Pepper never meant to lose her best friend. Lucas never meant to fall in love.
Yet the aftermath of broken hearts leads them to blur the lines of their friendship forever. When Pepper is dumped by her boyfriend and Lucas is led on by his crush, they...
Trigger warning: The next two chapters will discuss sexual assault in a little more emotion and detail and might be uncomfortable to read.
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"WOW, you get this entire house to yourself?" Cory shrugs out of his coat as we step into my empty home. He hangs his coat on the hook next to mine along the rack.
"Basically." I stretch my arms above my head and check to make sure the heater is turned up as I stroll past the thermostat to the kitchen. "My brother basically lives with his girlfriend. I'm pretty sure they're going to get married or something soon. Dad works a lot and he's kind of trying to get back into the dating scene, so..."
"So you get the house. I bet you have lots of parties, huh? No parents or annoying siblings to rat you out?" He trails after me and finds the nearest barstool to swivel on at the counter.
"Nah. My bachelor life is not much more interesting than yours." I stride to the fridge and peek inside. Having just returned from another afternoon support session, I'm pretty sure he's as hungry as me. "Want some lunch? I ordered pizza last night and have leftovers."
"Sure! How is your bachelor life?"
"Um...pretty boring these days. I used to have the girls over a lot...you know Pepper and her friends Martsia and Lena."
"Those are the two girls who argue a lot, right? I've heard about them."
"Yeah." My heart sinks as I realize I haven't talked to them in forever. I have no idea what's going on in their lives, if they've made up, or if Pepper ever figured out what was going on with Martsia. I grip the large pizza box tightly beneath my fingers as I pull it out. "I um..." I clear my throat. "I used to have a few girlfriends here or there to distract me from the girl I really wanted."
"Oh. Who's the girl? Are you still pining after her?"
"Nah." I set the pizza on the counter and refuse to let my heart sink at the thought of her. "Her name's Amber, but I really screwed up with her. I was a dick to her."
"I'm sorry. Maybe you'll find another girl. College is full of them. If you're going to college, I mean. The world is full of wonderful people, so I'm sure you'll find someone and just learn from your mistakes."
I huff out a laugh and give Cory an odd look over my shoulder as I reach for plates in the cabinets above my head.
"What?" he wonders and does another swivel in the stool.
"You're oddly optimistic. Has anyone told you that?"
"No. But I like to live life optimistically. It's so depressing always doubting things and being pessimistic."
"But you don't set yourself up for disappointment when you're pessimistic."
"Aren't you already disappointed though? Either way, you're not happy with the end results, so why not have a little hope?"
