Malice

Chapter 3: Company

"I like Andy. He's nice and he's not a criminal trying to become a drug lord," Ashe said whimsically with sarcasm. Would Ashe really be Ashe if she wasn't throwing shade at Alex? Hell fucking no. I rolled my eyes at her comment. "He's definitely boyfriend material," Brina added. I had been stretched out on my bed, scrolling through my messages with my phone right above my face. Still nothing from Alex. I had made it through the emotional pouty stage, struggled through the anger stage, and I was now at the point where I could give up and cut him off completely and I would probably be totally fine with that.

My head pulled away from the screen, turning to look at Brina like she had sprouted a second head. It took me a few minutes to come back to reality to realize what she said. "Who said anything about boyfriend material?" I asked, raising one eyebrow. "Come the fuck on. We're fifteen and you're fucking a grown man," Ashe snapped. "He's using you as his puppet. He has you stuffing pills in your pussy just to walk around like everything is okay and you think he gives a shit about you?" Brina spat at me. I shot up, swinging my legs around, totally prepared to argue with them.

"First of all, that only happened once," I lied, holding my finger up. "Second, he does. He has a shitty way of showing it, but he does. I've been there for him since day one." Brina sat back, crossing her arms over her chest and Ashe simply rolled her eyes. "Meaning that you've been easy to manipulate since day one," Ashe added. I was getting frustrated with them. They were my friends, but of course they didn't understand. "I swear, you two don't want to see me be happy, do you?" I asked, challenging them. "We do!" they shouted in unison. "We want nothing more than to see you be happy, but not when you're being used and playing with your freedom. We've been best friends for as long as I can remember and it's been sad to sit back and watch you deal with a piece of shit. Use your fucking brain for once!" Brina shouted. "He disappears and specifically tells you not to call or text him and he refuses to take you with him. He fucks you and occasionally throws money your way just to keep you where he wants you. That's not love. He doesn't love you, Angel. Why don't you forget about him and give someone else a chance? That's all we want."

"You're being an idiot and we want you to get on the right path before something happens that you're gonna regret," Ashe added. Sometimes I didn't know which one of them was more harsh and neither one of them had a filter. Any other time I would have been ready to break their fucking necks, but it meant a lot that they were concerned about me and now that Alex wasn't here to cloud my judgement, I could actually see what they were talking about.

Right on cue, my phone vibrated on the bed.

Andy: Making any moves tonight?

Ashe and Brina stared at me as I looked down at my phone. They were probably expecting me to jump up and down like a kid in a candy store because Alex was back in town and I would be sending them on their way just like the last time and the time before that. I was surprised to get a text from Andy and I knew that they'd be even more surprised.

I smiled as I dug around in my brain to figure out how to respond.

Brina stood up, walking over to tower over me and get a good look at my text. I glanced up at her and saw her eyes bug out of her head.

"Holy fucking shit. Someone besides Alex made you smile like an idiot!" she shouted cheerfully. 

"No fucking way!" Ashe yelled, shooting up from the floor. The three of us huddled over my phone and for the first time ever, things felt like they were how they should be. Just three regular, hormonal teenage girls worried about regular hormonal teenage boys. For the first time, I was beginning to see how toxic my relationship with Alex was and what it was doing to my friendship with Ashe and Brina. They only wanted what was best for me.