“Really?” she demanded. “Do you know what it’s like living with her? She’s got makeup and hair products all over the damn place. She’s always watching movies that make her cry. She plays fucking pop diva music that grates on my goddamn nerves. And she’s always so fucking chipper.”
“That sounds like dumb reasons to keep hating her,” I spoke up, frowning at her. Jessica and I were no longer enemies; we were friends, but we weren’t anywhere near as close as we used to be. And as long as she kept treating my best friend like shit, we wouldn’t be.
“You don’t fucking live with her,” Jessica repeated, glaring at me.
“Watch how you talk to her,” Coralie snapped at her best friend before I could open my mouth and tell Jessica I had lived with Brittany, and she was a very easy person to live with. “But she’s right. Those are stupid reasons to keep treating her like shit. She’s Mila’s best friend, and trying to constantly alienate her will drive a wedge between us. So, throw some water on your burning feelings, yeah?”
Jessica’s upper lip curled as she glared at Coralie. “My fucking burning feelings are fueled with oil.” Huffing, she leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest. “But I’ll try. For you. Not for Mila.”
I rolled my eyes. “Jeez, thanks,” I muttered.
Jessica rolled her eyes at me so hard that for a moment, all I saw were the whites of her eyes. “Coralie is my best friend. You and I…” She shrugged. “I think you and I both know that bestie ship sailed a long time ago.”
I threw her a sickly-sweet smile. “It caught fire and burned.”
She snickered. “And that bitchy retort is why we’re friends, Mila.”
Coralie snorted. “Just be nice to Brittany, yeah? I hated her too, but she’s actually nice. And there’s not a bad bone in her body. And honestly, both of us should be grateful Mila had someone like Brittany in her corner while you and I were too busy being assholes to see the bigger picture.”
Jessica sighed, deflating. “This isn’t only on us,” she reminded Coralie.
“It’s not,” I agreed. “But Brittany is innocent in all of this. In fact, the only reason she got thrown in the middle of that shit show is because of me. So, just try not hating her guts, at least? I’m not asking you to be best friends with her. But she’s really sweet, and while I know she’d never admit to it, the shit you say to her hurts.”
For the first time ever, Jessica looked bothered. Like hurting Brittany’s feelings didn’t sit right with her. She didn’t say anything else, eventually getting up to go get food. Coralie sighed. “You think they’ll ever get along so we don’t have to listen to them bitch anymore?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. It would be nice.” Not only for our sakes, but for Brittany’s, too. I didn’t like seeing my best friend so angry and upset, which she was every single time she and Jessica were near each other.
Coralie hummed and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “After my exam, I’m going to the dorm and taking a nap. Will you bring me back a tray of food from wherever you and Brittany go?”
Turning my head, I lightly pecked her lips. “You know I will. You don’t even have to ask.”
She cupped my cheek and kissed me deeper, parting my lips with her own to slide her tongue along mine. I couldn’t help the soft moan that crawled up my throat. “Love you,” she murmured.
I smiled at her. “I love you, too.”
Epilogue
Coralie
I grunted as I dropped the last box to the floor. The hair that had fallen out of my bun was clinging to my damp face and neck, annoying me. Sweat was making my clothes stick uncomfortably to my body. It was a very disgusting ninety-seven degrees outside with a humidity percentage so high, it felt like Satan himself was blowing hot air across my body.
Mila looked up from the floor, where she was unpacking one of the boxes. She’d started out helping me, but after the third time of her tripping and almost falling down the stairs, I’d put her on the living room floor and told her to empty boxes so we could begin putting things away. I could not deal with an emergency room trip on top of this fucking dreadful heat. And seeing Mila hurt would send me over the proverbial ledge.
It was so hard to believe that she and I were living in our own fucking apartment. Two years had gone by so fast. She was finally off probation, no longer having to make trips to see her probation officer and get drug and alcohol tested. She and I had busted our asses working and attending classes to afford this place. The rent was cheap, considering the apartments were only for student-use, but money would still be tight for us.
Still, this was everything we’d wanted. And we finally had it. Our own space. Just for us.
“Did you talk to your parents yet?” I asked her.
She shrugged, which was enough of an answer in itself. Her parents had moved out of the small town we grew up in, and they hardly spoke to Mila anymore. I thought it was stupid as hell to abandon their daughter over something like a weekend stay in jail and getting arrested. Mila wasn’t a troublemaker. Honestly, she stuck to herself most of the time. But one mistake had been too much for her parents, who had worked so hard to raise the “perfect, docile daughter”.
I’d almost punched her dad in the face when I overheard him say that to her on the phone. Mila was attending therapy, and her therapist suggested she open up to her parents about how she was feeling. She thought it might open up communication a bit more. So, she’d tried it.
It’d done the opposite. I would never forget those heartbreaking sobs as I held Mila in my arms after that phone call. She got drunk, ate her weight in potato chips, and passed out on my chest, snot running down her nose. I’d gently cleaned her up, vowing to never let anyone hurt her like that again.
She still tried to have a relationship with her parents, but I had a feeling it was futile. Maybe they just needed time. Maybe they would never come around. But I knew Mila had to make the decision on her own to stop trying to connect with them. No one could force her to.
Even if it made me internally rage every time they broke her fucking heart, which was quite fucking often. I used to love her parents. Her home had been a safe space for me away from my own broken home and neglectful parents who hardly even realized I existed. But now… her parents fucking disgusted me. I wasn’t sure I’d ever respect them again, even if they did come around.