Échappé - Branjie

Four.

Chapter 4

We need to talk about this.

Vanessa read the message on her lockscreen and rolled her eyes. It was no different from the ever flowing string of texts sitting unread on her phone. She pressed the side button to turn the screen black, and put the device face down on the table.

She looked at herself in the mirror, half way through her makeup process, and sighed heavily.

Life had never been easy for her, and she had a special talent to make everything a lot more complicated than it should be. She wished to blame it all on destiny, or fate, or whoever was above that liked to mess with her. She couldn't. She knew that la virgencita had a lot more issues to worry about than a Puertorican stripper trying to make a life for herself in Los Angeles.

It wasn't that bad, really. She liked her friends, she liked her job, and she liked her tiny apartment. She liked her life. She knew she wasn't dumb, but she kept making stupid decisions. That was on her.

The phone vibrated again. The sudden flash made her close her eyes, the black pencil left a trail of eyeliner on her temple to the movement.

Shit.

She looked around but couldn't find her makeup wipes. Everything looked messy, everything was messy. The table in front of her was as cluttered as her own head. It felt like a never ending jungle of ideas up in there, tangled together and clouding any rational thinking. If her thought process had ever been rational, that was. Sure, her mind usually ran fast, leaving her a very small chance to catch up. She was aware of that. Her mouth was even faster, not waiting for her brain to approve the thought before it was already being pronounced. It got her into trouble constantly, but she liked it like that. It was fun, it was entertaining.

If she had to choose, she would pick her chaotic life a million times over a boring one. That didn't mean that she didn't need a break from time to time. She could use one right that instant.

A Kleenex, being waved in front of her face, landed her back into reality.

With her eyes, she followed the arm holding the tissue to find Yvie smiling nervously at her.

She twisted her lips, her own smile even less convincing than her friend's. "Thanks."

Yvie's eyes rolled in annoyance.

Vanessa managed to catch it, that was enough to make her snap. "What you rolling your eyes for?"

Her voice was harsh, she could hear it herself, but there was no stopping now. She had all this frustration inside of her, and there was no available outlet. Better yet, she didn't have the guts to go and tell how she felt to the right person. If she wanted to pick up a fight, just for the sake of getting the anger out, she knew exactly whose buttons to push.

"You can't stay mad at me forever," Yvie retorted.

"Just watch me, bitch."

"Seriously?" Yvie spoke to her through the mirror. "You are still gonna be pressed about this shit? I already apologized, told you how things happened, and you said you forgave me. What's all this attitude for?"

Vanessa's hand went up in the air, waving away Yvie's comment. "I ain't giving you no attitude, so don't get me started on that."

The huff that left Yvie's nose was filled with frustration. "I'm gonna be forward about how I feel, because you know that's the only way I know how to go about things."

"Fierce. Work," Vanessa let out sarcastically, her eyes on the vanity in front of her, looking for something, she had already forgotten what it was.