Overdosed on Love

Chapter 18: The Call Out

Max

I felt like the invitation to the basketball game had all been some ploy just for me to accept the phone Hunter had got me. I was still uncomfortable with people gifting me things, but I knew I wasn't going to drive him off the idea. Once I got back into Sheila I looked at the phone box and opened it.

The phone was really nice, but I saw that it had been taken out of the box before and the plastic covering the screen had been removed. I turned on the phone and the default screen blared in my face with the fury of a thousands suns. I turned it down to a less blinding level, and looked around at the apps. If I was on his family's cellular plan I was going to have to pay for it, I knew that much.

I went to put Jeremy's, Tonya's, and Julian's numbers into my new phone and found that there was already a contact in it: Hottest Guy You Know😎🔥🏀.

I rolled my eyes knowing immediately that Hunter had put his own number into there. I texted the number trying to think of an appropriate conversation starter. I smirked thinking of one I'd learned years ago from one of my foster sisters.

Titanic, I texted Hunter. It delivered and within seconds I saw the bubbles as he began to send his reply.

What? He replied in confusion.

That's my conversational icebreaker, I laughed. Did it work? The string of crying laughing emojis let me know that my joke had hit its mark.

That's a good one, he finally replied. So I guess you figured it was my own number in your phone?

Well yeah, it didn't take much brain power. I then quickly texted, Thanks for inviting me to the game, and for the phone. I'll make it up to you somehow.

Don't mention it, came the reply seconds later, and then, I think I know how u can make it up to me ;).

Don't say sex, I warned him.

I was going to say In-N-Out, Hunter said, I didn't know u had such a dirty mind ;). He was lucky he wasn't in front of me because I would've sucker punched him once again. He could be aggravating sometimes at the very least.

See you at school, I texted finally.

See you then, Hunter replied.

~~~

The next day my neck hurt because I'd fallen asleep uncomfortably. It was common for me to fall asleep uncomfortably as Sheila wasn't exactly an RV camper with enough space to stretch out in, but this neck pain was going to bug me for the rest of the day.

Once I was showered and clothed I went to classes just like usual. Walking the halls however I felt a few more eyes on me than usual and I could hear whispering as I walked by. This had only occurred to me once before, but back then I knew why people were gossiping about me. This time I was completely clueless. Had my period come on suddenly and I had a stain on the back of my pants? No, I wasn't due for that shit for another week.

The eyes were getting uncomfortable so I slipped into the bathroom of one of the buildings and splashed some cold water on myself trying to get a grip. My hand trembled and I unzipped my backpack to see the orange bottle of Vicodin staring back up at me from the dark backpack.

I should've thrown the whole bottle away, flushed it down the toilet, thrown it into the ocean for some unfortunate turtle to choke on it. I should've done any number of things rather than actually keep the bottle that was no good for me, that I shouldn't have had in the first place.