Pepper never meant to lose her best friend. Lucas never meant to fall in love.
Yet the aftermath of broken hearts leads them to blur the lines of their friendship forever. When Pepper is dumped by her boyfriend and Lucas is led on by his crush, they...
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MY FINGERS SHAKE as I thread the needle through the fabric, patching up the torn stitching on a pair of pants. How can I help Lucas? What can save our friendship? Sweat builds up on my fingers. The needle slips and the end pierces my skin. "Ouch," I hiss for the fifth time. I place the punctured spot between my lips and wait for the pain to fade.
A week of my existence has been spent swallowed up in the theatre department restitching costume designs for the upcoming musical. Auditions start in thirty minutes and I have absolutely nothing else to do. That's what happens when you center your world around your best friend.
My wrists shake. The lines of my vision blur the harder I stare at the fabric.
I haven't seen Lucas or Mason in over a week. These costumes and the faces of fellow theatre aspirants lingering around practicing monologues and songs for auditions have been the only things to provide me company.
An idea has yet to come forth about my situation with Lucas. How can I make him see that I'm not interested? That the intensity of his love hurts me? How would he feel if he were in my position the last time we were together?
I've tried to wipe it from my memory, but the pain is ever vivid. The sickness I felt as he commanded my body. Perhaps I imagined it, but at one point, I was looking at us. Watching from a distance as he grunted, groped, and took my body while I tried my best to enjoy it. I was screaming at myself to move. I couldn't. I was a prisoner frozen within my thoughts. Terrified of the repercussions if I were to reject him or tell him to stop.
Had I told him would he have listened? I know Lucas. He would never mean to hurt me in the way he did.
If you weren't so weak it never would have happened.
I stab my finger again and blood draws from the wound. "Ouch! Shit!" I crumple up the pair of pants and fling it across the dressing room right as someone strides in.
It flies straight into Dominic's face.
My eyes widen and I hold my fingers over my mouth. "Oh my God."
Elliot strolls in behind him and bursts into a fit of laughter. Slinging an arm over Dominic's shoulder, he winks at me. "Excellent aim, Pep."
"I'm so sorry!" I scramble from my seat and retrieve the pants that are still flopped over his face.
Dominic wears a funny face and arches a thick brow towards me. "Tell me how you really feel," he teases.
"I'm just having a hard time with this stupid stitch," I grumble and crumple up the pants again. This time I slap it on the table behind me before propping myself up on it.
Dominic gives me an inquisitive look, taking in my embittered position. "Why are you making costumes before auditions? Don't you need a cast list and measurements first?"
