Last Kiss Goodbye • Teenage Juice Ortiz

88 - Real Friends

June wanted to go home, but she didn't dare to. Juan would go searching for her and ring the bell, even in the middle of the night. She was afraid that he would ride his bike while being high, ultimately crashing into a tree. That's why she was now sitting on the stairs leading to Jordy's front door. Her arms wrapped around her legs while she waited and waited. It was cold outside, she was shivering and she felt nauseous. 

Emilio and Jordy were in a relationship for only one week and already everything felt different. Was Juan going to smoke pot every time they'd hang out from now on? She thought of Emilio's smirk when his hand had been between Jordy's legs. He had done so on purpose, he had wanted her to react like this. 

And what would it mean for her friendship with Jordy? Could she tell her what Emilio had done, or would it feel like she was attacking her boyfriend? She didn't like not being able to tell everything to her friend. At first to respect Erik's privacy and now because she was afraid to cause friction between Jordy and her boyfriend. But did it mean she just had to swallow everything?

An hour went by. 

Two hours. 

Finally, her phone rang. June had been staring forward for such a long time her limbs felt numb. A shiver rolled down her spine as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. It was Juan. Without saying anything, she took the call. 

 "June? June where are you? Emilio told me you went to the restroom but that's a long time ago." His voice sounded panicking and she suppressed a sigh. The drugs didn't make his anxiety any better. 

"I'm outside, I'm sitting on the stairs to the front door."

"Oh." A long silence followed. "Why?"

"Can we just go home?" she asked in a bitter voice. 

"Okay." Juan sounded defeated. "I'm coming."

Juan was not the only one who was coming; Jordy and Emilio followed him, the latter raising his eyebrow when their eyes met. He was such an asshole. How was it possible that both Juan and Jordy couldn't see it? She didn't understand. 

"Why you're here?" Emilio asked.

Hypocrite. She clenched her jaw. "You know why."

He opened his mouth to answer, but June didn't wait for his reply. She descended the stairs and waited for Juan on the sidewalk. 

"Junie..." Jordy ran down the stairs. She almost tripped over her feet, but she regained her balance. Her friend flung her arms around June. "What's going on?"

"I'll tell you later," June muttered. "You're not sober."

"I barely drank. And..."

"Please, Jordy." The tears were stinging in her eyes. "I just wanna go home, okay? I'm waiting for over two hours until my boyfriend finally realizes I'm not even on his side."

"You could've gone home too, ya know?" Emilio said, still in front of the door. 

"And risking him to crash into a tree?"

Juan went down the stairs in silence. There was a mixture of regret and incomprehension in his eyes. "It was only one blunt," he muttered.

June said nothing. She didn't want to have another fight. She might be overreacting too; she was tired and angry and hurt. She muttered a goodbye to Jordy and started to walk towards her house. Juan appeared next to her. His hand searched for hers, but she'd crossed her arms. In the end he laid his hand on the small of her back. They didn't speak until they went to bed.

. . .

Again, he had ruined it. He didn't even know what he had done wrong this time. He'd fallen asleep during the movie, but that couldn't be the reason that she was mad, right?