MESSED UP - completed!

20 - Best Lost Friend

20 Best Lost Friend

The smell of the food I excitedly made reaches me, and I gag. I craved it an hour ago. Now my body rejects it before trying it. I put my plate out of sight. Isla doesn't answer my calls, and it worries me. I've called her a hundred times, but she didn't pick up. Something's off. Smith finally joins me and sits at the table.

"How did the interview go?" I ask him nervously.

He sniffs, grabbing his fork from the table. "Bad."

I secretly wish it was not the video that cost him the job. "Why?"

"Cause I've bankrupted my own company."

"I'm so sorry."

"Who are you disturbing besides me?" He asks, changing the subject.

"Isla's not answering."

"So?"

"She never does this. I'm worried about her."

"You should hook up. You look tense."

"You hook up."

He grabs an apple and darts his eyes at me. "Alright. Let's say whoever gets laid sooner gets one hundred dollars," he suggests.

"One hundred dollars? I'll bet my virtue if we're betting on things we don't have," I say, and he shakes his head, smiling.

After finishing breakfast, my worrying about Isla doesn't stop. I go to her home.

"You gon' break the door," Jon's voice I hear when I stop pounding on Isla's door. He's standing by the stairs, his hands in his pockets.

"Hey." I greet him. "I can't reach Isla. I'm worried."

"She don't return my calls either, but relax. She fine," Jon says calmly.

"No, she's not." I run my hand through my hair. "We were at a club a few days ago. She vanished with a guy, and we went home."

"We?"

"Oliver, Zoey, and I," I say and stop talking when he frowns. "What?"

"You left her alone to be with your boyfriend?" he asks with an accusing tone.

I arch a brow. "She wanted to get laid and left."

"With a complete stranger?"

"Really? You're the one to say it?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Are you playing dumb? You hooked up with me."

"I knew you!"

"I'm not going to argue with you. Are you coming with me to find Isla or not?"

***

We arrive at the strip club in Jon's car. Jon gets out pissed and looks at the strip club with disgust. "For real?" He says, his eyes glaring.

I follow him. "Yes."

"A strip club!" He shouts and scares me.

"Damn. Will you get your tone down?"

"You come to see some stranger fucking strip for you? With your boyfriend and... And..."

"And what?!"

"And a kid inside you? What kinda sick person does that?"

His words shoot me in my chest, and I take a few seconds to digest them. "Listen to me, dickhead."

"Huh. Dickhead?"

"I'm here to find my friend, and I don't have time for your stupid judgment. Now leave if you wanna keep that attitude," I say and get away from him to go inside the club. The bar is open, and a few guys practice by the pole. It's quiet and empty.