𝙇 𝙄 𝘽 𝙀 𝙍 𝘼𝙏 𝙀 𝘿

22 L I B E R A T E D 22

22 V 22

I think my life is having a Liberty marathon. I mean, it hasn't even been twenty four hours, and now I'll have to deal with her again. Damn near binge watching this hoe. Not to mention, who would be excited to have someone with a known stealing problem inside of their house? Of course, since I was the only one who knew that key piece of information, I couldn't really blame my mother for being excited about the arrival of Mrs. Coolmen and her daughter.

"They're here!" my mother exclaimed. I stood at the top of the staircase, watching as my mother opened the door of our spacious house to the Coolmen's.

"Carmela!" Liberty's mother exclaimed.

"August!"

They wrapped each other up in a tight hug like they were old friends. I watched Liberty awkwardly stand off to the side, until she noticed me at the top of the stairs. She gave her mother a quick wave goodbye, then turned to glare at me out of her sight. I crossed my arms over my chest, showing that I could care less about her being here too.

My mother gave Liberty a nice side hug, then gestured upstairs to me. "Vonna's up there. I hope you girls have fun. I know me and your mom will."

Gag. That sounded so disgusting.

My mom and Liberty's mom headed off to the study, the background sound of jazz emitting from our Alexa speaker. "This place is so nice," I could hear Liberty's mother saying. "I might have to move out of my little ole apartment."

"You're here," Liberty said.

I blinked, realizing that she had came up the stairs.

"Well, it is my house after all," I said.

"Whatever. Where are we going?"

"The game room."

"Rich people," I heard her mutter.

I led her to our game room, filled with three bean bags, an arcade game, a PlayStation, and some other random stuff, along with board games.

"My mom said she'll most likely be talking and planning with your mom all day. So we're staying in here," I told her firmly.

"Okay," Liberty shrugged, sitting down on a bean bag. "And you're not allowed anywhere else in the house unless I'm with you," I added. Was I trying to get a rise out of her? "Okayyy," Liberty shrugged, then said sarcastically, "Even the bathroom?"

"Liberty," I rolled my eyes, settling in front of the TV and grabbing a controller.

"Just because I have...that problem doesn't mean I do it everywhere," she said after a moment. "I know I tried to...do what I did at your mother's boutique, but, I have respect for your family and...even for you. I wouldn't...do anything here."

"Well, I can't trust that. You just turn your problem off whenever you want?" I ask her.

"No. I can't do that," she frowned.

"Then how do I know you won't feel like you want something out of the blue, and then bam, some of my mother's jewelry is missing?" I say accusingly.

"I don't get my urges in other people's houses. That's always been something off limits to me. I've always been strictly stores," she tried to explain.

"How much have you...borrowed?"

"A lot," she let out a bitter laugh. "I stopped counting. I gave up on keeping track."

"Do you think you'll ever stop?"

"I don't want to talk about this, Vonna. And I don't have to, unless this is how you want to spend the favor that I owe you, by forcing me to have this conversation," she said in a hard voice.

"Fine," I shrugged, a little bothered.

"Do you mind if I...?"

"If you're gonna smoke, you have to do it in the bathroom. Mine. My mother never goes in there, and the fan will air the smell out."

"Where's your room?"

"Down the hall to the...ugh, I'm coming anyways." I started to get up and Liberty sighed. "Jesus, I'm not gonna steal from your room. I'm not gonna steal at all. If I did, you'd know it was me. I'm not crazy."

"I don't have a right to not trust you in my room?"

Liberty rolled her eyes. "You have a point."

We left the game room, going into my bedroom and then to my bathroom. Liberty noticed the empty space in my room. "What's up with that? Late night rearranging your room?"

"My cousin was staying with us for awhile. I just hadn't mustered up enough energy to redo my room," I half lied.

"I can help you," Liberty shrugged.

I looked at her, trying to see if she was being serious.

"I mean, we're gonna be here for awhile. Why not? And that would keep you from having to do all that work by yourself," she stated. "We should just chill in the game room awhile first until we get bored."

"Well, are you gonna smoke first or what?"

"Smoke first," she said happily.

We both went into my bathroom, and I closed the door. Liberty shot me a weird look. "You tryna hit too? Otherwise, you don't need to watch me smoke," she rolled her eyes again. "It's not like I'd steal a bar of soap or some pads and shit."

I shrugged.

"What you shrugging to?" she asked.

"I mean, I'd like to try some. If you'd let me," I said, annoyed all of a sudden. "Sure. But you gon' stop catching an attitude with me," she smacked her lips.

"Bet. And who gonna stop me?" I stepped closer to her. Her eyes darted away from my face and she pulled out her weed pen. "Watch what I do, then you do it. This your first time?"

"Yeah," I blushed.

"Then don't inhale like you need life support, you have to start off slowly. You can't just jump into smoking. It's something gradual. You have to find where you're comfortable at. Your limit may not be the next person's limit, and that's fine."

"This is probably the most wise I've ever heard you be," I chuckled.

"Shut up and watch me," she snapped.

She laid some eye drops on the counter as she took in two short drags. "Like that. Inhale. Hold a little. Exhale. Put in the eye drops first though."

Ultimately, Liberty ended up having to put my eye drops in because I was struggling. My hands were shaking when it came my turn. "It's okay if you don't wanna-

I snatched it out of her hands and mimicked what she had done earlier. "Like that?" I coughed a little.

"Yeah. More or less," she laughed, her eyes a bit watery looking.

"Will this make me tell the truth like that stuff you had last night?" I asked, repeating what Liberty had done again, then exhaling.

"No. That was some other shit."

Silence.

"I guess you're still pretty cool. Just in a different way," I relented. "I'm so honored," she laughed.

I heard my mother out in the hall, so Liberty hurriedly put up her stuff. "C'mon. Let's go back to the game room and chill. It'll start settling in for you any moment now."

"What was your first time like?" I asked her, leaving my bathroom. "Oh, it was awhile back. I don't really remember," it looked like she was lying.

I turned away from her, heading out into the hall.

Did it hurt Liberty that much to be direct or straightforward? To tell the truth?

"If you start to get too high and your mom comes in," she said lowly as we entered the game room and I closed the door behind her, "just close your eyes and pretend you're asleep."

"I'm not sure ima be able to move shit around in my room after this," I commented, sinking into the bean bag. "You'll be fine," Liberty said, looking down at me as her voice seemed to echo.