Double M is My Man

~ 18 ~

"Bath salts!"

If the earth's inner core randomly experienced a meltdown, causing the plant's surface to collapse in on itself at this very moment, I would die with this one thought running through my head:

Huh?

My face says it all. My eyebrows are scrunched up close together and my mouth is hanging slightly opened. Thankfully, I remembered to swallow otherwise I would have been drooling. Overall, I look utterly lost. "Say what," is all I can say.

Bailey notices my reaction and frowns. "Oh come on," she exclaims, throwing her hands in the air, "what else can explain Reece's messed up behaviour?"

Bailey was eager to see me this morning but I sadly couldn't share the same feeling. My talk with Reece the previous day has seriously ruined my mood.

I think I'm still in a daze because I still can't believe that Reece loves me and that it's because he cares for me deeply that he won't pursue a relationship with me.

Bailey finally understood my sour mood when I told her yesterday's events over our second period spare together. "So you're going to claim that Reece is on drugs?" I ask, clarifying for myself that I'm on the right page as my best girl friend.

I don't think I can classify Reece as my best pal anymore. Things have became a bit too weird between us for the two of us to ignore everything and go back to the way things were.

"Of course," Bailey replies instantly. "I saw once on the news an innocent homeless name, by the name of Jared, who was exposed to bath salts. He ended up trying to eat another homeless man's hand! Ain't that crazy?!"

At this point, all I can do is nod my head, processing Bailey's random and unnecessary fact of the day. Somehow, Bailey managed to intertwine homeless people, bath salts, and Reece all into one conversation.

I have such a gifted friend.

"You really need to stop watching the news," I finally say, deciding that it's best that I don't accidentally corner myself into a heated debate with Bailey regarding Reece and drugs. I'm not up for that kind of discussion.

Bailey frowns upon hearing my statement. It's clearer than the broad of daylight that she wants to press on the matter but, to my rare luck, we were interrupted. Out of nowhere, Chasity comes and saves the day, playfully bumping her girlfriend's side. Bailey mumbles a fake 'ow' before she shoves Chasity back. To the people around us, it looks as if Chasity and Bailey are just friends who are trying to annoying the bonkers of one another but to someone like me, who's on the inside, I know what's going on.

These two lovebirds are finding any excuse to touch each other. I'm not sure if they really need to shove each other that hard to the point of bruising but hey, I wouldn't know the feeling of being on cloud nine because Reece refuses to step on it.

I take the hint, seeing as my presence isn't needed, and slowly head in the direction of my doom, aka my biology class.

It feels like I have cement blocks in my feet as I struggle to take each and every step. My breathing becomes more shallow the closer I get to the classroom and drops of sweat starts to roll down my forehead.

All I want to do is run home and hide under my blanket.

I don't want to go to class because of two reasons:

The first one, being the one I could handle, is Reece. I'll have to sit beside him during class and at this point, I really don't know where I stand with him. Are we still friends or are we going to continue to ignore each other?