by Hannah Meade
Emily shakes her head. "He does not. I am sorry, Mia. I did not know he did that. If I knew, I would not have brought him here."
"It is fine. I thought that maybe if I heard what he had to say then that would be enough. I actually had hope. I thought that was what I needed, but it only made me hate him even more. All I gained from this was that Andrew is still a dick, just like he was before."
Emily covers my hand with hers. "You still have Marcus, Mia. He is still here for you."
I try not to laugh. "Yeah. Right."
"What? What did he do now?"
"He is just been acting weird, ever since yesterday. He just ditched me last night and gave no explanation of where he was going. And I am still confused about him having no flowers to give me when he said that is what he went out for. I cannot put my finger on it, but something is going on with him. And I do not think it is a good something." I sigh, realizing that all I said is probably true. Marcus has been acting weird lately anyway, so there is something he is not telling me.
"Why do not you call him out on it? On the flowers, on the weird behavior, everything."
"He will not tell me anything, Em. He will just make up some excuse. I will find out eventually. Is not that what women are good at? Finding things out without even trying?" I attempt a smile.
Emily laughs. "Damn right, we are."
~~~
The next morning, Emily wakes me up at 7:30 a.m. Yeah, that is right. SEVEN-THIRTY IN THE MORNING. And we were up last night until almost 1 a.m. talking.
She whips the door open to my room and screams, screams at me to get my ass out of bed or we are not going to have enough time.
Turns out she had "told me" that we were going shopping in Sandybrook, a suburb three hours away from us, and that she wanted to leave at 7:30. Well, she neglected to actually tell me that is what we were doing today. She just decided to scream at me in the wee hours of the morning when the fucking birds are not even awake yet.
But being the great friend that I am, I get out of bed and get ready in ten minutes flat. Lucky for me, I do not wear makeup so that shaves a good hour off of my routine. I do not even bother to do my hair; just throw it up in a messy bun. My outfit today consists of a plain grey tank top and my grey sweats that are so comfy. The inside is faux fur and feels amazing on freshly shaved legs. Guys have no idea how heavenly that feels.
Emily then proceeds to yell at me once more because I look like, and I quote, "a fucking slob.” Needless to say, I just ignore her and tell her we are going to be late if we do not leave asap. We are already behind her schedule about twenty minutes; ten of those spent trying to figure out where the hell we are going to go before she actually tells me.
Now we are in the car, fighting over the radio.
"WOULD YOU LEAVE THE FUCKING RADIO ALONE, GODDAMN."
I roll my eyes. "I am not fucking listening to hard rock the whole three hours there. We are going to listen to Shawn Mendes's "Treat You Better" and you are going to fucking like it."
Emily just glares and stares straight ahead, her hands tightening on the wheel. I hope I made her mad. She is the one who did not tell me we were heading on a surprise road trip at fucking 7:30 in the morning. Seriously. That girl needs to write shit down or something; she forgets things faster than they happen.
"Where are we going anyway?"
"I told you. We are going to Sandybrook. Did you not fucking listen?"
I whack her arm. "Shut up. I know we are going to Miami, but WHERE IN SANDYBROOK? She is really starting to piss me off now. I would not even care if we get in a crash right now; it would at least put me out of my misery.
"We are going to Dolphin Mall, hello? Sandybrook’s biggest mall there is? Where the fuck else would we go?"
I scoff. Always have to have the best for little miss spoiled over here. "Oh, I do not know, maybe home? Maybe somewhere that is not so crazy fucking expensive that all we can do is look at the stuff?" Emily always has to go to the high-end stores where even a simple T-shirt is like twenty bucks. And of course, she always has the money, because of her loaded parents. Whereas I only have about a hundred bucks in my pocket and can never buy anything when I go shopping with Emily. God forbid we find a nice Goodwill around here.
"Do not blame your financial struggles on me, honey. That is your own damn problem."
I just stare at her. Seriously? I have been trying so damn hard to get a job these past couple months, and she is blaming me? "You know what? Fuck you. I just got a job, so I have not been making enough to buy anything. Do not try and say that it is my problem, because it is not. I have done everything I could to find a job. I only have a hundred bucks right now, and some people do not have all the fucking money in the world like you do.”
We fight about this a lot, especially when we go out shopping. She always wants to spend her "hard-earned" money and I want to save it to pay for my basic necessities. So we always fight over our money differences.
"Do not do that. It was not my choice for my parents to become multi-millionaires. It was not my choice for them to give half of it to me. And it was definitely not my choice for your parents to fucking reject you and not give you anything. But you know what is my choice? Spending the money. Spending it on me, on our beautiful house I decorated with my money, and spending it on you. I always buy you something when we go out shopping. Always. Because I know that you do not have nearly as much as me. I know that you have been working your ass off to get a fucking job and I want to buy my best friend something special for everything she has done and accomplished. I am sorry if I ever made you feel inferior because of the money gap between us. But I am not going to be sorry for having so much money, because that money was given to me. Do not punish me for being wealthy by my parents."
