two doors down (e.d.)

chapter forty-eight

riley~

i sit down glumly in the same seat as yesterday, kind of sad. ethan seemed weird last night. what if it's about livia? she seemed nice, but what if it's just a front she puts up?

i don't even have to look up to know who's standing above me.

"hey sloane."

"sup priss pants,"

she drops her bag to the ground and takes the spot right next to me.

i look at her finally and i automatically notice the small chain around her neck.

"nice," i point out.

"thanks. i stole it."

"seriously?"

"no," she laughs, "god you're so gullible. it's fake actually, but don't tell my friends."

"what friends?" i tease

"good one," she rolls her eyes and flips open a notebook.

i stare at the clock for another 10 minutes and no sign of our professor.

"does this mean we can leave?" a guy yells from the back

"it's not high school," sloane scoffs, "you can leave anytime you want."

we wait around for a few more minutes and he still doesn't show up.

"so," sloane turns to me, "how've you been?"

"what?"

"you said you had the worst week of your life yesterday...?"

"oh," i say, startled she remembered, "y-yeah. i'm fine, i guess."

"you look kind of... sad?"

"look," i sigh, "i don't have therapy for a few more days, so can i please vent to you about something?"

"go for it." she shrugs

"so my boyfriend, right? well he has this project with another girl from one of his classes and i'm not jealous, let me start there, but he's been distant and detached ever since they started it. any advice?"

"have you like, talked to him about it?"

"no,"

"there's your problem," she rolls her eyes, "you literally just need to have a sit down conversation."

"what if he likes her?" i say with scared eyes

she thinks for a second and her eyes flick down to my necklace.

she studies it for a few seconds and says, "did he get that for you?"

"yes?"

"it's pretty. must have been a lot of money."

"it was. what does this have to do with anything?"

"i don't think you should read too much into this," sloane shrugs, "once the project is over, it'll all go back to normal."

those words comforted me and i let out a deep breath.

"thank you."

"you're welcome. you know, under all this black clothing, i'm pretty nice." she winks.

"shocker."

she laughs at that and asks for a piece of paper.

"what for?" i ask, handing her a sticky note.

"how about you text me updates on that boyfriend of yours," she smiles as she writes, "and maybe we can go thrifting or something."

she's reaching out to me.

a friend.

i need some of those.

"gladly," i say, pocketing the sticky note.