Break-Up Club ⓄⓃⒸ ②⓪②① ✅

11

Only sounds of shuffling cash and rushed scribbles filled the room. One by one, people that signed up for our services paid and received exactly what they were looking for. 

"Alright, how much did you get for the last one?" Indy asked before I dug in my pocket, pulling out a wad of cash. She winced as she spotted the crumpled bills, then looked up at me. 

"Why does it look like that?" she asked, turning over a foregone single in her palm. 

"The girl said that she didn't have time to grab new bills, so she scrapped up money from around her house. I counted it, and I made sure it's fifty. She actually gave us ten extra," I said. With that, Raja swept up the pile of cash and began to work on straightening it, giving a beam to both of us. 

I stretched, glancing out the window of Indy's bedroom. It was close to nighttime, which meant that my non-existent curfew was soon approaching. 

Raja glanced out as well before gathering up the cash and tucking it into the pouch we designated for storing our funds. It had been a few days since we had begun working under the guise of the 'Make-Up Club,' and somehow, this garnered even more publicity. More couples were eager for us to break up with their partners for them. 

It surprised all of us that a school comprised of academic-based people had so many hormones. 

"Wow, it's pretty late... it's almost my curfew. I should get going, or my dad's going to be suspicious," Raja said, reflecting exactly my own thoughts. She sprung off of the bed, gathered her things at lightning speed, and darted out of the room at the same time that Indy's mom came up the stairs and was about to knock on her door. 

"Oh! I see that you guys are alone. I'll just leave these here," the older woman said with a wink as she set the carrot sticks and peanut butter down on Indy's nightstand. Before she left, she turned back to us with a smile as she said, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

I shivered at this before getting off the floor and retrieving the plate of snacks, dipping a carrot stick into peanut butter and taking a crunchy bite. When I sat back down on the ground, Indy barely glanced up as she analyzed and practiced for our next couple tomorrow. 

"So... I should get going too," I said, but, contrasting my statement, I laid against the carpeted floor of her bedroom. 

She paused, setting Raja's notebook down as she too slid to the floor and laid beside me. We stared up at the white popcorn ceiling of her room for a while, neither of us speaking. I breathed in the scent of carpet cleaner and lavender as I listened to the thumps of my own heart. 

"Indy?" I called out, my head turning to glance at her silhouette. None of her features were distinguishable because of the lamp's light behind her. 

"Yeah?" she called back, still staring up at the ceiling. 

"Don't take this the wrong way... but I don't really want to go home," I said, waiting for her to speak again. Her forehead creased as she mirrored me, rolling her whole body over to stare at me. 

She rested her head on her arm as she asked, "Why?"

I blinked a few times, not used to her dark eyes fixed on me. "It doesn't feel like a home, I guess," I murmured, noticing her lips part. She wore no makeup as part of one of the break-ups today, so instead of the rose-petal pink that they usually were, her lips were slightly tinted. 

A stray tendril of hair settled on her cheek, and subconsciously, I reached out to brush the strand aside. Indy's throat tightened as my fingertips brushed against her cheek, and she cleared her throat, jolting off of the floor and smoothening her clothes.