Frenemies

08

Stacie walks me up to her room and I stay quiet to give her space to talk. She stays silent for a long time, her eyes trained on her bedsheet that are still princess themed. I start to feel as though I should call up Grayson when her silence lengthens but then Stacie laughs. She doesn't stop laughing until after the tears flow out of her eye. 

"What happened?", I ask her to cross the distance and sit on the bed beside her. This wasn't laughter tears, this was something else.

"I don't know. So much. Nothing. I can't–"

"Just tell me one by one." 

"Well for one, I have severe pain once a month and I don't even have my own supplies so I have to ask Natalia for some product every month and just today, I ran out. I don't know how to navigate this without my mom." 

I give her hand an emphatic squeeze and say,"Where is she?" 

She wipes another tear from her eye, looking at me for a moment as if she is considering if she should tell me something but then she settles on, "Not here." 

"Right. Okay what else?" 

She hiccups,"And I went to a guy's house today just to talk but it seemed that all he wanted to do was touch me and I'm not ready for that." 

I nod,"Well, did he try anything?" 

"Yes", she looks at the horrified expression on my face and further expains,"But I told him no. And then he spent the rest of the hour ignoring me. And I felt stupid being there and I couldn't tell Natalia because she was hanging out with another guy and I didn't want to ruin her day." 

"And", she continues,"So I started to get into my feelings until eventually I started crying and wanted to go home. I tried to tell Natalia but she was so busy she didn't even look at me. And I–" 

"What happened next?" 

"And I freaked out in front of everybody until eventually the guys mom drove me home." 

"What about Natalia?" 

She lets out a sob and my heart hurts for her,"That's what I'm most sad about. She couldn't even look at me after my meltdown. She only stood by the guys and whispered to them like I wasn't her friend. Like she didn't know me. She didn't even say goodbye to me before I left." 

"Okay." I let her sit with her thoughts for a couple of minutes. After that, I tug on her hand and say,"Okay, so first of all, I'll talk to Grayson about your products, and he—"

"It's too awkward, please don't." 

"But I think I should tell him. As far as I know, he takes care of you guys, and he needs to know." I don't know much about his home life, but I do know that his parents aren't home. Maybe they are abroad, working.

"Okay, but if he comes talk to me, I'm afraid I'll have another freak-out", she laughs, choking at the end. 

"That's okay", I say gently and then say,"I'll tell him that I've got it. If you need to talk to me, I'll ask your brother to give you my number and you can even come over if you want, I only live a couple of blocks away." 

"Okay", she sniffles. I then shift closer to her to let her know that this is most important part,"Don't think about the guy. And from what I've gathered, you are not ready for that. That's okay, take your time. And for Natalia, let yourself cool off for the day and try texting her tomorrow. I think a little private conversation between the two of you will be helpful." 

"Thank you", she says, surprising me by throwing her arms around me. From the time I've known her, she has been closed of so this suprised me.  I hug her back tighter and let her continue sobbing on me. Eventually, she pulls away and looks at me with tired eyes,"I think I need a nap."