Now there is no fucking distance.
She’s right there.Across the table.Close enough that when she leans forward, I catch the faint scent of her shampoo.Close enough to hear her laugh.It does something to me every time.Tightens something in my chest I can’t quite name.
It’s changed now.And it’s worse.
I can’t pretend she’s just a passing thought when she’s sitting five feet away, when her knee bumps into mine under the table.I can’t bury it because there’s nowhere to fucking hide from it.
That’s how it is for me right now.
Sometimes I miss our old table because of this constant pull, but when I look up and see Tia and Nicole holding court, asserting their fake dominance with smiles and whispered poison, the nostalgia quickly fades.The drama of it all is draining.I wish the two bitches would have a proper fight and finally end it.See who comes out on top and save us from this never-ending circus.
Jace often tells me that they should get down into their bras and panties and let the crowd decide.
I always find that funny because even if one of them lost, it wouldn’t change a thing.The loser would still have a fucking problem.Still be jealous that the other has a leaner body, better hair, more attention.Some petty, warped shit that never actually goes away.There’s always something else to compete over, some new angle to twist it into.That’s just how it is.
Jace sits down, eyes already drifting to Lola’s lunch bag.He squints at it, then at her.“What’d you bring today?”he asks, tone casual.
Lola rolls her eyes, but a smile teases her lips as she scavenges around.“Why do you always want my food?”
“Because you always have better food,” he says easily.“And because I didn’t eat breakfast.”
“That sounds like a you problem.”She pushes the container towards him.“Pasta salad.Homemade.Don’t get excited.”
He leans closer peering in.“Looks good.”
She laughs.“Because it is.Now, are you going to try it or just stare at it all day?”
“Fuck yes,” he says instantly.
She hands him her plastic fork.“If you complain, you’re cut off.”
Jace takes a mouthful, chews slowly, then looks up at Lola with that crooked smile he only ever wears around her.The one that doesn’t try too hard.
“It’s actually good,” he says, like that surprises him.
“Told you,” Lola says, snatching back the fork.
The rest of us watch them, with that mixture of curiosity and amusement, as if they’re witnessing something they don’t fully grasp.
I hardly notice any of it.
My attention never leaves Red.
She’s sitting there pretending the room is more interesting, eyes drifting everywhere except where I am.She’d prefer to watch the doors.The windows.The clock.Anything but me.
I lean back in my chair, eyes fixed on her unapologetically.
She knows I’m watching.I can tell by the way her shoulders tense just a little.
Noah squints at us from across the table, brows pulled together.“Where were you two?Whitman was doing that head tilt thing she does when she’s pissed.”
Jace doesn’t even look up.He takes another mouthful of pasta, chewing slowly.“We skipped.”
“The period would have been boring as shit.It usually is,” I say.
The moment the words leave my mouth, I feel it.
The stern look Red gives me is both furious and fucking beautiful at once.The kind of anger that sharpens her features instead of softening them.
