At first, she thought the brownies tasted a little strange, but in her hunger, she ignored the slight twinge on her tongue. She didn't realize anything was wrong until her roommate walked into the kitchen.
He was wearing a t-shirt with a dinosaur design; coupled with his disheveled hair and skewed glasses, she thought this was hilarious.
"You look kinda funny today," she giggled. "Like some shut-in."
For a moment, he looked vaguely insulted. Then he saw the empty plate of brownies. He froze. "Hey, when'd you eat all of those?"
She shrugged. Her laughter kept bubbling between her words. "Dunno. Maybe about thirty minutes ago? An hour? Did you want some?"
"Well, I did. That's why I made them. Did you know they had... 'substances' in them?"
Blinking in confusion, she remembered the vague, strange bitterness. Her eyes slowly widened. "No, I didn't. But now that you mention it..."
He sighed and grabbed a glass of water, quickly filling it and pressing it into her hand. "Drink."
She did. "What's in them?"
Unsurprisingly, he didn't give a straight answer. "You're gonna go lay down now. You're about to be high as a kite in a few minutes, and I seriously don't feel like babysitting you during your first trip." He took the empty glass to put into the sink. "Could you go to your room and just go to bed until the high blows over? Please?"
"Only because you asked nicely." She stood to move to her room but her legs suddenly felt sluggish. Her mind wandered uncontrollably, as if focusing on walking was impossible. The lights suddenly felt too bright. She grabbed onto the kitchen counter for balance. "On second thought, maybe not, nevermind."
He was by her side in an instant. "What's wrong? Can you stand?"
She shook her head, the motion proving to be a mistake as her dizziness intensified. Before she could fall, she was in his arms. A slew of profanities and a few bumps against the doorframe later, she was tucked into his bed.
"Why am I in your bed? I wanna go to mine!" she grumbled.
"I changed my mind. I'm keeping you here to keep an eye on you," he responded firmly. He plopped onto a chair at his desk, booted up a game on his computer, and threw on his headphones. "You can't even stand. The last thing I need is to wake up and find you passed out on the floor with a concussion or something. You're staying here, and I'll help you with whatever. Now, go to sleep."
His reasoning made sense, she figured. Her head was spinning and his blankets were comfortable; maybe a quick nap wouldn't be too bad. She laid there with her eyes closed for some time, listening to her roommate's clicking and whispered curses, and waiting for the clouds in her mind to bring her vision to black.
But it never came. Instead, she suddenly felt her body heating up; the blanket, soft against her legs, suddenly felt a little more than comfortable. She struggled to sit up.
He watched her prop herself upright from the corner of his eye and paused his game. "What's up?"
"I'm burning up." She hooked her fingers underneath her waistband and slipped her shorts off, discarding it somewhere off the side of the bed. Her shirt followed suit.