totally clueless - e. tiscia

XIV

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(edit: sexual content has been since deleted)

I'm back at home late in the afternoon wearing Elton's shirt and a pair of blue, Nike track pants from my emergency set of clothes I keep in my car. The smell of burning food hits me in the face as I walk through the front door. I throw my dress in a hamper in the laundry room before following the scent. In the kitchen, a blackened, smoking cookie roll rests on top of the stove. What the hell? I dispose of the log and shake my head. Cher is nowhere in sight, so I dig through the refrigerator until I find some strawberries in a carton. I wash and slice a few, plating them. I find some bacon as well. Perfect. I haven't eaten since Elton took me to lunch at our go-to diner.

Just when my bacon starts sizzling on my frypan, I hear a commotion from upstairs. Cher is home. Her and another's footsteps clatter down the stairs, pausing at the front door.

"You're great," Christian's voice says. "We're still friends, right?"

Did Cher actually have sex with him?

When I hear the door close, I call out to her. "Cher?"

"Sam?!" She exclaims. "Where have you been all day?" She storms into the kitchen. She's dressed to the nines and her hair is done up. That's a definite no on the sex thing.

I lean against the marble counter. "What's it to you? You don't talk to me anymore."

She crosses her arms. "If you wanted me to talk to you, you would've stopped seeing Elton and apologized to Tai."

"I would've apologized to Tai if you didn't hustle her away from me whenever I tried." I flip my bacon. "And if you were a good sister, you would care more about my happiness than the relationship status of a girl you've known for a few months."

I think I've finally struck a nerve. But Cher is too prideful to admit it.

I plate up my bacon, patting the excess grease off with a paper towel. "Bacon?" I offer sweetly.

"You think you're such a saint but really you're just a sad homewrecker with no friends."

Low blow, sis. I'm tired of listening to her play offense. "And for some reason, you can't admit when you're wrong. I don't know why you think I'd care about the opinion of a virgin with flat hair."

And with that, I take my plate of strawberries and bacon, and walk out the back door, into the night air.

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At lunch the next week, Cher and I still haven't made up. Our lunch group is at a divide. I eat with Elton, Summer, and her new boyfriend, Charlie. I've gotten a lot closer with Summer. I like that she isn't fake like Amber. And, I like that she was on mine and Elton's side when Cher told the rest of our friend group what happened. Now, all the buzz is that Tai almost got kidnapped by mobsters. That can't be right, she was at the mall with Cher. I may not be near Tai, but I can tell the attention is getting to her head. I watch as she kicks Travis to the side like a sad puppy. As he dejectedly walks away, I can almost see a flicker of humility in Cher's face. She looks conflicted. How strange it must feel for her to not be the center of attention for once.

I look around at the four of us at our table, equally balanced. Charlie's arm is wrapped around Summer's shoulders. Elton and I hold hands over my thigh. Summer and I gossip about dramatic teachers. Elton and Charlie debate whether or not Dallas should've won the Super Bowl last year.

For the first time, I'm glad to not be attached to Cher by the hip. All I was doing was standing in her shadow.

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Cher needs to woman up fr.

QOTD: [since deleted]

xx ⸺viv