"Have you ever drank?"
"No," I whispered. "Does it make everyone happy like that?"
"I mean, if you're looking for happiness you won't find it in a bottle." He said quietly, watching me.
"I..." I took a deep breath, "I want to feel happy for once."
"You need weed then. Shit makes everything funny." I stared at him curiously, having no idea what weed was. But he didn't answer, just waited for my reply.
"I don't know what that is."
He pursed his lips, tilted his head, and then shook it, "I was going to say something like what planet are you from but I have a feeling you'll tell me you're from Mars, and I don't think I can handle that right now."
I gave him a weird look, he was trying to be funny but I just couldn't figure out how to laugh, even a fake laugh. "I'm from Pluto, actually." I said quietly. His eyes widened in fake horror, before belting out a loud laugh.
~~~~~~
Eighteen year old Chloe Davidson is finally free. Free from her father's alcoholic rage, abuse, and neglect. But not free from the anxiety, depression, and overwhelmingly stressful new life. She finds herself completely lacking all social skills when thrown into college, just to be faced with constant reminders of back home.
Emerson Brantley sees her on their first day, immediately recognizing her as the quiet outcast from high school. Both surprised that somehow they ended up at the same college, over eight hours away from their hometown, they also find out they are studying towards the same degree.
Emerson's hope is to break Chloe from her shell, help her fight her demons and become the person she always wanted to be: a happy one. Little does he know, her past is beyond traumatic, and it's going to take a lot more than a friend looking to help to heal her.
~~~
𝕄𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕥:
"Is Happiness Just A Word?" contains mature content with themes such as self harm, suicide, depression, anxiety, and sexual references. Reader discretion is advised.
""Kitten, you're worried about something, and you cannae lie. You're picking at your hands and looking around to clean up my room. Unlucky for you, my room is very clean," he said, "Now what are you worrying about so much?"
I stopped picking at my cuticles. It was kind of weird that he could see me doing something and read me like a book before I could even realize I was doing it. I felt my heart pound in my chest.
"Well, it's just this whole pretending to date you thing," I shrugged, "How far do we have to take it? Do we have to do it in front of our friends? Do we have to do it in public because obviously we ran into Olivia today and we weren't planning on it. Oh shit, what if she sees you with another girl? I mean, what would happen then? What if she sees me talking to another guy? How long is this going to go on? What if we have to kiss in front of Olivia? I mean, it's not that I don't want to kiss you but--" I rambled on nervously.
Iain smirked and walked towards me, and the next thing I knew, his lips were on mine, and we were kissing."
When Kit's older brother, Ben, finally makes it with the girl he's been crushing on for four years, only to find out she's wary of family, he lies and calls his baby sister his best friend's girlfriend, turning everyone's life upside down. While Kit's struggling with the impending doom of college and parents that could divorce at any second, she's also juggling a fake relationship with her brother's hot best friend, Iain. As if that weren't complicated enough, a chemistry sparks between Iain, igniting flames and destroying the crumbling world around them.
RATED M for drug and alcohol use and sexual themes