Bad Things

Six: A Girl Like You

I never knew what true exhaustion felt like until I started working at the bar. It made complete sense now why teenagers and bars were not a good combination if you were working on getting an education, but of course I continued to show up to every shift and struggle to keep my eyes open at school. It was obvious that my friends were noticing the lack of energy since they constantly suggested that I quit my "grocery store" job and go back to freeloading off of my parents, but it wasn't an option for me.

After my conversation in the storage room with Cameron I felt the need to prove him wrong even stronger than before. Damn him for underestimating me, he would see how wrong he is.

Maybe I'm a competitive person, or maybe I just hate being judged when someone doesn't even know me. Either way, it was a means to an end, Cameron was an impossible person to deal with, let alone impress.

Prom was approaching, leaving every girl in the school frantically planning even though they had over two months to prepare, but apparently this is planning season and there was a rush to rent limos before anyone else. Thea was one of those girls who already had her planned out and ideas written through and through. I, on the other hand, could only think about sleep.

"What color dress are you wearing?" She asked me while we sat in the courtyard at a picnic table during free period.

I hadn't even thought about it so I simply shrugged, "Whatever color the dress I choose happens to be."

"You are such a procrastinator," She mumbled under her breath, scribbling something in her book before continuing to talk, "So, I'm thinking you, me, and Carter share the limo. That way when we have our dates, six people will be a decent fill."

Sometimes I felt like Carter knew when we mentioned his name because the moment Thea spoke, he approached us and sat next to me, "You're already planning that? Do you even have a date yet?"

"No, but it's prom-posal season... I have a few suitors," Thea smiled proudly, setting her pen down.

"What about you, Liv?" He asked me next.

I shook my head, not really caring about the entire thing at this point in time, "No. It isn't a big deal to me, I may just make it a friend affair instead of turning prom into one huge group date."

Thea giggled in response, flipping her hair dramatically over her shoulder and looking at me with a disappointed look on her face, "Prom night, honey. It's the most memorable night of your life. Partying it up with your friends all night and then going to a romantic hotel room and making love."

She gave a dreamy sigh, having thought this out too far but it was her dream and who was I to crush it?

"I'm sticking with friends, you do you, Thea."

Carter cleared his throat and sat up a little straighter than he had been. He looked at me while tapping his fingers on that table, "I agree with you. Maybe, since Thea plans on having a date, we can do the whole friend, prom thing together."

"That sounds like a date, Carter," I narrowed my eyes at him with a smile, "I think it's best if the whole friend thing is a group, not just the two of us. It would just be less suggestive that way."

I felt bad any time I had to let Carter down, but he knew that I wasn't interested in him that way. He was determined, I'll give him that, but it always put me in a terrible position of having to turn him down when I never wanted to hurt him.

"Is it because of Luke?" He asked suddenly, surprising me with the question, "I know he hurt you and you were together for a while, but you know that I would never--"