BOUND 2 (GxG)

It's Thanksgiving, Babe

"Don't forget the Thanksgiving party tomorrow night," Davis said, chewing on his usual cool ranch Doritos.

Cher nodded quickly, "My parents leave town right after dinner—so I'm definitely in."

"I'm in too," Karter said, staring down at her phone while her arm remained resting on the back of my chair.

Cher and Davis looked over to me, and almost as if on queue, Karter looked up too, her hazel eyes staring over at me.

I blinked a few times, "Oh, no I'm good—I really just want to chill this weekend."

It was a lie—and a constant lie at that.

Since that Halloween party and after the phone call with my mom, who I still haven't heard from since, I've been slowly spiraling further into self-destruction.

Isolating myself whenever I got the chance, barely talking, and just overall remaining closed off.

I didn't want to—trust me, I've tried but it's like some inner part of me throws a tantrum whenever I get relatively close to opening back up.

It's like this little voice in my head, swearing that I deserve to be alone—that I'm better off that way.

And all I want to do is scream—cry even.

Cher narrowed her dark eyes, "That's what you've said for the past ten parties, Lo."

"Yeah, come on," Davis urged, which only made me shake my head further.

"I'm good, seriously," I said, forcing a smile to hopefully reassure them that I was telling the truth when in reality it was a lie.

I'd be spending all day cuddled up in my bed with millions of blankets—sleeping until I finally woke up to get on my phone, before falling back asleep again.

I knew this whole spiral would go away, and it always did eventually, but for some reason, I felt stuck in it a little deeper this time.

"Just let her be—she doesn't have to come," Karter said, sticking up for my desire to be left alone.

Even though she sticks up for me, and we remain sucked into this fake relationship with an ongoing bet—It feels like I don't even know Karter anymore.

Like we've spent so much time apart these past few weeks, that I wouldn't begin to even know how to talk to her.

It's odd—as quickly as we got close, is as quickly as we fell back apart.

I sighed, standing from my chair, which earned three pairs of eyes on me. "I have some homework to catch up on, so I'll talk to you guys later," I said, sliding the chair in. I looked over to Karter, whose hazel eyes were already locked on me, "I'm swamped with papers so I probably won't make it to videography today," I told her.

Karter nodded hesitantly, almost as if she were contemplating her next words, but she quickly forced out a sigh, "Sounds fine to me, babe."

There's the mocking nickname—which ironically enough doesn't even feel mocking anymore. It just feels sad.

I adjusted my book bag on my back, "Cool," I said, backing away, but Cher quickly halted me, standing from her chair.

"No, not cool," Cher said, holding up her manicured finger at me before motioning toward the hallways, "We're going to talk," she said, which made my eyes briefly close with irritation.

The last thing I wanted to do was talk.

"I'll be back," Cher said, walking over to me, which reluctantly made me walk with her toward the hallways.