Strawberries & Cigarettes

Chapter 29

June 14, 2015

Aurora sighs to herself, her heart pounding against her ribcage fast, smoothing her sweaty palms down the skirt of her mint floral dress.

"This is it... No turning back now..." She knocks on the door, releasing her forced smile. "Or should I go? No, no—"

Leilani swings open her wooden door, her eyelids droopy and eyebrows scrunched up together at the sight of Aurora at her doorstep.

"Oh, hi, Leilani..."

A pause.

Her fingers fiddle with her nails, not knowing whether to run away like a coward or stay and confront the consequences.

"Hey, Rora... Would you like to come in?"

She gives her a small nod and steps inside, a dimpled smile striking her face when Lucky sprints towards her and circles around her bare legs with a wagging tail.

Leilani combs through her brunette hair and turns to look at her, something missing in her eyes. "So, what's the reason for the random visit, Aurora?"

Her smile instantly drops and Aurora chews on her bottom lip, an invisible cord binding around her neck since she's grasping and gasping for the correct words to say.

Aurora might have to grasp at the seams of their friendship after this, she even senses she needs to right now.

The air becomes poisonous and too thick, she can't breathe it in.

Does Leilani have a feeling about Louis and Aurora's sexual encounters?

An inkling only a jealous woman with hawk eyes would have about someone she rages for?

"Well?"

"I need to tell you something..."

Her voice comes out powerless, how hypocritical of her to lavish on the mistakes she doesn't regret.

Leilani knits her eyebrows together again, crossing her arms and still standing by the closed door.

"It's about Louis and me..."

And there it is, the thing that was lacking in her eyes, the flames ignite and its spitting to burn.

"What about Louis and you?" she repeats, her voice clear and firm. "Tell me, Aurora, what about Louis and you?"

"W-we..."

I can't.

Her stomach churns and her tongue twists, her fingertips plucking at the gold jewels from her bracelet.

If she managed to confess to her best friend of years and years then she should have the metal-covered guts to tell Leilani.

She exhales, her heart might be out and beating above them since that's all she hears.

"I... I-I hooked up with Louis two times before we... Had sex on Friday," Aurora confesses, not making exact eye contact, and the room turns silent but deadly to her sanity.

The different emotions that flash through Leilani's features are too quick to capture, but it ends when her jaw tightens and she becomes boiling red.

She looks unstable on her feet but she's so rigid with her bulletproof defenses built high.

"Why, why, why the fuck, Aurora?"

Her words are venom, she paces in the same spot while she glances around and drags her hands through her hair but yanks at the roots.