𝙇 𝙄 𝘽 𝙀 𝙍 𝘼𝙏 𝙀 𝘿

23 L I B E R A T E D 23

23 L 23

"I guess smoking isn't thattt bad," Vonna told me.

"Hey," I shrugged, smirking. "I tried to tell ya."

I was on her PlayStation while she watched me fail again and again. I was starting to get bored but I knew that neither of us had the energy to move anything around in her room.

"You wanna talk about last night?"

"I'd rather not," I laughed, being sarcastic.

"Well, we both know you meant what you said. That much was clear," she stated.

"Who are your friends?" I asked out of the blue.

"Don't really have none."

"Not even A'livia?" I asked.

"I have a lot of acquaintances," she explained vaguely. "She's one of them. No disrespect."

"Well, I had a friend group at some point. But they're the ones I was tryna prove a point to. I guess I can see that they're good people now, I just...maybe going back to being friends with them isn't even a good move now anyways. They all...steal too," I explained. "A'livia's my best friend now, but even she doesn't know about my problem yet."

"Are you embarrassed?"

"How many times are you gonna ask me that?"

"Until you become embarrassed. Psychological training. It might help in your quest to stop," she explained.

"Sure."

The room got quiet again.

"Do you want to be my friend, by any chance?"

"I guess. We kind of started off rocky, but I can mold you into friend material," I joked.

"Well, then friends tell each other secrets. Secrets that they keep." Vonna managed to get up and turned off the PlayStation. "Tell me a secret."

"You already know my biggest one," I shrugged, following her body across the room. She pulled her bean bag up and sat in front of me, right underneath the television.

"Tell me another then. And I'll tell you one."

"You go first," I avoided her eyes.

"Fine." Vonna thought for a moment, staring off into space. "I'm curious about how it feels to steal."

"Vonna," I sat up straighter. "Don't let my bad decisions influence you to do some crazy shit, bruh."

"And...I also like when you say my name like that," she added. I ignored what she said under her breath. "No. No," I stood up, "Vonna, promise me that you will never try to do anything like that."

"Why not, you do it? And, it's just a small thought I've always had. It isn't because of you. I've just always been curious on why people do it. It doesn't mean that I will."

"I've come to realize, with being caught by you and all, that sometimes just because other people do it doesn't mean that you should," I stated. "So since you don't want to ever steal, promise me that you won't, Vonna."

"Fine. I promise that I'll never steal," she rolled her eyes, "But since we're making promises, you have to promise me something too."

"Is this where your favor comes in?"

"No. You're gonna be promising me this out of the good of your heart. I'm still holding onto my favor."

"So what is it?" I rolled my eyes, sitting back down.

"Promise me that you'll cut back on stealing until you stop altogether," she said softly. "That's hard, Vonna," I started. "And instead of continuing to judge you, I'll help you along your journey," she added.

"Okay. Okay, I'll try," I took in a deep breath.

"Now, back to our conversation," she smirked.

"No. I don't wanna talk about that," I groaned.

"Friends share secrets," she reminded me.

"Did you ask to be my friend just so that we could tell each other secrets? Just so that we could talk about last night?" I rolled my eyes.

"No. But that was a small reason why," she scoffed.

"Well, I don't think we should talk about it. Obviously, I was under some bad influence," I chuckled, "and what I said doesn't mean anything."

"Fine. But if you wanna talk about it at any point," she trailed off. "I probably won't," I told her. "Then, I'm here to listen," she finished.