ᴛʜᴇ ʙɪʟʟɪᴏɴᴀɪʀᴇꜱ ꜱᴜʀʀᴏɢᴀᴛᴇ

The Heat

LEAH

Sandy hands me my missing work, and I pull her up to my bedroom like we're school girls.

"What's happening?" Sandy asks.

"I need to tell you something." I say excitedly.

"Um, okay... what is it?" She asks.

For a minute, I hesitate. "I slept with Aaron. "

Her eyes widened. "Leah, you did what?!"

"Why are you freaking out? You've been begging me to lose my virginity for years." I say, folding my arms.

"Yeah, but Leah, you're his surrogate. He's basically paying you to fuck him. You're like a over paid prostitute."

Woah.

"Excuse me?"

"Look, Leah, everything was good until this wasn't out money anymore." She said, shaking her head.

"Are you really standing here slut shaming me?"

"No but I'm just saying  that sleeping with him is a bad call. This dude basically owns you." She said, rolling her eyes.

Seriously?  I don't understand why she's upset.

"So you can sleep with your boss, professors, bartenders, cops, strippers, and random one night stands, but I sleep with Aaron, and you're pissed?"

"That's not the same thing, Leah. At least I'm not getting paid for someone to use my body." Sandy says, shaking her head in anger.

"Wow, you are literally in no place to judge me." I snap back.

"Leah, he doesn't love you. He's just using you."

I don't know why, but I laugh. I think it's a coping mechanism, so I don't get angry and flip out. I don't know if I'm in love with Aaron. All I know is I want to be around him all the time. I like holding his hand and simply talking to him.

"You know, I think this is so stupid. I've stood by you through everything, but when I needed you the most, you weren't there for me."

"That's not true. I was always there." She argues.

"Were you? Where were you after my surgery? I was in pain all the time. I needed a friend and you weren't there."

"Yeah, because I couldn't bear to see you like that." She says with her voice rising.

"That's selfish!" I yell. "That's so fucking selfish. I needed you, Sandy! I called you! I texted you! And you couldn't be bothered. Do you know how terrible that feels?"

"Well, clearly, you don't need me since you have Aaron now, right?"

'Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Don't act like it's not true."

"I'm done. Thank you for letting me know where you really stand."

We stand there staring at each other for a long time.

"Bye, Leah." She says to me and walks out.

I stand there in my room, then glance at Leo. I was about to pet him when Aaron walked in.

"Need a hug?" He asks.

I don't know why, but I do. I wrap my arms around him and bury my face into in my chest sobbing.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Aaron asks, but I shake my head.

"Leah -"

"No. I just want to enjoy what's left of the evening with you." I sniff.