𝑭𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑭𝒊𝒙𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 {𝘚𝘢𝘭 𝘍𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳}

Coffee? [4]

"The beat is beating you up
And you are part of my destiny
But I can't let go..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Me, Larry, and Todd are quietly sitting and waiting for Ash to convince Sal to join the voice chat. Apparently, the prick has never gotten angry enough to leave the chat before, so Ash is going nurse his bruised ego back to health. I laughed about it, but no one else found it that funny. I get it. I guess.

So I sit with my headset on and my arms crossed over my chest with Call of Duty's Warzone loaded on my screen. Todd and Larry haven't said a word-- I almost wonder if they're muted.

I hear some Discord notifications, then Ash's over-exaggerated sigh. I sit up quickly, uncrossing my arms as I prepare to get into another argument with Sally.

Instead of feeling remorseful or even guilty, I feel energetic to the point where I have to remind myself that stooping down to his level isn't a good thing. But it still feels so damn good.

"Alright everyone," Ash says. When she's serious, she always says 'alright' in that exhausted, slightly disappointed tone. "We're having a meeting. Call this therapy because, clearly, some of you fuckers need it!"

I hold my breath and my stomach turns with excitement as words just leave my mouth without command. "Yea, I'm sure Sally needs some therapy after that burn. It's okay, buddy. We all support you."

"Y/--" Ash chokes on the first syllable of my name and I hold my breath again, but this time it's not out of eagerness. Fuck, I guess that one was a warning for me to just shut the fuck up from the universe.

Thankfully, Ash spits out a random word that starts with the same sound as the beginning of my name. It's random enough and the others are used to it, so no one says anything.

"Dammit, Vi!" Ash tries again, a tremor in her voice. I gulp, chewing on my bottom lip anxiously. That was way too close, but it's my own fault. "This is serious. Sally's pissed off and the two of you are way too hostile. This needs to end, or tone it down a bit at least."

My mouth feels dry and sticky as the guilt I wasn't feeling earlier starts to pick at my brain. I don't want to feel bad because if anyone should feel bad, it's Sal. He's a dick to me for no reason and it's fueled every one of my reactions. That's exactly why we're having a damn group intervention right now.

But, then again, all we're doing is giving Ash, Larry, and Todd a hard time. I genuinely don't want to do that. I feel selfish realizing that I've ignored how they may be feeling over the situation.

I chew on my lip and try to bite back my pride because the truth of the matter is that I need to apologize. My insides burn and I swear I'll make my lip bleed, but it's for the good of the group, right? Sal will let up, and maybe we'll even become friends. Right?

"Sally," I say with a sigh, trying to push away the slight sarcasm that leaks through my words. Fuck, it physically pains me to have to do this. "Listen, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have... done or said what I did. Can we, maybe, start over?"

I hear a scoff. My eyes narrow and my head clears. It's a moment of clarity for me-- not quite an epiphany, but a full second of time where I accept reality. It's a point in my life where I ditch any original plan I had just come up with.

"Shut up," Sally's voice bites out. Then he sighs heavily. "You're not my friend and there is no do-over. The only thing that's saving you right now is that I refuse to let you tear apart everything me, Ash, Larry, and Todd have built up. You will not get in the way. You're just an obstacle on my righteous path of life." His voice is confident, even amused as he speaks rather than the instant aggression he originally addressed me with.