AN: I put up the feedback chapter in Volume 0 so if you have any questions feel free to leave them there.
More curious soul(s) have been admitted to The Infinite Library, and it is my pleasure as Keeper to welcome them as loyal patron(s)
Copper Slip Holders:
One Winged Angel
Silver Slip Holders:
Lulu
LastK1ng
Mike Smith
AJ
Extra Chapter Bounty: Top 3 in the Rankings
While I had slowly acclimated to my new reality and now truly considered it my home and life, there was one glaring disparity that kept me awake at night as I pondered infinite parallel universes: ‘Why was the weed in this world…so unbelievably shit?’
Everything about it- the potency, the taste- was god-awful.
I tried to look into it online, only to stumble across an unexpected answer when I found next to zero resources regarding cultivating the devil’s lettuce.
I even tried typing in some buzzwords like fimming, topping, and curing, only to get the same result: absolutely nothing.
Even stranger, there wasn’t a single dispensary website I could find, and when I asked Fez where he had bought my seeds, he told me that one of his other customers had home-grown the shit and sold it to him.
That was the final piece of the puzzle that confirmed my growing theory.
It seemed that beyond the occasional homegrower posting about it on an obscure Reddit thread, there was no real cannabis industry, legal or illegal.
‘No wonder most of the kids around here are doing hardcore opioids and stims.
Even though it’s the modern day, it’s like their knowledge of weed is stuck in the early 80s.’
Part of me was saddened by the devastating revelation, but then cold, hard pragmatism took over as I realized something.
There was nothing stopping me from conquering it.
With my advanced knowledge of cultivation, I could offer a product unlike anything else.
Normally, the timeline would be years, possibly decades, of selective breeding to create specialized strains, but I was betting that my system would eventually give me the tools to drastically shorten that process.
That is, if I was really set on becoming the next major drug kingpin.
With a final drag, I finished my blunt, disappointed for the umpteenth time as I barely felt the hint of the high I was used to, ‘I’m mainly just smoking them out of habit at this point.’
After rolling up the window, I got out of the car and locked it before steadily walking towards the fairgrounds.
I hadn’t been lying earlier when I voiced my lack of interest in the festivities; there was really nothing appealing about large pieces of moving metal slapped together over the course of a day and a 300% upcharge on everything that could be sold.
But I also hadn’t been lying to my mother when I promised her that everyone would make it home safe.
Reaching for my earbuds, I put them in but kept them quiet, using them more as earplugs than headphones as I wandered through the fair, where the ambient noise would have made me spiral if I hadn’t taken any precautions.
I kept my gaze moving across the crowd keeping my eyes peeled for Rue and Gia though I doubted that I would stumble across either of them by pure chance.
However, in my passive surveillance, my eyes did lock onto a familiar face, leaning against a stack of hay bales in the middle of a ring of food trucks and stands.
Making my way over, I eventually made eye contact with Fez and jerked up my chin in greeting, “Yo, Adrian, what you doing here?
No offense or anything, but this don’t feel like your scene.’
“It ain’t, but Rue and Gia wanted to go, so I got put on shepherding duty.” I answered as Fez, and I dapped each other up, “Word…you need anything to help pass the time?”
I shook my head as I took my hand back, “Nah, but just a heads up, in a couple of months I might come to you with a business proposition.”
Fez’s gaze sharpened and he looked at me with a cautionary glint in his eyes, “What type of business are we talking about.”
“The only kind worth talking about,” I answered with a small grin, “The kind that makes us a fuck ton of money.”
“You know I’ve got half a mind to scrub everything you just said from my memory,” Fez muttered, “I’m not gonna say you’re not smart for your age, or hell that you’re not smarter than most people.
But you’re still a kid, Adrian.
Maybe if you was family, but I respected your decision when you said it was just business.
And I can’t get into business with a kid.”
I was quiet for a moment before I gave Fez a respectful nod, “Alright, you got it.
I won’t get ahead of myself.”
“Good, now go and try and enjoy yourself a little,” Fez said with a smile as he reached out and tapped me on the shoulder, “And tell Rue I said what’s up.” Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping(.)com.
“I’ll pass it along,” I said with a final nod before I turned and walked away.
For the next twenty minutes, I spent walking aimlessly, keeping myself on a tight leash and making sure I didn’t get any fun ideas when I was supposed to be playing the role of responsible big brother.
I was doing a good job and managing surprisingly well until I felt a small but subtle shift in the energy around me.
A small but potent undercurrent that cut through the mindless, innocent joy of the fair, something darker, bolder, and infinitely more attention-grabbing.
I paused midstride and looked over to find a smoldering stare from a very unexpected source, ‘Now, when did this happen?’
I stared at Kat, who might as well have been a completely different person given the way she had changed up her looks.
In addition to her looks, Kat was now staring at me with an intense gaze, whereas just last week she had been unable to look me in the eyes after my blatant advances.
Meeting her gaze, I let my interest show before looking over to a small gap between two amusement rides that led to a dark, secluded space where one could only see in by pausing at just the right angle.
I looked back at Kat one last time before disappearing into the small, secluded space.
I only had to wait a couple of seconds before I heard the sound of footsteps and looked over as Kat joined me.
Her hair was slicked back and styled in a more experimental way than I expected from her, coupled with a thick, studded leather collar around her throat, a low-cut spaghetti-string tank top, and a denim skirt with fishnet stockings that bit into the meat of her thighs enticingly.
I didn’t bother hiding my gaze and was more than impressed when Kat didn’t shrink away from it, “I like the new look, Hernandez…it suits you.”
“I’m glad you think so,” Kat muttered as she strode over to me, “Are you here by yourself?”
“Not really,, I’m playing chaperone tonight,” I answered as I leaned against one of the trail hitches blocking the whole fair from peeping in on us, “Drove my sisters here, but they’re scattered to the wind so I got most of tonight to myself.
How about you?”
Kat’s eyes darkened with a glint of anger and irritation, “I was here with someone, but they fucked up so I bailed.”
“Looks like their fucking loss then,” I muttered as Kat stood in front of me, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off her body, “But first I got to ask…what brought on the change?
You got a whole different vibe going on right now?”
“Yeah, is that a problem?” Kat asked as she reached out and put a hand on my chest, making me grin, “Not in the fucking slightest.
I think I made it clear how I felt before; now it looks like you finally realized that I wasn’t fucking lying.”