THE INEVITABLE │ t.h

ELEVEN

"You were at Tom's for quite some time," Jocelyn chuckles over the phone. Venus rolls her eyes, continuing to carry her glass of wine over to the couch. "I know you're rolling your eyes at me."

"How?" Venus retorts, grinning.

"Um, I'm your best friend, duh," Jocelyn remarks. "Also you're silent, and I just felt the energy of your sass through the phone."

"Ha ha," Venus deadpans, seating herself in a criss-cross-applesauce position.

"Seriously, you left to babysit at 2, stayed for dinner, and ended up coming home at 9." Venus remained silent, staring down into the red liquid that she held in her hand. "Vee?"

"We're just friends, Joss," Venus huffs. "He has a daughter he has to think about besides himself. He needs to think about what's good for her as well as for him. Dating is probably not on his mind."

"I doubt it," Jocelyn remarks, "but whatever."

"How's it going?" Venus questions, trying her best to avoid an awkward or tense silence.

"It's alright," Jocelyn sighs. "She's started off good so far though — the second round is a lot easier than the first."

"Really?" Venus quizzes.

"Kind of," Jocelyn softly responds. "I just wish she could get out of here, and we could go out and get drunk."

"I'm sorry, Joss." Venus sipped on her wine. "Want me to come?"

"No," Jocelyn sighs. "I mean I would enjoy your company, but visiting hours are up, and I just need some alone time to process everything."

"Okay," Venus softly replies. "Do you want to go then?"

"Sure," Jocelyn responds. "Have a fun night drinking wine and watching Baby Daddy." Venus's cheeks warmed.

"How'd you know-"

"I'm your best friend," Jocelyn interjects, already knowing what she was going to say before Venus questioned her.

"I love you, Joss," Venus speaks.

"I love you too, Vee."

"Sleep well. Text or call me if you need anything, alright?"

"I will. Goodnight, bestie."

Venus exhaled heavily as she placed her phone beside her on the couch cushion, gulping down the rest of her wine before taking the bottle that sat in front of her on the coffee table and skipping the step of pouring the liquid into a glass.

She chugs from the bottle as she watches her television set. Her heart aches as her mind wanders and only thinks about Tom. What he was doing right now, how he was feeling, if he missed her as much as she missed him. She drank more wine as she felt her desperateness deepen.

"I need something stronger," she groans, setting the bottle of wine down on the coffee table before raiding her alcohol cabinet to find the half-full Vodka bottle. She shrugged as she flung the cap off, downing the contents gulp by gulp, making sour faces in between. "Fuck."