Glory Days

Chapter 23: Ignorance is Bliss, Until it's Not

-Emme-

"Her mom is better, which is great. But Kira is more anxious now more than I've seen her." Aaron says over the phone. He told me more about how they met and how she told him about her mom a while ago, and now he's giving me an update. I'm sitting at my desk, eating microwave Mac and Cheese as he tells me more about his 'woes', as I like to call it.

"Maybe you think she's more anxious because she opened up to you." I say.

"Maybe. But I don't know, I feel like she worries more now with her surgery coming up." He says. I take another bite of my dinner and think for a minute.

"I don't know which is more stressful, chemo or surgery. I guess more could go medically wrong with the surgery, but Chemo is way harder on her mom."

"Yeah, and I told her that. I think she's under a lot of stress, with school and her mom, so I think it's a lot mentally for her to process."

"What do you mean school? What's going on in school?" I ask and take another bite.

"Oh, ap exams are coming up. I mean, I know they're in May but it's still a lot of pressure to do well on them."

"Yeah, I get what you mean. My AP chem teacher is already giving us review material for the exam, and ours is pretty late in May."

"Yeah. How's everything over in Lakewood?"

"Eh, its Lakewood. Mark mad varsity Lax, and I think the baseball team is the same as last year."

"Ah. Yeah, he told me about Lax."

"Do you miss the Baseball team?" I ask him. He's silent for a while.

"Kind of, except I really liked the seniors from last year. But all the other guys were kind of jerks, but so are some of the guys at Westmoore."

"Yeah, some guys are just jerks." I say.

"Yes, unfortunately. Well, thanks for listening to my thoughts, but I have to go." He says.

"Any time, see you sometime soon, I guess." I say.

"See you when I see you next." He says and hangs up.

I finish my Mac and Cheese and grab my phone and keys and walk out of the house. I check for my dad's car; it's not there. I walk the neighborhood to Mark's house. I like to check on him, for Aaron. And sometimes he's actually nice to talk to, when he doesn't have an ego.

I reach his house and walk to where his window is, which is open but curtains still covering it.

"Mark, are you in there?" I say, feeling like an idiot.

"Um, yes?" He says and pops his head through the curtains. "Oh, hey Emme."

"Hi." I say.

"Um, do you wanna come in?" He asks. I nod and climb through his window, into his messy room. I glance around, not knowing where to go. "My mom isn't home, actually."

"Oh, I already had dinner." I say.

"Oh, what did you have?" He asks, cleaning off his bed.

"Mac and cheese." I say and sit on his bed. He sits at his desk, then quickly places something in his pocket. What is he hiding?

"Nice. How's chem going?" He asks. Why did I come here again?

"Good." I say. Then whatever was in his pocket falls out. I look at it... it looks like a USB port... wait a minute. "Are you kidding me?"

"What." He says, quickly picking up the vape. "It's just a vape."

"Mark, what the heck is wrong with you?" I ask him.

"I- "

"Do you know how bad that is for you?"

"It's safer than smoking." He says. I scoff.

"Why would you ever smoke? That is the most ridiculous thing I've heard anyone say."

"I would never smoke, that would hurt my wonderful athletic lungs. But-"

"Vape can do the exact same thing, especially if you do it often. I can not belive you vape Mark, I thought you were smarter than that." I say and roll my eyes.

"Every- "

"Do NOT say everyone does it and it's the cool thing to do. Because that os defently not true." I say angerly.

"Oh come one Emme, its not like you've been hurt from someone vaping. Your making it sound like someone you knew died because of vaping." He says. Is he serious?

"Wow, you are so ignorant." I say.

"There you go again, calling me ignorant with no context as to why." He says and scoffs. I sit and think for a minute on what to say next.

"You're right, I do call you ignorant and stupid with no context, and apparently I expect you to somehow know why." I say. "Do you want to know the truth?"

"Um, yes please?" He says, a little confused.

"After my mom died from the car accident, my dad became more... aggressive. He started drinking, a lot. And sometimes he says things while he's drunk that he doesn't mean, but he still said them." I say, trying to not cry. "Why I'm telling you this is because I've seen how this road goes, and you can say 'oh I'm just vaping', but it starts with vaping. And I'm not trying to sound dramatic, but If you keep up with this, it could lead to horrible consequences."

"Emme, I didn't know. I- I'm so sorry." He says, looking guilty.

"No one knows. Well, except a couple of close friends and now you I guess. But please, don't be stupid. I can't..." I say and stop myself before I say something I regret. Mark sits next to me on his bed and looks me in the eyes.

"You can't what?" He asks, his brown eyes looking into mine.

"I can't lose someone that I care about to something stupid again." I whisper. He looks down and nods.

"You're right, I should be more careful." He says.

-Mark-

After Emme leaves, I sit at my desk holding the vape in my hands. I think about our conversation.

She yelled at me. She told me she cared about me. SHe called me ignorant, but told me why. 

And it all makes sense now. She doesn't want to see someone hurt like her mom, and hurt themselves like her dad. 

I look down at the vape and snap it in half. I feel a sense of relief and pride, looking down at the broken pod. 

-If you or someone you know is suffering from addiction, please seek proper help.-