𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐫

five: to forget.

EVEREST LOVEJOY was enjoying driving around with Stanley Barber, music was playing and they were singing along. "Oh," Stanley turned down the volume, making Everest look to him with a confused look on his face. "What are you..." Everest paused when he saw Sydney.

She was with a boy, probably her little brother, Liam. He sighed and crossed his arms. Stanley smiled up at Sydney and started rolling down the window, which moved really slowly. "What's he doing?" Liam asked and Syd just smiled. "Just wait." He says before the window was halfway. "Hey." Stan nods his head. "Hey." Syd smiles.

"Hi." Liam says and Everest leaned over then. "Hi." He said and looked up at Syd. "Hey Syd..." He had a small grin and Stanley pushed him back then. "So, it's good to see you again." Stanley says to Syd and Everest tried not to laugh. "Yeah." Syd giggled suddenly and Everest no longer had to hide his laughter; this was no longer entertaining, if Syd was giggling like that, she enjoyed it! With Stan? Well... Whatever. Everest rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, you too." She said and Everest glanced over. "So, do you wanna..." Stanley said as he took off his sunglasses, "do you wanna, like, do somethin' later tonight or somethin'?" He asked and he sounded nervous making Everest cross his arms.

"You know, I would, but Dina and I have to go to Ricky Berry's party." He said and Everest leans over with a wide smile. "Oh, you're going to that, too? Maybe I'll see you there!" He says and Syd nods. "Yeah... both of you?" She glanced between the two teens and Stanley puts an arm around Everest's neck. "Of course, everywhere this fucker goes, I go..." He said with a wide smile too. "Oh, okay! So, I guess I'll see you guys there." She said and Stanley nods. "And we gotta go. Right now." She says as she backs away then pats her brother's shoulder.

The two Novaks walk away as Everest pushed Stanley off him and went to sit back properly. "Little shit, I didn't invite you!" He exclaims and Stanley looks at him. "Well, as my best friend, you should." He said and Everest looks at him. "Let's not fight." He said and rolled his eyes. "Celeste was invited and she said I should go with her... and sure, fine, I guess you can come with us as long as you can drive us there, Celeste says she's planning on drinking." He shrugged and Stanley nods.

"Of course..." He muttered before starting to drive. "She's not as bad as you think she is, Stanley..." Everest said as he looks away, crossing his arms. "She's as bad as Bradley, she's gonna end up some rich guy's wife so she can suck the money out of him." He said and Everest looks at him.

"You don't know her the way I do, Stan... so don't say that about her." He says and Stanley held up his hands in a defensive way. "Okay... Sorry..." He says. Everest looked away, unbeknownst to the fact that the reason why Stanley was saying all that crap because he's jealous of Celeste.

How he spoke so highly of Celeste, defended her against what people said about her and hung out with her a lot lately, plus on top of that, the fucking cherry on the milkshake was the fact that Celeste took Everest's virginity and was now going to that stupid Homecoming dance with him.

"Can you drop me off at her place and pick us up for the party later?" Everest asked as he looks at his best friend who just nodded. "What friends are for..." He said and Everest sighs, grabbing his shoulder and squeezing it gently. "I'll come sleepover tonight..." He said and Stanley smiled.

That gave him some reassurance.

Everest was dropped off at Celeste's and he waves at Stanley before heading up to the front door and knocking like Celeste had told him to. "Everest! Oh, I'm so excited for you to see the dresses I picked out!" She grabs Everest's hand, "for me?" He said with a scrunched up face. "No, for me, silly, I just want you to pick one!" She says.

She modeled in them for him, the first one being a spaghetti strap, short mini dress. He shrugs, "meh..." He says with a shrug and she sighs, entering her bathroom again. He glanced around her bedroom as he waited for her before she walked back out. This one was a floral dress and didn't really suit her. "Perfect... if you're going to church with your parents." He said and she sighs again before walking back into her bathroom.

This one was black and fitting her perfectly and had a slit going up the dress. "This one makes me feel hot." She said as she posed in front of her mirror. "Then that one, I thought it was kinda tacky but hey, my opinion doesn't matter unless it makes you feel good." He smiled and she turns to him. "Dude, you have the best style, I needed your help, not what I feel." She said and he sighs.

"Well, fine. I agree, it makes you look hot." He shrugged as he glanced up and down before standing up, approaching her mirror dresser. "Who's this?" He pointed to a picture and she walks over. "Those are my parents..." She sighed and Everest furrowed his brows. "Yeah? I-I never see your mom around." He says and she glanced up at him. "That's because she... she got sent back to where she and her parents immigrated from... My dad never thought about it since, got a pretty, white lady instead and married her so he could stay. Since then, he's been working non-stop so he can buy me all that I deserve." She said as she sits on her bed.

"Or so he calls it, I don't know... I think it's his way of coping, to forget her and... make me forget too." She said and he set down the picture, kind of sadly looking down at it before looking at her. "There is a lot more to you than I thought, Zepeda." He smiles and she smiled back at him.

"Right back at you, Lovejoy..."

authors note almost at the chapter of the party😳