I saw him motion to his eyes and her body stiffened defensively, which only made her look even more helpless because her body was still shivering uncontrollably.
I elbowed Jae in the side and awkwardly attempted to change the subject. “We weren’t sure if you were still coming, but we ordered enough for you too. If you don’t like any of the toppings just pick ‘em off.”
“Yeah, there’s plenty of pizza,” Jae chimed in. “Now, move your asses aside before the delivery guy spits in our food.”
Jae shooed us out of the way, and I motioned for Shiloh to follow me up the stairs. I showed her where the clean towels were in the bathroom and asked if she needed anything else before leaving her to it.
I shook my head to myself as I thought about Shiloh’s appearance.What the hell happened? Was that her boyfriend that dropped her off? Did they get into a fight? She could have called me and…Shoot. I forgot she doesn’t have a phone.
I grumbled to myself about how she better not fall in the shower and hit her head as I walked into the kitchen to meet Jae and our pizza.
“That was unexpected,” he said through a mouthful of food. “What the heck happened?”
I looked up, shaking away my thoughts.
“Yeah. I dunno,” I mused as I grabbed a slice of pizza and took a bite, leaning over the box. “She looks like she’s been crying and maybe sick.”
“Really? I was going to say she kinda looked like she was high. She was super slow with her speech and literally shaking like she was coming off something. And her eyes were hella red, well, actually…they kinda look a bird was trying to peck her eyeballs out.” He glanced at me sidelong, pausing mid bite. “Don’t tell her I said that.”
I hummed in thought, nodding my head as I considered Jae’s theory about her being high, not about the bird.
“I dunno, her eyes looked like how she described them after her allergy. She literally said she looked like she got maced whenever she cried. And I think that was her boyfriend’s car I saw drop her off. Maybe they got into a fight or something.”
Jae clicked his tongue absentmindedly as he opened a can of soda.
“He’s probably her drug dealer.”
I rolled my eyes and reached over to slap the back of his head. “Shut up, you dip. What’s your fixation on her taking drugs?”
“I dunno, man,” he shrugged casually, slurping some soda. “I just get vibes. And tonight, I’m getting vibes she’s high as fuck or something.”
“You really haven’t learned your lesson after the tampon fiasco.” I deadpanned.
He groaned, waving his hand dismissively at me since he was chewing.
“I really don’t like this Adrian guy,” he said when he had swallowed. “I mean, he looks like he’s ten years older than us. What they hell is a grown-ass fucking man doing with a high school student? It’s weird. Really weird.”
“I agree. I don’t like him at all,” I said, my lip curling with distaste.
“Of course you don’t, you’ve got a crush,” Jae laughed.
“Shut up, dip. You know that’s not the only reason why. It’s pervy and weird and feels wrong. And now Shiloh shows up acting weird…” I trailed off and we sat in silence, eating our pizza as my mind raced with possible explanations for Shiloh’s bizarre behavior. I didn’t want to believe that she was doing drugs, but Jae’s theory didn’t feel too far off.
“I’ll ask her about it before we start the show,” I said after a while. “And I think I should do it alone.”
I dropped my crust onto Jae’s plate knowing he would eat it for me and dusted my hands off over the sink before deciding I should just wash them. I eyed the clock on the microwave and chewed my lip. I knew girls took long showers, but it’d been nearly thirty minutes. I needed to check on her, make sure she hadn’t passed out or something.
“What do you mean ‘alone’?” He deepened his voice dramatically, puffing out his chest.
“Well, you know what happened the last time we asked her something. She felt attacked. So, it’s better if only one of us talks to her.”
He squinted his eyes at me, looking me up and down. “And, what makes you think your blunt mouth is the best person to do that?”
I scoffed and threw the kitchen towel at him.
“Because she’s spent more time with me, so it’ll probably be easier. You do know we’ve spent like every single day together this week, right?”
I picked my cuticle out of habit, flicking my eyes to judge Jae’s reaction. He had a shit-eating grin on his face, pizza sauce covering his teeth. I grimaced and gave him the finger.
