Jourdan Mathews has a secret, and she knows she needs to take this one to the grave.
* * *
Her life was never complicated: a college student with a close family, good friends, and a plan for her future as a doctor. Had that night had never happened...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Jourdan!"
I wince as my name is called across our apartment for a third time. My fingers scramble with the last section of hair I am currently flat ironing, running a brush through it before I give myself a final once over.
"I'm coming, one second!" I call back to Andee, one of my better friends and roommate this year. Even if my life has turned down a new path that doesn't change the facts of my everyday reality, and in this reality I'm a college senior who is late for Justin's birthday party.
"We're gonna be late," She calls back. "Again!"
I shake my head, laughing to myself. It's true, she, I and our third roommate Bex are almost always very late to any event we're invited to. Tonight, though is really no time to be late because Justin is going to chew us out the second we get there.
"I know, I'll be right there!" I shout back, raising an eyebrow at myself in the mirror, turning left and then right, making sure to get a good look at all angles of my outfit. The black bodysuit and high waisted jeans I'd dawned this evening are good enough, and with one final rearrangement of my gold chain necklace, I am ready.
Switching the flatiron off, I grab my phone, and then I exit the bathroom. Bex is in a panic, running around the living room as I round the corner and she looks up at me, eyes wide.
"Have you seen my Juul?" She asks, and I shake my head, giggling.
"Nope," I say, moving to our coat closet and grabbing my old pair of black, platform Doc Martens. "Have you checked the car?"
"No, but I know it's in here," She huffs, tossing a few throw pillows to the ground as she dives into the couch cushions. "Ah hah!"
"Oh my god, those pillows do not go on the floor!" Andee appears just then, from where she'd been flicking the lights off in our kitchen, as Bex stands victorious, Juul in hand. I give a courtesy golf clap for Bex as Andee rolls her eyes.
"I'm putting them back, don't worry." Bex says, picking them up and tossing them back onto our couch. "Plus, you'll be happy to hear that I am ready now that I've found my Juul."
"I am also ready," I say, grinning at both of them as I stand up, having finished lacing up my boots. "After this first week of classes, I need to get wasted tonight."
"Me too," Andee nods. "Justin already said it's fine if we crash on the futon in his basement."
"Thank god." Bex comments and I nod.
"Alright, let's go then." Andee says, sliding on a pair of Vans and grabbing her car keys. Bex bounds over to us from where she'd been standing in the living room. We all look over our apartment one last time before we're out the front door, turning the lock in the keypad and walking down the sidewalk in front of our unit to Andee's black Subaru on the street.