Wow. That is the most she has said about that in years. She always brushes it off and we just keep on moving on with our lives. She never confides in me that much about this. It actually makes me feel sort of guilty for what I said. "I know it is not your fault, Em. I am sorry. I just hate that it took me so long to find a job. I want to go into these expensive stores and buy everything that I love, but I cannot. It makes me mad that I have a money issue and can barely buy enough to scrape by. I guess I just take it out on you, because you have plenty of money and never have to worry about running out or whether or not you can buy something. It sucks, but I do not blame you."
Emily looks over at me and smiles. "Yeah. Well there is nothing we can do about either of our money situations right now, so why do not we just forget about it and enjoy ourselves? Did you want to go back home? We are not that far yet."
I smile back. "Nah. You still have to buy me something expensive."
Eleven
"Did you ever get that one guy's phone number, Mia? The one you were talking to when I left to go to the bathroom?"
I blush, knowing exactly which one she is talking about. "Hell, yeah, I did. You think I would let that one go without getting his number first?"
The guy whom Emily is referring to is easily the hottest guy we have seen tonight. And we saw a lot of guys. But this one is equivalent to a young Dave Franco.
Emily laughs on her way to the door. "I knew it. You so like him. Text him right now and tell him we just got home. Maybe you will get a late-night booty call." She winks at me and strides right into the house, not caring that Marcus is right there to hear our whole conversation. "Oh, hey, Marcus. Guess what? Mia's getting some love tonight." She turns around and beams at me before heading off into the kitchen.
My whole body freezes. What is he doing here? We have not talked at all since yesterday and I am worried he has just dumped me without even telling me. Kind of like how Emily forgot to tell me we were going shopping this morning. Maybe Marcus is here to remind me. Oh, guess what? I forgot to tell you, but we are breaking up. Not that we are together anyway. I mean, we never made it official.
"Marcus, what are you doing here?"
He clears his throat. "Well, I just
wanted to say..."
"MIA, DID YOU TEXT THAT GUY YET?"
I blush even harder, if that is possible. Does she have to be so fucking loud and obnoxious? I look apologetically at Marcus. "She has had a few drinks tonight. I was the designated driver home."
He nods, like that is all the explanation he needs. "So I just wanted to say..."
"MIAAAAAAAAAAA, DID YOU? TELL ME IF YOU DO. I WANT TO SEE IF HE HAS ANY BROTHERS AS HOT AS HIM."
I am going to kill Emily. "Would you excuse me a moment, Marcus? I need to go find the duct tape." I nod at him and speed-walk to the kitchen, where Emily is there sipping more wine. How the hell do we have more wine in our house?
"MIA, THERE YOU ARE. SO DID YOU..." She does not get to finish her sentence, as I grab her by the arm and drag her up the stairs to her room.
I will have to clean up Emily's wine stains on the stairs, but I do not really care at this point.
I open her door and shove her in there. I quickly lock the door and run back downstairs to where Marcus is still standing. "Okay. I am back. Emily's taken care of. Now you can finish what you have to say."
He chuckles. "I was just going to say I was sorry, Mia. I am sorry for ditching you when you clearly needed me the other night. And I am sorry for ditching you last night, too. I just really had somewhere to be and I could not get out of it."
"Where did you have to be?"
"I had to babysit my little cousins again. My aunt and uncle were going to be gone the next day and they wanted me to stay the night. Something about how my cousins just adore me and can't get enough of me."
Oh, how the lie just so easily slips out of his mouth. I know he was not babysitting, because I actually called his aunt last night to see if he had gone there and she said he had not. Yeah, that is right. Us females can find out anything. You just need to have the right connections. If I am going to find out what he was really up to, though, I need him to think I am not on to him. So, I fake a smile and give him the best "I forgive you" ever.
I tilt my head up to look at his adorable baby blue eyes. "Aww. Is that not just so sweet? I am sorry I even felt disappointed. I understand you have another life than me and you have to tend to that sometimes too. I forgive you, but next time, just let me know your plans." I playfully poke his chest and smile. I know what to do to get him on my side again. "Now, how about you make it up to me right now?" I slowly start un-doing buttons on his shirt, never once breaking eye contact with him. "Maybe somewhere a little more private?"
I pull away and lead him to the living room, where Emily would not be right next door bugging us the entire time.
~~~
"MIAAAAAAAA. MIAAAAAAAA."
I groan as Emily repeatedly yells my name from upstairs. I had just gotten done fooling around with Marcus and was hoping to be able to stay here and cuddle with him for a while. Emily apparently has other plans for me.
I lean on my elbow and look down at Marcus sleeping. He looks so hot when he is sleeping, I almost truly forgive him just for his looks. But that is not how it works.
I slide out of his embrace and trudge up the stairs to where Emily is annoying the shit out of me. I whip the door open and find her on the floor, an empty wine bottle in her hand. Do not ask me where she got that. "What do you want?"
Emily giggles. Giggles. "Nothing."
I sigh. "Oh, Emily. What am I going to do with you? And where did you get that bottle of wine?”
Emily looks at it like she did not realize she is even holding it. "Uh, I do not know. Where?"
Jesus. Why does she have to be such a clueless drunk? I bet she does not even know where she is even at. I grab the bottle of wine from her hands and drag her to the bathroom. She is probably going to throw up eventually. Emily is the reason I do not get drunk. I give her a glass of water and go downstairs to deal with Marcus.
