Another Lifetime

Chapter 11

DeAnna Kastell

Jessie and I hadn't spoken all day. I half expected her not to meet me at the mall after school, since she finished the day before me.

"We're best friends, Dee, just tell me the truth," she said and that was fair.

"Let's get coffee," I said and we walked towards Starbucks. "Griffin and I met in Prison not Art therapy," I told her, first step to being totally honest with my best friend.

"A Venti caramel iced mocha and a grande coffee frappechino," I said and used my card to pay for both.

"What did you go in for?" She asked me.

"Class E felony Computer trespass bumped down to Class A misdemeanour," I told her, "I started using before I went in and bought off a gang, the Kings, when I went in," I said and fiddled with my fingers.

"Let me guess, Griffin is in the Kings," she said and I didn't look up.

"He left the Kings when he got out on parole," I told her and looked up, "think he pulled in his last favours to get paroled here," I said and I genuinely did. I didn't know how else he'd manage it because his main residence was in the capital.

"So how exactly did you guys meet?" Jessie asked me.

"I'd bought from the Kings that day and it'd been cut with rat poison, Xavier had been keeping an eye on me because I was this pretty little untouched newbie who clearly had a bad drug problem," I told her and unbuckled my watch to show the poorly healed track marks underneath my graffiti tag.

"He found me before I hit up with it, saved my life that day and something happened between us, couldn't tell you what but there was something there between us, a spark or whatever you want to call it," I said and this was awkward to discuss.

"What happened next?" Jessie asked me.

"A fourteen nearly fifteen year old cyber criminal junkie and a sixteen year old gang lieutenant had excellent underage sex in a juvie shower," I said quietly and I wasn't sure if she'd caught it but I was hoping she had because I didn't want to say it again.

"What?" She asked, meaning she hadn't heard it.

"Underage fucking in a shower with no protection in prison," I told her slightly louder. "I got out about a month before him and starting using again, sleeping with whoever could get me the highest quality dope until he got out and got me clean," I told her and went to go get our coffees to go.

"So you're the ex-girlfriend he's still crazy about?" She asked me.

"I'm still crazy about him," I told her, "I was talking to Adrien about it the other night, get some advice from a fellow junkie on love," I said and took a sip of my coffee.

"What advice did he give you?" She asked me.

"He said that Xavier is a great love that I'm trying to run from and that Brian wouldn't know what a great love is," I said and took another sip, "said I should just break up with his brother and get back together with X," I told her and she dragged me into a little boutique shop, that she couldn't afford but I would buy her dress because of all the lies I'd told her over the past year.

"Have you guys done anything since he's showed up in your life again?" She asked me.

"He kissed me that morning I ran out of class when he first showed up here," I told her, "and I crashed at his that night I told you about my addiction because someone had broken into my house and I trust him to keep me safe," I added, not mentioning the sex because she would not approve of the whole technically cheating thing, and looked at a dark blue dress that was hanging up in front of me.