Just Friends

Chapter 13

The next couple days passed without any fanfare, except a call this morning from my sister, Tish, asking for bail money. An ordinary occurrence with the serious drug charges she's facing, but notable nonetheless.

She also informed me that our mom has up and left the state and abandoned my youngest sister, Addie, with our dad. He, like my mom possess quite the addictive gene and are therefore held captive by the alcoholic vices they let take them.

In other words, that's not a wise second choice for her to live.

Over the weekend, I kept it pretty chill - went out to dinner with my girls and when we did hit up downtown bars, I kept to myself and shut down any whiskey reeking advances that came slurring my way. 

Judd has been avoiding me like the plague, and if I'm honest, I've been doing the same to him. 

I was feeling relieved it was Monday morning. A fresh start to the week and I was willing it to be better than last week with my positive thoughts.

I slid into my normal seat in my first class. Judd walked in moments later and our eyes met across the tension. I gave him a smile and small wave to which he returned a tight lipped grimace of his own.

God, the awkwardness.  

To my initial surprise, he walked past me and sat a few rows ahead by himself. 

I guess that was fair. I'm the one who said we needed space. Who was I to think he'd go right back to sitting next to me in class?

Movement to my right caught my attention and Zeke waved over at me from across the aisle, and I politely smiled back. He looked down to his phone before mine buzzed in front of me. I picked it up to see his text.

Zeke: You look beautiful today, as usual.

I looked back over to him and mouthed "thank you" and put my phone away. 

Class droned on much longer than normal, or so it seemed. We were finally dismissed and I climbed the stairs to my next class only to repeat the same awkward encounter with Judd.

I sat in my regular seat and sure enough, Judd walked in and eyed his seat next to me before stopping short and taking a seat near the door.

I hated this.

Of course, that class crawled slowly by as well without my friend next to me goofing off. By the time we came down to the final minute, my eye lids were heavy with boredom. 

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Over time, this had become my new normal. I found myself slipping into a funk and withdrawing from everything outside of class and work. Before I knew it, the days and weeks were passing until a month and a half had gone by. 

My twenty-first birthday had come and gone. 

It was your typical celebration of going out with my girls and getting to use my real ID for the first time. That was the one and only time I went out though, and only because Sam dragged my ass out of the pit of my bed where I was surrounded by homework.

By this point I was mentally and emotionally worn down from the monotony of my routine and depriving myself of any indulgences. 

I was pouring myself into school work, but my grades were slipping like never before. I had given up my morning runs because I couldn't pull myself out of bed. 

My nights out dancing and having fun turned into getting high alone by my bedroom window.

My hours at the restaurant had been cut so far down that I lost more money in taxes than I made on my last paycheck, even though I was working multiple days a week for random hours here and there around my packed schedule. It was just not worth my time anymore. I turned in my letter of resignation and my last week was already here.