for, liar

Chapter 38

"You're doing an amazing job, Breanna. I really appreciate the effort you've been putting towards working here. It's quite impressive."

Jeff has been kissing my ass through this entire shift and it only makes me want to get out of here more. Thankfully I'm off in a few minutes.

"Well I do take it seriously. That's how I got the assistant manager position. I also loved working for Cat."

We haven't seen her in months. Jeff has barely mentioned her return and I'm starting to worry she's never going to come back. I only took the assistant manager position here because I needed the money when I graduated college and I loved working under Catherine. Now that I have my psychology degree, I should start applying for different jobs at least since I made the decision to not go back for my masters degree.

"She's a lovely woman. You are too. You have a lot of potential, sweetheart."

He puts his hand on my arm and squeezes slightly. I can feel every hair on the back of my neck standing on end. I don't like this feeling at all.

"Well, I'm going to head out." I tell him politely and gently pull my arm away.

I pack up all of my things in my work bag and walk out to my car. Today was so weird and I think I need to just go home and unwind. I'm mainly wanting to check on Maddy.

When I get back home, she's in the same spot that I left her in. She must've gotten trashed last night and it pisses me the hell off that she probably drove herself home in that state.

"Maddy. Get up." I say sternly and yank the covers off her body.

She jerks and looks up at me disconcertingly. She takes in her surroundings and wipes the drool from her face. This girl is a mess.

"Am I going to have to cancel my weekend plans with Miles to take care of you? This is ridiculous. You're a grown ass woman, now. C'mon, you're getting in the shower."

I tug at her arm to try to force her up. She groans at me and tries to fight back. She's lucky I care this much.

"Maddy, please. You need a shower. It's literally 3 o'clock and you've done absolutely nothing all day. Get in the shower or bath and I'll cook something for us to eat for dinner."

She whines again and finally climbs off the couch. She has been laying here the entire day and probably hasn't gotten up even once to brush her teeth.

"Have you been asleep all day?" I ask.

She glares at me and shrugs. She's the only person I know that can sleep the entire day.

"Okay, that's fine. You need a day to rest. I get it, but you're gross so you should really clean yourself."

I drag her into the bathroom and turn on the shower to the right adjusted temperature. She stares at me in a daze, standing in her wrinkled dark purple dress she wore the night before. I look at her and sigh.

"Do I need to bathe you too?" I ask, hoping to God the answer is no.

We may be close but we aren't that close.

"No." She mutters and starts to untie her dress.

I leave her alone in the bathroom, making sure to leave the door cracked in case she needs me. I pull a few chicken breasts from the freezer and start thawing them out for dinner. I figured stir fry would be my best bet for comfort food so I took out all of the ingredients I'm going to need and got everything started while she's in the shower.

We never have a set dinner time and it's only four so that will have to do. It's either around five or after nine when we eat. I actually don't mind eating this early since I just worked an entire day shift on an empty stomach. My bad habit is forgetting to eat when I'm at work and wondering why I feel so sick when I go home.

Maddy comes out of the bathroom in the t-shirt and shorts I set out for her as I'm prepping the table. She walks over to the fridge and pulls a bottle of water out to drink. I fix both of our plates and set the soy sauce on the table with everything else. She sits down and chugs half the bottle.

"Do you feel any better?" I ask and take a seat across from her.

She shrugs her shoulders once again and picks up her fork to take a bite.

"Maddy. We have to talk about this." I urged her.

She looks up at me with puffy eyes. I hope she doesn't start crying again. I never know what to do when she's crying.

"Talk about what?" She croaks and looks back down.

"I'm worried about you. You're really letting this guy completely fuck with your daily living. It's not healthy." I try to explain calmly and as free from judgement as I can manage.

"Oh, so now you're telling me how to handle my emotions? Because you're a fucking psychologist or something?" She spits.

Where did this anger come from?

"I'm not a psychologist, Maddy. I'm your best friend who is worried about your well being. You can't just go and party all night, drive home drunk, and sleep all day. Weren't you supposed to work today?"

I'm being too judgmental again.

"I called out." She answers grimly and takes another bite of chicken.

At least she's eating, I guess.

"You can't call out of work because you made the irresponsible decision to go get wasted when you knew you had to work in the morning."

She slams the fork down on the table and I practically jump out of my chair.

"BREE! Just shut the fuck up for two seconds! I don't need you to baby me over every damn thing! Can't you take a hint and just leave me alone? I don't need your help."

"Why would I leave you alone when you're literally destroying yourself over this dumb guy!" I fire back.

"You're the one to talk! Says the one who went fucking ballistic and pushed Ben away like he was chopped liver even though he was the one person who was trying to be there for you and get you the help you needed!"

Since when is she on fucking Ben's side? Out of every issue she just has to bring up that one! That isn't even relevant anymore.

"You don't know anything, Maddy. Also, that shit was years ago that you're just bringing up to get back at me. This is about you. Don't change the subject." I argue.

"I'm not changing anything. You can't go around acting like all you do is want to help people; playing doctor and shit when you can't even handle yourself."

I just made her dinner and she's yelling at me for helping her. I am seriously about to lose my cool.

"I am perfectly capable of handling myself. I've been doing it for four years." I say through gritted teeth.

"Right and you've done such an amazing job. Is that why you never responded to Ben about him asking you to reconcile? Is that why you just run off to fuck with some guy you met in an alley because you were able to handle yourself? Sounds like a mess to me."

I stand up from the table and take a step back to calm myself before I swing. The nerve of her to switch this around on me while I'm trying to be nice. Four years of psychology and I will never understand how she can flip on me this quickly.

"Fuck you, Maddy. You can be depressed all you want. I'm going to Myrtle Beach with Miles to meet his mom so you can go do whatever it is you don't want me knowing about. Go sell yourself, do drugs, get diseases, have another pregnancy scare; see if I fucking care."

I leave the room before she gets a chance to say anything else. Just when I had thought we made up.

Revised;