Die Without You - L.P

Chatter

"Why don't we just go to the bar in Dover? It's so much bigger."

Amy gritted her teeth until she thought they would disintegrate and shook off Sara's hand. She'd known from the beginning this would be a bad idea, but Sara was a tornado when she wanted to be, and Amy had been swept up in her unpredictable crosswinds.

"Why are you ignoring me?" she whined, latching onto Amy once more.

"Because you're annoying the fuck out of me," she growled shortly.

Sara stopped in her tracks in the middle of the semi-crowded room, bumping into a large man with an even larger gut. He sent her a venomous glare before continuing on his way.

"Why are you being so mean to me?" she questioned pitifully. "I'm always so nice to you."

Amy simply looked at her with a blank expression.

"I bought you McDonalds two days ago, and this is how you repay me? Am I the only one involved in this friendship? Because it feels like I am. I mean, you could buy me lunch sometime. Maybe not McDonalds, cuz I hate their-"

"Please stop talking," Amy groaned in desperation. Irritation was ballooning in her chest, causing her to squirm in her spot. "I'll do anything."

"You could get me Starbucks."

Amy rolled her eyes until it actually started to hurt.

"Or you could smile for once."

Amy felt something coil itself around the pit of her stomach. The irritation was gone, replaced by a void in which Sara's words echoed. Did she really smile so rarely? She could see no benefit from hanging out with someone who was never happy. Why was Sara even friends with her if she was so utterly depressing?

And could she smile? A real genuine smile that held warmth and joy and affection and all those things that smiles are supposed to have. Not just an empty one pasted on to appease anyone who bothered to pry. Sara deserved more than that. She didn't think - no, she knew she wasn't capable of that. It was too difficult to draw that amount of light from the darkness residing within her.

"I'll get your Starbucks tomorrow," Amy muttered resignedly.

Sara's face dropped, and disappointment mingled with sorrow for her broken friend. Without another word, they both made their way over to the bar and sat on adjacent stools. Amy noticed that Sara was sitting in Liam's usual spot but said nothing. Hopefully, he wouldn't even be coming today.

Soon, George sidled up to the counter, hair falling in his eyes as usual. Next to her, Sara let out a muffled squeak, but Amy quickly dismissed it as her friend's typical theatrics and faced George.

"Hey, Amy," he sighed in the exhausted manner she'd become accustomed to. She nodded in reply.

He shifted to look at Sara and a small grin curled across his features. "Oh, hey, Sara. I haven't seen you since high school. How've you been?"

Amy glanced at Sara and was surprised to see her friend as red as the maroon stools they'd seated themselves on. Sara's hands were curled so tightly around the countertop that it seemed her fingers would splinter, fragments of bone poking through skin.

"Good," she replied, but her voice cracked in an almost comical way. Amy raised an eyebrow but opted not to comment on this odd behavior. It wasn't as if Sara had ever been a normal girl anyway.

"What'll it be today?" George asked, supressing a yawn. 

"Same as always," she replied.

"And you?" He gave Sara the easy, charming smile that had won the heart of every girl back in the day and still could if he bothered to try.