I call Tiffany over to my house the very next day.
"What do I do?" I yell into my pillow, as Tiff looks on, a bored expression on her face that reminded me this was probably not as serious as I thought it was.
"Relax. It's not the end of the world." She assures me, taking a long hit of her vape and sputtering out a cough or two. The room filled with a sweet, peachy scent afterwards.
"I hate that stuff. Get it away from me." I whine playfully, although I meant it.
"Try it, if you want. You'll like it then."
I look at her with uncertainty brewing in my chest. Swiftly but reluctantly, I take the long, purple vape pen from her hands and inhale it.
Immediately it hits my lungs and I start coughing a whole bunch. "That sucks! How do you have the power do it like every three minutes?" I complain, the burning sensation still prevalent in my throat. Never again.
"What? It's good, and it smells like peaches." She replies, sticking out her tongue. I roll my eyes at her, and punch my fist into the bed.
"Fuck, man. I hate this." I swear, which was weird for me, because usually I felt uncomfortable swearing. Tiffany snorts like a pig, and shakes her head at me. She was way more experienced than I was when it came to boys.
"You really do need to relax. If you like Sebastian, then date Sebastian. If you like Josh, then go for Josh. It's not rocket science, Katty." She states as if it was obvious, which it was. But she was still not aware of the situation with Seb and I fake dating, so I can't blame her.
"Yeaaa...you're right. I hate that you're right, Tiff." I grumble. She pulls down her sleeves once I notice the purple bruises on her wrists again.
"Anyways..you doing anything this weekend?" She asks me. I shrug in response, "Probably just gonna do some reading and cram some stuff." I reply nonchalantly. Tiff gives me a bored look, "Katty, that's all you ever do. Study and follow Josh around." I scoff at the last part.
"Okay, yeah whatever. But come on! I'm free this weekend. I really want to go on a road trip or something. Just something fun!"
Somehow, she had managed to convince me to join her to go off to a mountain road trip. She wanted to hike, but I really wanted to ski.
"It'll be boring if it's just the two of us." I complain, trying to get out of it. Sure, it sounded fun, but I had way too much work to do.
"I'll call Dylan. You call your friends. Josh and Joane, I know them." She rebuts.
I stop to think for a moment, a certain someone coming to mind.
"Can I call my boyfriend?" I ask.
-
That night, Tiff had dinner with her friends. So she left at 8, and I was alone yet again.
I decided it would be a good time to do some chores, watch some Netflix, and do my midterm paper.
I was only an hour into watching Netflix, before my phone rang.
It was Josh.
"Hello?"
"Hey! It's me."
"Yeah, I know. What's up?"
"Nothing. I just miss you, what are you doing?"
"You miss me?"
"Um, yeah. I do, we haven't hung out in like a week. Doesn't that feel weird to you?"
"I mean, I guess so?"
"I don't know...it's just- nevermind. What are you doing?"
"Don't 'nevermind' me, Josh. You know I hate that."
"No it's fi-"
"I will hang up if you don't tell me what's wrong!"
"Hey-no!"
"I'm just kidding. But seriously, what is it?"
"Well....you've just been spending all your time with Sebastian."
"Not really. But does it matter? We are dating."
"Right."