”

“If it’s all things like, ‘save the drama for your mama,’ I’m good with it.” Tiffany laid her hand on Arwen’s lower back.

Arwen looked at her. “Oh. James wanted me to remind you that our flight to Bharatpur is at nine and that it would be very expensive to miss it.”

Tiffany looked at the wall clock, which read five minutes after seven. “Enough time to eat and get dressed if we don’t pick up where we left off last night, I guess. We won’t miss it.”

“It’s not us he’s worried about. Some of the entourage either aren’t in their rooms or aren’t answering their doors.” Arwen met her eyes. “He’s pretty sure they went out last night and haven’t gotten back yet.”

Tiffany cupped her hand around the back of Arwen’s head and drew her in for a kiss slowly enough that she could pull away if she wanted to. To her relief, the younger woman closed her eyes and met her with real feeling and enthusiasm. When the kiss broke, she said, “I hope they make it back in time. If they don’t, we’ll have to go without them and they’ll miss Chitwan National Park. But this is part of why I brought so many of them with us. I’m pretty sure Cyrene went to bed early last night, so we’ll still get the footage there. Worst comes to worst, they’ll rendezvous with us as Machjenkhal.”

Arwen lowered her eyes. “Oh. That’s important too. I was just worried something bad might have happened to them.”

“If they got their hands on some genuine ayahuasca tea, they could be under its effects for five or six hours. I’m not entirely surprised they’re not back yet.” Tiffany gave a reassuring smile. “If they got into any real trouble, it’ll be on James and the label to straighten it out. Don’t worry.”

“All right.” Arwen nodded, took a deep breath, and kissed Tiffany briefly. “Did you say something about breakfast?”

“It should be all set up in the dining room.” Tiffany took Arwen by the upper arm in case she tried to bolt off. “Before we head out there, how would you two feel about keeping what happened between us ... between us at least until we get back to the States? If you’re not planning to, let me know and I’ll adapt...”

“Jimmy already knows you spent the night here,” said Arwen. “Should I not have told him?”

Tiffany shook her head. “James is like my father confessor. He won’t tell anyone anything unless he thinks I’m putting myself at risk or something.”

“I imagine changes in your reputation probably have a lot more impact than changes to mine or Arwen’s,” offered Lev.

Tiffany could kiss him for being so understanding, so she did. He kept the kiss brief and glanced at Arwen.

Arwen laughed. “Stop looking at me like that. After last night, do you seriously think I’m going to freak out over a kiss?”

“Probably not, but we’re in unknown country now,” Lev reminded her. “We should probably talk about our expectations going forward.”

Tiffany desperately wanted to say something that would indicate she just hoped there were expectations going forward. She’d had her heart broken once by someone dear to her assuming what they had was “just a rock and roll thing” and she was braced for Lev and Arwen to treat what had happened as a one-night stand. But she wasn’t really built for the zipless fuck. She tended to lead with her heart.

“I guess we all should,” said Arwen after some thought. “Assuming you want to see us again after this, Tiff.”

“I do,” said Tiffany, failing to keep all of the emotion out of her voice. “I’d like that very much.”

“Great,” said Arwen. “Are you going to be in New York next week? Lev and I and the gang are going to Milan the week after.”

“No special plans,” said Tiffany. “I could stay in the city.”

And that was it. Tiffany dressed enough to get back to her room to dress enough to go to breakfast. Cyrene, Izzy, and James were waiting for them in the dining room. When no one commented on her sleeping arrangements, Tiffany led with, “I was surprised when you didn’t go with the vision questers last night. I thought you were eager to try the tea.”

“She is, but there’s a salon in New York City that performs the ceremony now,” said Izzy. “We didn’t think last night was a good fit.”