Between You, Him & I.

| Two. |

"Didn't they tell you not to mix business with pleasure?" -Unknown. | And of course, I'm doing that exact opposite.

- - -

'Jamie, I know this is going to be hard for you to understand, and it's even harder for me to say. But I have something to get off my chest. I slept with Luis.'

"No, that doesn't even sound right." Rikki scoffed, ripping the used piece of paper out of her notebook and shooting it into the recycling can by the door. Missed. She let out a low aggravated breath, running her hands over her face in frustration at her failed attempt. She had spend the entire beginning half of her lunch break at work, trying to write a letter to her best friend. Informing her of all the nasty and dirty details that had went down with her husband a week before when he went to Rikki's apartment to fix her air conditioning.

But of course, she had no luck getting her words out. Telling your best friend that you slept with her husband was never going to be easy, especially with all the guilt that had been eating away at Rikki for the past 8 days. She never had a best friend before. And clearly, was bad at it.

"Miss Santana?" A light voice came from her door, a knock following as Rikki picked her head up from her palms.

"Come in." She called out, her voice not even attempting o sound pleasant as she tried straightening up the paperwork scattered across her desk. The classroom door widened seconds later and in walked Ethan, a 13 year old boy that she had been reteaching health to every day in summer school while his actual assigned educator was out sick. She hated being a middle school substitute with every fiber of her being, especially in the summer, but it beat the last job she had by a long shot.

A stripper.

The nightlife was dark. And honestly, she couldn't hate on her provocative dancing that much. It paid her bills, but it was also where she had met Jamie in the first place. She was bartending a few nights at club Echo to help pay for her son Lucas's baseball equipment in the spring and became instant friends with Rikki in the few weeks of knowing each other.

Jamie was who even bothered to turn her stripper of a best friend into a decent working woman and that made Rikki feel even worse about what she had done with her husband. Jamie was the only person who cared about her. Especially since both of her parents passed away and left her all alone in this world. Jamie was all Rikki had.

The thought that she could betray her like she did made her sick to her stomach.

"Yes, Ethan? What do you want?" She stopped her train of thought, turning to the preteen boy still in the doorway.

"I just wanted to come by and tell you that I reported you to Principal Grant." Ethan's voice cracked, a smirk tugging on the end of his lips.

"Like I give a damn," Rikki mumbled, stopping the bounce on her leg and gripping the pen in her right hand as she glared at the troublemaker. "You reported me to the principal for what reason?"

Ethan crossed his arms over his cheap old navy T-shirt. "What you said to me this morning."

Rikki sighed, remembering what she had said to the young boy earlier in the day. In her defense, the kid deserved it. Complaining about how a woman's menstrual cycle couldn't be that much of a big deal. So of course, she had to let him have it. It was in human nature that she did. But Ethan, being the immature 8th grader he was, went first thing to the school principal to report the teacher who had put him in his place. Rikki dropped the pen on the desk, pointing her index finger out the classroom door. "Whatever, Ethan. Please excuse yourself out of my classroom now."