Alice is popular, boys love her, and even girls love her. And so does her best friend, Irene.
....friends to lovers angst with the pressure from overbearing parents to self discovery
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The rest of the weekend flew by. Alice snuck in a couple more times during the night, almost getting caught but they had been saved graciously by the gracious gift of Irene's mother's loud ass car, heard from streets away.
Raymond texted Irene every often, just to check in with her. He had no idea Alice was going to Irene's house at late hours into the night. But it wasn't like they were doing anything bad. Just snuggling close together, warming each other up for the night. But it's not like that was the whole purpose of the visits. Alice made food, cleaned Irene's bathroom, and even folded her laundry.
And most of all, she left her hoodies. Irene doesn't know if it's on purpose but she's not complaining. Or maybe she should. She wouldn't if this was normal if they were normal.
And they are.
They totally are.
That's... An okay thing to say right? At least now, after everything?
Even when Irene feels the gaping hole in her heart that was definitely not there before all of this happened. It hurts. What Alice did to her hurts. Irene deserves something better than this.
Irene decides she wants to meet Alice before school anyway.
~
Irene drives herself to school that day. Pulling into the student's lot and parked her car. She can't spot Alice's car anywhere but decides not to look for it.
She appears in her daily classes, waiting until the bell rings and she can see Alice in the hall. She even goes the same route as her. No Alice. She doesn't see her tan skin or curly hair, her tall legs, it doesn't appear. Irene doesn't want to seem needy or weird so she minds her business and heads to her own class. She waits until gym class when she can go see Alice when she has to see Alice.
She's not there either. Is she sick? Is she skipping?
Irene pulls out her phone after the period is over, shooting a quick "?" to Alice, hoping she picks up the hint.
~
It's lunch now, and Irene's realized she left her lunch in her car. It's probably frozen now, but Irene should at least not let it sit in her car and make it smell bad.
Before even sitting with Raymond and the rest of them (If Alice is even there) Irene heads to her car with her backpack, and a jacket hugging her sides.
She's unlocking her car and waiting to hear the beep when she hears an all too familiar voice, mixed with another.
"-Been a while y'know? You're allowed to see me whenever you want, well, when your mom isn't being a stuck up bitch," It's a guys voice, it's old and cracked, his words don't slip off the tongue, they sound as if they're being scraped and thrown into your ear.
A sigh, it's a girl, much younger. "I know that I'm just- you're- you..."
