Pressure [hs au]

5 - Alleviate

Word count: 3372

Valerie and I went to far too many stores in the past few hours. Once we got to the main mall, I saw a Lush for the first time. And let me tell you, I nearly peed my pants. It was just too perfect. I got several different bath bombs.

The thing is though, I never really take baths. And now I've got 5 bath bombs.

I didn't want to carry too many bags from our shopping trip today, and it was getting too heavy for my weak ass arms, so I made Valerie take me back to the car so we could take a load off. 

There was one department store near our homes back in Green Bay where we could buy clothes our size, so you could imagine how happy Valerie was for an apparel construction major.

Anything we have that is relatively cool had to be bought online, which of course started an argument with our parents about our 'reckless spending'. If only they saw us now.

I felt pretty cool while walking around with Val. I had always seen stores like American Apparel and Forever 21 etc etc online back home, but wearing clothes from those stores would give you too many weird looks. I'd probably be deemed a slut if I wore half of what I bought today back home. Which is odd to me because I didn't even get anything too revealing compared to some things I saw people selling. 

Once Valerie was finally exhausted from all the walking, we found a Starbucks nearby to sit in. She had been telling me about how after we parted ways last night her ex boyfriend had texted her asking for nudes. 

I scoff and roll my eyes at all the right parts of her story, sipping on my iced peach green tea lemonade. What can I say, Harry got me hooked.

"It just pisses me off how you can know a guy for so long, and then he randomly turns into the biggest fuck boy in the world!" She exclaims, angrily sipping on her coffee drink. I hold back a laugh at how over dramatic she was being. The guy she was talking about had a reputation for breaking hearts.

"It's a good thing you broke up with him then." I sigh. Why can't I just break up with Jason?

"True. He didn't deserve all this anyways." She motions up and down her body and I chuckle lightly, tapping my fingers lightly on my thigh. Anxious. Thinking about relationships makes me anxious. And stressed. Definitely stressed.

"Abby? Holy shit Abby, you're breaking out in hives." Dammit. I look down at my arms and sure enough, several little welts are breaking out randomly across my skin. "Are you stressing over something? You're not allergic to your drink, right?" She asks, voice raising in panic. 

"Val, Val, it's fine, I'm fine okay?" I say, trying to calm her down. The last thing I need is for her to cause a scene in the middle of a crowded Starbucks. "Yeah, I'm just stressed right now, but I'm fine it happens." I say in a soothing tone. Damn my sensitive skin. I blame my mom, she's the palest ginger you've ever seen, and my Dad is one of the tannest Italians in Green Bay and somehow I got stuck with his thick hair and my Moms sensitivity. I pull my jacket back on, hiding my soft olive colored arms. 

"Jesus Christ, I get so freaking worried." She sighs, relaxing back into her seat. 

"I know, I'm sorry." I apologize, leaning against the back of my chair as well.  We sit quietly for a moment, each of us quietly sipping on our drinks or checking texts. 

"So, what's stressing you out? Must be pretty big if you got hives from it." Val says, not looking up from her phone. 

"It's uh, I don't know, I don't want to talk about it." I mutter. That is a shit excuse. She is going to grill me until she knows. Shoot. I don't have to look up at her to know that she is staring at me. Probably annoyed somewhat.