“I do remember that, and when she found us we were bundled up in your favorite blanket, the one with stitch on it” I lay next to her and took her hand.
“So much has changed since then,” she says and scoots closer to me.
“Mmm” I get closer to her and we end up cuddling on the floor.
“I'm glad you are still here with me, even though everything has gone to pretty much shit” she mummers.
“What do you mean? What happened?” I ask opening my eyes to look down.
“You were right, Syd cheated on me and with the beer boy,” tears well up in her eyes.
“That fucker, I’m sorry fluffy. This must be hard to go through. especially because i know how much you loved her,” I pull her tighter into me as she cries harder.
“It’s okay, I’ll be fine. It’s just that I haven’t broken up with her,” I look down at her in disbelief. “I-I know but I wanted to apologize to you first so we could face her together, you know? I’m not the most confident person and so I thought maybe with my best friend by my side it won’t be so difficult,” she smiles up at me through the tears and i can’t help but squeeze her even tighter.
“I can’t breathe Sisi!! Let go!” she yells. Instead, I go to tickle her, she's a very ticklish person even though she says she isn’t. I hear her bubbly laughter which makes my heart fill with butterflies. I push them down. It isn’t the time for you right now, feelings. I stop as she is having a hard time breathing and I’ve had my fun. We sit there a moment, neither of us breaks the silence and I feel the light tug of sleep pulls at me. I doze off.
“Sisi, we need to go home, it’s 8 pm,” Fluffy says with a yawn.
“Hmm, nah I'm good, I’ll just sleep here forever,” I say as I start to doze off again. She flicks my forehead.
“Come on, let’s get our bikes,” she gets up and I’m slow to follow.
“Fluffy, tell me when and I’ll be for you,” she looks at me. Tint highlights my cheeks “T-to break up with Syd, I mean” I say playing with my hair. She hugs me for the final time.
“Thank you, Syd, for everything,” she says as she pedals away. I only stand there cheeks bright red and heart pounding. I push down the feeling once more as I get on my bike and ride home. I hope this feeling lasts forever.
—------------
It doesn’t. When I park my bike Mom's still preparing everything for dinner. ‘Father’ was home tonight. Great another tense night. I sigh and help Ma prepare food. Everyone was called and we sat at the table. The sound of our forks hitting our plates is the only sound heard. I go to get seconds as when I went to go get lunch somebody knocked the tray out of my hand.
A lot of people were mad at me for breaking up with Alex but I didn’t care. He was shitty and I'm glad it’s over. I come back with my plate and sit down. ‘Father’ stares at me with a smirk on his face.
“Don’t eat too much now, or you’ll turn out like Uncle Sam and nobody likes Uncle Sam,” he says with a huff of laughter my mom stares at him bewildered but doesn’t say anything.
“...Yes, sir,” I say but continue to eat my food. I couldn’t care less what he thought of me.
“Good, because nobody likes a fatass and you're on the track to being one,” he says, and my brother snickers. It’s not like he could be talking. He weighs 310 Ibs and none of his dress shirts fit him while I weigh around 120 Ibs which isn’t good for my height but it proves my point. I hum in response.
“Gaberial we need to talk outside,” my mom said which meant there having an argument.
“Lead the way,” he says, and they go outside on the back porch. Silence continues.
“You know, he right maybe cut down on those chips,” he says
“When you start showering is when we’ll talk,” I say brushing him off. We share a shower but he never showers in it. He tells my mom he does but the odor of him and his room gives him away. He is beyond embarrassed which makes me giddy. I clean the dishes, put away the food, and head upstairs. My phone pings.
Laura <3
Laura<3
Goodnight Sisi, I’ll see you tomorrow!!
Me
Good night fluffy, see you tomorrow <3
I turn off my phone and can’t help but smile. My heart felt warm and eventually, it spread. The warm feeling helped me fall asleep.
—----
A Week Later
“It’s been a week and you still haven’t broken up with her,” I state and sigh. We’re sitting on the stairs of our high school. We haven’t eaten in the cafeteria the whole week and having nothing to support my back is taking a toll. The stairs were musty with random spill stains on them. I barely ate any food because everywhere I looked I got even more disgusted. There was a spider in the corner with what looked like an egg sac. The window was covered in grime and I was shocked you could still see the outside from it.
