Before You

1

Saturn's pov

"Did you hear about Chandler?" My childhood best friend Avery said as we sat in the back of an Uber.

"No," I say sinking in my chair and placing my knees against the back of the seat in front of me.

"Basically, he was texting hella people and asking them for nudes and shit."

"Doesn't he have a girlfriend?" Says my friend Nino, who was sitting in the passenger seat.

"Exactly! Her name is Emma I think. But she found out because she looked through his phone or something, so she had the receipts and everything. She rightfully dumped him, but guess what this fucking bitch boy did?" We look at her with a 'just say it already' look. "He got on his knees and begged! The cunt begged for her to take him back. And she did." She falls back, as if she fainted.

"Are you serious?" I say as I adjust myself.

"That's not even the worst part." She said with a huge smile on her face "The whole time he was talking to guys! The motherfucker is gay!"

"What the fuck!" Nino yelped "I so would've hit that."

"Shut up," I say slapping his shoulder while letting out a a small laugh.

She nods her head pressing her lips together "Yeah, basically what happened was people they would party with, found out that she took him back and called her crazy. Thinking that she knew of course, and she was so confused. Then bam! They showed her photos of all the guys he was hooking up with at parties. Girl it was crazy, I think Rebecca posted the confrontation video on Twitter, I'll send it to you later."

We all have a moment of silence, till Nino speaks up. "I do feel bad for her because getting cheated on sucks, obviously but it also sucks that he was too scared to come out and then get exposed like that." We just nod in agreement as the car starts to slow down signaling we reached our destination. As I hopped out of the car we thanked the driver and made sure to tip and give him 5 stars. We were at Washington Square Park to meet up with some friends. As we walk through the park searching for our friends, I suddenly hear my name. I turn around with my hand blocking the sun from straining my vision, to notice Giovanni running towards us with the rest of the group behind him.

"Hi, Gio!" I say with a big smile, he recently returned from study abroad a few weeks ago and it's our first time seeing each other in months. He holds his arms out and gives all three of us a big hug. "I've missed you guys so much I almost died!" He says before letting us go but swiftly making sure his arm stays around my shoulder. The rest of the group walks up to us, which includes: Bryce who is Nino's boyfriend, and Annalise who is Avery and I's school friend whom we met a few years back.

Bryce immediately walks up to Nino gives him a peck on the lips then gives us a quick side hug before he goes right back to Nino, where he will be for the rest of the day. Annalise gives us a quick greeting because we saw each other the day before. It was nice to see everyone again, well almost everyone.

"Where's Julio?" Annalise ask

"He's at work, he gets off at 6 so maybe we can go pick him up once he's finished," I say, Annalise gives me a quick side look that I was able to catch. I then glanced at Avery to see if she caught it and best believe she looked right back at me to confirm. I met Julio in my chemistry class, he's very introverted and it was hard to talk to him at first. We were partnered up during class since we sat next to each other and exchanged maybe 10 words in a year. I eventually asked him to hang out and introduced him to the group. He still doesn't talk much but I know he's a bit happier now that he has people that care about him and his well-being.

----

After walking around with no motive, picking up Julio, going out to eat, and doing dumb stuff. We called it a night. "It's my turn to call the Uber right?" Nino asks, since Nino, Avery, and I don't live far from each other we take turns paying for Ubers. I nod. "Why is the train too dirty for you pretty Upper East Side girlies?" Gio jokes.

"Yes actually, and what about it? Peasants like you won't understand" Avery claps back, crossing her arms. Annalise decides to butt in, saying "Imagine, that could never be me. Subway girl till I die, plus it's so much cheaper. What are you using anyways, Daddy's credit card?" She remarks. Suddenly there's a silence, I steal a glance from Avery and Nino.

"We can take the subway, we've been taking it since we were like 5. It's just now that we have adult money from our adult jobs, we might as well use it up till the next paycheck." I say, emphasizing adult. "Plus even if we do take the train, we aren't even going the same way. Yall is going downtown, the only person going our way is Julio and even then we have to transfer."

"I like the subway." Julio says, "Atta boy!" Gio says as he swings his arm around Julio's shoulders. "You can't leave poor Julio on the subway all by himself could ya? He's probably so scared! Right Jay Money?" Julio stays quiet.

We ended up taking the subway.

---

As I walked through my front door, I noticed my dad and his fiance Livia weren't in the living room where they usually are. I close the door behind me and start to search for them, I catch them in the kitchen having a quiet conversation. "You're gonna have to tell her babes, sooner rather than later. If you wait until the last minute she won't be able to say her goodbyes and cherish what she has right now." Livia says as she rubs my father's arm.

"I know, but this is a big change you have to understand that. She knows nothing but the city, the life she lives here will never slide over there. She would have to change and that's not something a 17-year-old girl can do so easily." He responds, I take a few steps back and then walk back to them with loud steps to announce myself. They immediately adjust themselves and act like nothing happened. "Ah, sweeties when did you get here? I didn't hear the door?" He asks

"Like a few seconds ago, what's for dinner?" I say opening the fridge to see if there is anything edible. There was a little bit of silence. "What happened to all of the groceries? We need to get some more." I mention

"We're ordering in today. Like a little movie night." Livia says I felt my body warm up. I knew that they would tell me what they were discussing early during this movie night. "How about Thai? That sounds good, right? I'll order our usual."

When my dad first told me about Livia I was excited and happy for him, I mean that's what a good daughter would feel after having your mother abandon you. Livia never forced the mother role onto me, she let me move at my own pace but made sure when it came to disciplining me she handed that over to my father.

As my dad answered the door to get the food, me and Livia were on the couch picking out a movie. "Is it bad?" I say, looking at her. She looked confused until she locked eyes with me, she knew I knew. "Depends if you're ready for change." She responds, my dad walks in and places the food on the coffee table. We ate in silence as MID90s played on the TV. Once it was over I stretched out my body releasing a yawn. "Dessert?" Livia says, sitting up and heading to the kitchen not looking for a response.

I set up and adjusted the blanket knowing what was about to happen. "Saturn." My father begins, I look at him with somewhat knowing eyes scared for what was to come. Scared that the life I built and maintained here would come crashing down with a single sentence.