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THREE, best interest
italics — rues narration
————
it was the first day of school after the new year and i finally had everything i'd ever wished for.
i had sort of spent the last few days hanging out with elliot, which was cool cause he makes a ton of money selling music stems online and we bought a bunch of drugs.
what i didn't know was that during my time with elliot, he hadn't texted liana in a couple of days— and she was pissed.
"liana!" rue and elliot walked towards liana with a smile, elliot lifting his hand to wave at liana but was shot down as she rolled her eyes in his direction. "ooo. a little attitude today, huh?" he teased, leaning against the locker next to hers. she was fixing her makeup in her locker mirror, ignoring elliot and rue as if they weren't there.
he waved his hand in front of her face, but didn't get a reaction from that either. "hello??" he asked. "liana." rue said. still, nothing. rue shifted awkwardly.
liana dug in her makeup bag and pulled out her mascara, pumping the wand in it a few times before she started reapplying it to her eyelashes. elliot scoffed at the silence he was being given, "liana..."
"uh, i see jules. i gotta go, see you guys later." rue waved off elliot and liana, who still wouldn't pay her any mind until she was out of sight. then, she turned to elliot. "now you know me?" she asked. "what are you talking about?" he furrowed his brows. liana took a deep breath, "you ghosted me for a week. not cool." she said, her eyes widening as she reapplied her mascara.
he furrowed his brows, "i didn't ghost you." he said. she gave him a look. "i didn't ghost you!" he said. "you did though," her voice trailed off, angrily tossing her mascara into her makeup bag and zipping it up. "come on, it's not that serious." he said.
liana frowned, "it is, elliot. you're like my only friend and you're replacing me with rue," she muttered, throwing her makeup bag into her backpack and slamming her locker shut.
"what?!" he looked flabbergasted. liana huffed as she turned around and started to walk away from elliot, but he wasn't letting her go that easy. he ran to catch up with her and threw his arm around her shoulder, "i could never replace my liana." he said. liana fought the urge to smile.
"it's not funny elliot. i introduced you guys and you forgot about me." she said. she knew she was acting sensitive about the whole thing, but she couldn't help but feel a bad feeling in her stomach at the idea of elliot and rue, almost like it was a mistake to have introduced them at all. she couldn't pinpoint what exactly was making her feel that way though.
"i didn't forget you liana," he assured. "you did—" elliot cut her off, "will you stop it? look, come over after school then. just you and me, will that make you feel better?" he asked. this time, she actually did smile.
"fine."
⋆⋆⋆⋆
"you know, i was thinking about you a lot." elliot said. liana looked over at him, popping a hot cheetos in her mouth. "what?" she said. "like when i was hanging with rue. i meant to text you but we would get high and i would forget." his eyes were fixated on the television screen, never once looking at liana while he spoke.
"that's sweet, but also not because why were you doing drugs with rue?" she pushed his head to the side with her hand which made him chuckle. "what's so wrong with that?" he asked. "you're both drug addicts, that's what's wrong with that." she said. he shrugged, "doesn't look like an issue to me."
"i just don't think you guys bring out the best in each other." she muttered. he finally turned his head towards her, but only to give her a 'you've got to be kidding me' face. "my mom said the same thing about me and this guy i knew. the one who got me into drugs, you know? i told you this," liana nodded. "well, she got all worried and shit but then he left. and i was okay."
liana furrowed her brows, "i don't think i'm following." she said. "if i was okay then, i'll be okay now." he said. "you don't know that elliot. rue is like, a full blown drug addict. i don't think i've ever met anyone like that before." she said. "yeah, i can tell." he chuckled. "huh?"
"rue is crazy. her heart literally stopped when we did drugs on tuesday." liana sat up quickly, "what?!"
"it wasn't my fault! she did heroin before she got to my house and didn't tell me, so then we did coke." he explained. "elliot that's not funny, that's literally scary." she scooted away from him, sitting at the other edge of the couch. "liana."
"i'm gonna keep her safe, i swear." he said. liana looked over, "what about you?" she asked. "i'm keeping myself safe, i always have." he said. "you promise?" she asked. he held a pinky out, "promise." she gave a small smile, linking her pinky with his.
their hands stayed like that for a moment before elliot sheepishly linked his other fingers into hers, eventually holding her whole hand as his eyes wandered back to the tv. she stared at him for a while after that, wondering how he could be so nonchalant about something so intimate. she wondered if he meant it the way she was interpreting it.
either way, her eyes wandered back to the television too despite the growing feeling of butterflies littering her stomach.
