handle [discontinued]

WINTER // 2

The drive back to my house was a quiet one, we had to sneak away from the cops as quickly and stealthily as possible. Berah, Monroe, and Jax were in my car, leaving Cayron, Autumn, and Avi in Denim's car.

Berah looked out of the side of the window, annoyed by Jax and Monroe playfully kissing, the moaning like fingernails on a chalkboard to his ears.

Denim was following me; we made an executive decision to go to my house for the night until everyone sobered up.

We helped ourselves out of the car, and I opened the door and Berah closed it behind us.

We sat in the living room, Denim and I curled up on a seat, our feet resting on the ottoman. Autumn sat in the pit of Cayron's lap by the fireplace. Jax and Monroe lay on the floor, talking about something, I assumed it was high talk. Berah and Avi sat on the couch, Berah upright with his foot tapping, and Avi sprawled out, on his phone.

Questions arose, making the room dense as they floated in the air unanswered. I wondered quietly why and how the police bust into the house so quickly.

"It's because there was a drug deal."

Everyone turned to Berah, the one who spoke.

Now I realized how he had the latest edition of fashion, how he always had money to go to the vending machines, and how on Fridays he always checked himself out early. It didn't make sense, most drug dealers skipped school, but Berah was in class whenever he could be. His grades excelled in math and business.

"You're a drug dealer?" Jax asked, his voice higher than usual.

"Nigga, I told you first." Berah rolled his eyes.

The room was quiet now, the fog of questions still making the room humid.

"What do you wanna do now?"









The most popular suggestion was to play 7 Minutes in Heaven. We sat in a circle, the order being Jax, Autumn, Avi, Monroe, Cayron, Me, Denim, and then Berah.

Avi gave the suggestion of getting high to make the game more interesting, but I declined because I refused to live in a house with a stench of marijuana.

I brought a glass Coke bottle from the kitchen, and set it in the middle.

We sat quietly, the bottle taunting us for us to spin.

"Since none of y'all punk asses don't wanna spin, I'll go." He leaned forward to spin, and the bottle spun vigorously. It passed me several times, and it came to a slowing stop to come forward with its next victim.

Monroe.

"Okay, seven minutes." Avi set the timer on his phone. They walked and went into Nano's old room. I remember that I had to see how he was doing.

Jax's fists clenched the entire time, and it probably felt like hell's clock was broken.









"Nothing happened, I swear. We just talked."

Jax made her promise. She promised.

I decided to spin next, praying to God it wouldn't land on Berah. It slowed right past him.

Autumn.

Cayron smirked right when his eyes landed on me, like he knew something that I didn't.

"7 minutes." And Avi started the timer again.

I walked into the room, Autumn following behind me and closing the door.

Without words, she sat on the bed next to me. Her hand sat on top of mine, and I turned to look at her. She put her pointer finger to her lips, a gesture that was sly and cunning.

She hovered over me, her hands by each side of my chest.

"No feelings, right?"

"I know."

We didn't do anything.









Next, Autumn decided to spin. Cayron's eyes moved in the direction if the bottle, and they stopped at his feet.

Autumn looked down to hide her smile, and Cayron followed her, pushing his body against hers to make her walking turn into a scurry.

"5 minutes," Avi decided. "Because I don't want to hear sex."

We laughed.

"Let's a get another round done, because this is getting boring." Denim said, who obviously wanted it to be his turn.

"I'll spin." Avi leaned forward and spun the bottle.

We all watched, especially Denim, the spinning bottle decide one of our fates.

Once again, the bottle landed on me.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna do anything with him." Denim almost seemed at peace with that statement. Almost.

We went into the bathroom instead, our time ticking down.

I remembered that Cayron and Autumn were still in the room. There timer ended minutes ago, meaning our time was almost gone.

As we heard Denim call our names, we made our way out.

Before the door was completely opened, Avi turned me and prior to me making noise his lips were on mine.

It was quick, and moist. My lips stayed closed; it had surprised me. I wanted to say something, but I couldn't form a correct set of words properly. Instead, I kept quiet.

He walked past me like nothing happened, but I couldn't think the same way.

Denim was waiting for me in the front, sitting on the edge of the ottoman.

I turned on Netflix, and someone put on a long romantic comedy.

"You guys didn't do anything right?"

A little pain went through my lips when I lied to him.