Bad Things

Eighteen: Train Wreck

"What is wrong with you?" Thea walks next to me in the lunch room, holding her food tray while giving me side eye, "Liv, you need to drop this guy and get out of that bar. Your dad? If he catches you, you're dead. Like, we won't even be able to attend the same college because your dad will force you to stay here."

I had told Thea about my dad showing up at the bar and his random hate towards Cameron. She's completely right when saying that I needed to get out of this situation but I'm done lying to myself and pretending that I will. I know that I'm so far in that I won't leave, I'm too invested in the bar and in Cameron.

"Do you want to go to community college, Livy?" Thea asks me.

I give her a look as I sit at an empty table, "Illinois has more than community college, Thea."

"True. But we want California... USC, or UCLA. Anything but here. We want to get away from this place, remember?"

"I know, I remember... But things sometimes change," I tell her, "I'm helping Cameron with the bar and the finances there now so if I go to school in Chicago I can continue to help him."

"Oh god. No, no. You're not holding yourself back for that guy," Thea's voice is lecturing and she doesn't give me a chance to defend myself before she continues, "He isn't worth it. You're willing to throw away your entire future for some loser who owns a bar?"

"He isn't a loser," I snap, not willing to just sit here and allow Thea to badmouth Cameron. She doesn't know him like I do so she has no right to judge him, "Take a look in the mirror, Thea. Stop thinking that everyone else doesn't compare to you because it seriously just makes you look like a bitch."

"Excuse me?" She seems offended, but I don't care. She knows exactly what I'm talking about.

"You walk around here like you own the place, this is not Mean Girls and you are not Regina George," I stand up from the table having a sudden appetite loss, "If someone is dressed in a way that you don't approve of, you stare at them up and down with the look of disgust. And what about Roxy? You've been torturing that girl since we started high school."

I watch Thea fold her arms over her chest and she arches an eyebrow, "Roxy is a gothic freak. You know that, too."

"She's a human being like the rest of us, Thea. And if we're being honest, I don't know if I want to be around someone so judgmental..."

"So you're going to let him come between our friendship?" Thea asks me.

I shake my head, "No, Thea. You're doing that all on your own."

There had been so many feelings building up inside of me. Thea's my best friend but I hate being around her when she treats people like they're less than her. I'm a bitch by association because of her and I hate to think that people see me like that.

As I exit the lunch room I run into Carter who can see the frustration on my face, "Hey, Liv... What's going on? You seem upset."

He places his hands on my shoulders to stop me from avoiding him and I reluctantly look up at him, "I just got into an argument with Thea, it's no big deal."

"Again?" Carter tilts his head and seems to want more answers from me. I'm sure that having his two friends fighting wasn't easy for him, "What changed recently? You two have always been on the same page with everything."

"Look, Carter. I have somewhere to be, so if we can not do this that would be great."

"You always have somewhere else to be, Liv. So maybe Thea's is getting fed up with you being a-wol all the time." He seems to be making assumptions and I am in no mood to hash it out with both of my best friends today, I just thought Carter would be the one to try to understand me.