Cliché || H.S.

Chapter 39

I delicately balance the glasses of wine in my hands as I weave through the kitchen and to the coffee table where Celeste and Safia sit, finishing off the box of pizza. I hand one glass to each of them before sitting on the floor, my back pressed to the white couch. I raise the red liquid to my lips, savoring the oaky undertones.

"Remember when we could do this stuff every night?" Safia asks, reclining back onto the floor, "I miss those days." Celeste and I nod our head in agreement, taking a moment to reminisce on the days where our schedules weren't constantly unaligned and we had far less to stress over.

"Tell me about it. I used to pray for my days in school to be over and now all I want is to go back. It turns out that being in charge of saving peoples' lives makes for a hard day's work," Celeste grunts. She takes a long sip of her drink before setting it on the table and pulling her blanket tighter around her.

"Well I know Christina Yang over here is out, but a group of us are going to go to a karaoke bar downtown tomorrow night if you want to come," Safia directs to me. Celeste flips her off and Saf returns the favor before turning back to me.

"Um... well I would but I kind of have a date tomorrow night," I rush out. I take another swig for courage, knowing the reaction might not be great.

"Holy shit you work fast. You've been here for what? Two days?" Safia's eyes go wide, and I chuckle to myself. It definitely happened quicker than I thought, that's for sure.

"So who's the guy?" Celeste asks, eying me carefully. The daring look in her eyes definitely tells me that I should be careful who I say. For a girl who shops in the kids section for shoes, Celeste absolutely terrifies me sometimes.

"...So don't be angry," I preface, leaning harder against the couch like it'll somehow swallow me whole. I don't even have to say the name before they begin reacting. Celeste's eyes narrow and Safia lets out a loud laugh before clamping a hand over her mouth.

"There's no way," Saf says with an amused smile, "I have never met anyone with less self control. You couldn't even wait a week to reach out to him?" Celeste remains silent, but the look on her face is all I need to know that she disapproves.

"I did not reach out to him," I clarify, raising a cautionary finger, "We ran into each other at the grocery store yesterday, and he asked if I wanted to grab coffee, which went very well I might add. And then he asked if I wanted to grab dinner on Friday and because coffee went so well I figured why not?"

Celeste rolls her eyes and asks pointedly, "Lil, there are like millions of guys in this city alone. Why don't you try dating one of them? There are other options, you do know that right?"

"I did try dating one of them. I dated Jon for awhile, didn't I?" I challenge Celeste.

"Jon? Jon who? Why am I just hearing about this?" Safia's eyes darted between Celeste and I, confusion reflected on her face.

"Jon Watts."

"The DIRECTOR?" Safia shouts, "Holy shit this is news to me. Why didn't I know about this?" She doesn't even appear to be upset that she didn't know, instead she leaned in closer, an excited expression.

"I mean it was pretty casual," I start, "or at least I thought so. We went on a few dates but I don't know... he was way ahead of me and I wasn't ready to give him the commitment he wanted."

"I don't see what was wrong with Jon," Celeste counters, "Jon was stable at least."

"Yeah Jon was stable, he's like fifteen years older! He was ready to get married and have me start popping out his babies after like the fourth date! And he was so boring, I honestly felt like I was dating my dad."