Everything Happens At 2:04 AM

Chapter Four: I'm Going To Die Of Combustion.

dedicated to an og member of the 'cahill series', Katie. This girl sent me snaps of the five seconds of summer concert in toronto too bless her. Much love for you kathleencahill ❤️

Chapter Four: I'm Going To Die of Combustion.

SYDNEY ACOSTA WAS ONE of my favorite people in the entire world. Hands down. She was that best friend that understood you inside and out, the one you'd send everything to and she'd reply as fast as she could over text if it was serious. Or if it was insanely serious, she would call fast as the message that was sent.

She was irreplaceable.

She was also currently a mess.

"What happened this week?" Sydney asked on my phone but she was distracted. I would be distracted too if I had a TV on in the background along with rap music- that most definitely did not go with the image of her being a ballet dancer-and I was pretty sure a show was playing from her laptop.

I was able to get all that from a phone conversation with her. She worked best when she was in this zone. It probably helped since she was signing papers for a new dance tour she was going to be on during the summer.

I got out of the bathroom, not even bothered by all the sounds in the background as I was ready for a night to crawl into bed. Crawl into bed and watch a movie, that is. Not sleep.

"At my little get together, Dani had the nerve to ask if Keith and I talked." Even saying his name left a sour taste in my mouth. I think I needed to brush my teeth again. I almost did a U-turn to my bathroom before I opted out heading towards my dresser.

"Isn't that Krystal's friend? Does she even know you?" Okay, good. She understood how ridiculous it would be to even consider asking me that question.

I grabbed my bonnet, putting my hair underneath it and feeling the band of it against the top of my forehead. The first night Krystal had ever stayed over with me back in Los Angeles, her eyes widened when I took out my bonnet to sleep and she stared at it for a good hour while I was wearing it. Then she proceeded to ask. After explaining to her that it basically protects your hair when you sleep, Krystal now owns different colored ones.

My impact.

"Clearly, she doesn't," I said, getting on my bed and powering on my laptop. "Even worse, she kept assuming I was going to go crazy over her asking me the question. It's almost as if she was thinking I was going to go on a rage and hit her or something. Sound familiar?"

I could imagine Sydney rolling her eyes as the sound of a TV show stopped, leaving only possibly the TV and the music. "Two years ago. That crazy bitch, Stef."

"Exactly." Stef was a girl who had been friends with after meeting her at the gym. Little did I know that Stef was trying to set me up the entire time and wanted to sue me for assault when I have never hit her or anyone in my entire life. This was because she considered me to be an easy target.

Why?

Because I was a black woman in western society.

This apparently meant I was easily angered and apparently hits anyone who wrongs me.

What a horrible stereotype.

I've never even been in a fight my entire life. I've been close but the fights I have gotten involved with were verbal, never physical. No one was worth the risk of breaking a nail over.

"I'm already sensing a headache remembering that annoying dumbass," Sydney sighed, and I almost laughed. That was the thing about Sydney and me. Whenever something stressed us out, no matter where we were, it wasn't hard for us to feel the effect or the stress it caused on the other. "How's the movie? Do you like the feel?"