“Listen I know but I just can’t. I’m afraid something is going to go wrong, or like she tells the whole school a-and I get shamed. Ridiculed. Basteridized,” she says theatrically. A laugh forms in my throat but I push it down.
“You’re doing it after school today” her eyes widen. “don't worry, I'll be there with you but you can’t let it go on like this Laura” Her body stiffens. “ text her now and say it’s urgent,” she pulls out her phone and starts typing. Several seconds later she gets a pingback.
“But what if it goes south and she gets mad,” she says, with teary eyes.
“Then I’ll be there to protect you,” I say and she visibly relaxes.
—---
We came up with a plan, I would hide in the play set until after Syd leaves. I’m basically the backup, I'm there if anything goes south. Laura is sitting on the swings just in the outskirts of my view. She and Syd are going to talk there where after Laura breaks up with her, Laura will get up and get on her bike and then I’m basically waiting until Syd leaves so I can leave. There's a part to the plan that Laura doesn’t know. I’m going to confront Syd in a not so friendly way. She needs to know that on one and I mean no one hurts my best friend and gets away with it.
Syd shows up twenty minutes late. Laura waves her over and she sits on the swings next to Laura.
“Syd I'm breaking up with you, we just aren’t meant to be,” Laura says fidgeting her hands.
“Figured. It’s whatever it's not like I cared about you. Do you think I'm gay? I did this for a bet and now I'm 100 dollars richer. I just can’t believe you fell for it. So gullible. I bet you didn’t even know I’ve slept with ten people behind your back,” she smirks as she watches Laura’s eyes start to tear up. I was getting up but then Laura bolted, she got on her bike and left.
“We’ll meet up with her in the park after school,” Laura says and looks at the floor.
“Good job fluffy, you got this.”
Syd is still sitting on the swing when I get out of my hiding place. I stalk up to her. She looks up from her phone.
“Oh? Alex’s pet is here too? Ugh, why are you here? Are you here to make fun of Laura too?” She laughs. “I knew you didn’t like Laura I could tell. Come with me, I'm meeting up with my friends. Where going to look at all the photos Laura sent me, some of them are so embarrassing that it's almost funny,” I’m boiling with rage, and without thinking I punch her square in the nose. She falls to the ground with a grunt. I round the swing and hit her in the face again.
“How dare you speak like that about Laura?” I ask as I kick her side. “She's the kindest most beautiful person in the whole universe and you have the audacity to speak such arrogant things about her.” Her face is bleeding some blood getting in her hair. “If I ever see you around Laura again I'll beat your ass, way worse than this,” I say and go to walk away. “ OH, and don’t forget to delete those photos, k?” I say and get on my bike putting my phone up to my ear to call Laura. I get no response so I peddle home.
—-
A couple of hours later I shoot Laura a text
Laura POV
I left the park in tears and I peddled home. I open the front door and go to hug my mom.
“Lauri, baby, what's wrong?” she asks and hugs me tighter. I never cry in front of my mom. That's how it's always been so her seeing me like this must be alarming.
“Syd cheated and I broke up with her,” I say and cry harder into my mom's shoulder. I’ve brought Syd over before and my mom didn’t like her. She found her snobby and rude. We got into an argument about it and she apologized promising me that no matter what she was there for me. She always kept her promises.
“Aw, honey it's okay. Why don't you sit on the couch and we’ll have a mom and daughter movie and ice cream day,” My mom says as she opens the freezer and pulls out two cartons of my favorite ice cream and we sit on the couch. I’ve always loved the Marvel movies so we make it our mission to watch all of them from start to finish. We were wrapped in our softest blankets with matching pajamas.
My dad walked in and knew exactly what to do. He changed into the set of matching pajamas and sat with us watching the last of the movies together. I was at peace for the first time in a while. I ended up falling asleep on the couch that night.
—---------------
When I wake up I'm in my bed (courtesy of my dad). I check the time on my phone. It’s noon. Fuck. I look at my messages. Sisi texted me.
Sisi <3
Laura, you are one of the kindest most generous people I know. The smile on your face brightens my day and lightens the lives of many others. Don’t let what Syd said to you get to your head. Syd is just an awful person and needs to be taught manners. What she did to you was not right and I hope you feel better. Call me when you can. Love you.<3
I smile and reply ‘Love you too’ before hearting the message. She really is the bests of friends I could possibly have.
—---------
After I broke up with Syd the rest of the school year passed by really fast and before we knew it it was summer.
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