Adrenaline.

9.

N I N E

✧

"What did you do to your hair?!" Beverly shrieked as she flicked her cigarette in my candle's lid. Sighing, I shook my head and became extremely annoyed as the smoke seeped into my nostrils. Rolling my eyes, I shrugged my shoulders.

"It looks great and all, but really, what the fuck? Are you having a manic episode again?" she questioned as she took another drag. She mumbled something under her breath and laughed to herself, as if me being manic was something to joke about.

"I'm fine. Really. I just needed change," I confessed as I reached over, attempting to grab her cigarette. Smacking my hand away, she sent me the dirtiest look. "You don't smoke," she stated.

"I know. I just need... something... right now," I muttered as I reached over again. With a defeated expression on her face, she handed over the cigarette and I eagerly grabbed it from her hand. I brought it to my lips lightly and began to inhale. I exhaled softly and took another hit, and then another. My head began to tingle and mimicked the sensation of a balloon—air was swirling around in my brain, making me feel high for just a few moments.

"Give me that," Beverly demanded as she reached over and plucked the cigarette that was resting softly between my fingers. I looked at her for a moment, not knowing what to say. Then, an idea popped into my head.

—Lightbulb!

"You know Justin, right?" I asked as I sent her a nervous look. Her face twisted up in confusion and she glared at me as if I was a mythical creature. "No," she croaked out as she parted her lips, allowing smoke to soar through the air.

For a second, she paused, and then looked at me like she just had the biggest epiphany. She raised her eyebrow and smirked at me. "Describe this Justin character," she insisted. I looked at her for a moment and got tangled up in my thoughts—feeling sad for a moment as a beautiful picture of his face painted itself in my head.

"He has dark hair, marvelous hazel eyes—which is surprising because I'm usually not a fan of brownish eyes—and he's extremely built. He has multiple tattoos and one on his face, but I'm not exactly sure what it's significant to," I explained, "the tattoo says 'Angel'," I added.

She leaned her head back, erupting into fits of giggles and laughter. I already knew that she was going to make fun of him, judging by her expression, and for some reason it bothered me. "Oh...him," she said as she laughed again.

"What?" I snapped. I scrunched my face up and she looked over at me, shaking her head.

"That boy—"

"Man." I corrected, feeling somewhat defensive and I had no idea why.

"He's insane—like actually. He stays out every night, strutting around like he's big shit. There's not a moment where he's sober. He's always on something. His favorites seem to be MDMA, cocaine, weed, and lean. His parents kicked him out because he would go ballistic over anything and everything, resulting in multiple holes all over his house. Nobody can handle him besides his small circle, and even they can't handle him sometimes. All Bender does is walk around, looking for trouble. He also has this thing where he manages to stick his dick into any hole he finds. He's just... too much," she babbled, her eyes widened with every sentence as if she couldn't believe the words she was uttering.

"Bender?" I asked confused, looking at her with complete shock painted all over my face. My heart was thudding loudly. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.