I hate what I am doing to him, but I have to find out what he is lying about. I can't just ask him; he will just get suspicious of me. I have to get close to him again and make him think I am not even on to him. That is when I will find out what's going on. When he least expects it.
He is in the kitchen when I come back downstairs.
I come up behind him and wrap my arms around his waist. "Morning, babe. What are you doing?"
He turns around and lifts me up on the counter, wedging himself between my legs. "Making you something special for breakfast. How is Emily?"
I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me. "Drunk but locked in the bathroom so it is okay."
He chuckles, blowing puffs of warm air on my face. "Of course, she is. How are you?"
"A little dazed, but I am alright." I grin back at him.
He moves closer. "Now what would you be dazed from?"
I ignore his question and steer the conversation away from me. "When is that breakfast going to be ready?"
"Be patient, baby. You will get your food soon enough." He leans in closer and kisses me on the lips.
I savor in his touch. He makes feel so many things just by touching his lips to mine. By running his fingers through my hair and pulling me closer to him. By pressing himself against me and closing any remaining space between us. It is hard to be mad at him, especially when he makes me feel so good.
I pull away before it can go any further than a kiss and push him back gently. "Emily will soon be sober, Marcus. We should try to keep our hands off each other for a little bit at least. Make me that breakfast you promised me." I turn away from him, hoping he will get the hint that I do not want to get busy right now.
He nods and steps out of my grasp.
I jump down off the counter and go up to check on Emily, hoping my body temperature will cool down.
I open the door to a passed-out Emily. Her face is wet, like she spilled a glass of water on herself.
I drag her back out of the bathroom, up onto her bed, and leave a bottle of water with some Advil on her bedside table. I write her a note that says Take this, do not act like a bitch. –Mia
I am such a good friend.
~~~
"Hey, Marcus. Could you go check on Emily for me? I really do not want to get up off this couch."
"Sure, babe. I will be right back."
I watch him go up the stairs, and when he is out of my sight, I swipe his phone. Thankfully, his phone is not password protected so I get into it with no problem.
I look through his text messages, hoping to find a weird number he is texting. Nothing.
I look through all his social media feed, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing.
I go through his recent calls and find that he made several calls to the same number every day this past week, including one just before he got here. Bingo.
I quickly type this number into my phone so I can call it later and set his phone back where it was on the table just as Marcus is coming back down the stairs.
"Well, she definitely did not listen to your note you left. She punched me in the stomach when I tried to ask her how she was doing."
I look back and Marcus is clutching his stomach. I try so hard not to laugh. "At least I tried."
He grunts. "Obviously not hard enough." He reaches over and grabs his phone. "Well, I got to get going, babe. Call you later." He leans down and kisses me quickly on the lips before heading out to his car.
I am about to dial the number I wrote down from Marcus's phone when Emily calls me. Seriously? She is right up the stairs. "You are literally just up the stairs. Walk your ass down here."
"Get your ass up here, now. Why the hell would you send Marcus up here to check on me?"
Instead of answering, I hang up the phone and run upstairs to her room.
I walk into her room, and she immediately shoots daggers in my direction. “Why the fuck did you hang up on me?"
I roll my eyes. Marcus is right; she did not follow my note's instructions. "What do you want?"
"Why did you send Marcus up here to check on me? He is fucking creepy. Tried
to feel me up and shit."
I furrow my eyebrows. "Feel you up?"
"Yeah. He must have thought I was asleep, because he did it when he first came in the room and I was just waking up. He started touching my face and then went further down, until I woke up and punched his dumb ass in the stomach. I have never felt so violated."
"Are you sure he was not just trying to feel you for a headache or something?"
"Pretty sure. He kept whispering things that I would rather not repeat. Dirty things while he was doing it. It was creeping me out big time." She shivers visibly.
I make a mental note to ask Marcus about that later. "So, is that all you asked me up here for?"
"No. Come help me out of here. I want to stop being such a couch potato."
"Jesus, Em. Really? You called me up here to help get out of the fucking bed?" Brat.
She does not answer me, just gestures for me to come over there and help her up.
I roll my eyes but go over there anyway. I take her hands and pull hard, making her crash into me and taking both of us down to the ground.
"Damn, Mia. You get so strong when you are mad. I forget about that," she replies while rubbing her back.
"Remember that I broke your fall here."
She slowly gets up and walks out the door.
After a few more minutes of lying on the floor in pain, I reluctantly get up and follow her downstairs.
"Hey, Mia. Where did Marcus go?"
I shrug. "Do not know. He said he had to go somewhere and then he left. You ask him.”
"Do not get all bitchy with me because your boyfriend ditched you again."
Hearing her say that out loud brings me back to the reality of this situation. Marcus has been ditching me a lot. And he never explains himself, except to say he is "babysitting his cousins". "Do you think he is hiding something? Like a secret he does not want me knowing about?"
"Mia, calm down. It may just be nothing. He may just need to work or something. Maybe it is a shitty job and he does not want you to know, so he hides it. Have you tried just asking him?"
