old friends.

Thiago: You wanna hang out later?

“Isabelle. And Emmy.”

“Yep. So I sort of understand your predicament. Sort of. I can’t wait for college. Hopefully by then people won’t care about who slept with who.”

“That sounds nice. People not caring.”

“I am! And no, I’m not pregnant since everyone keeps asking.”

“I wasn’t going to ask. Congratulations, though.”

“Mine. Whose else?”

“...you’re getting married?”

“I know… But you two were closed. It sucks. Yeah, um… I may or may not had sex with Emmy, who bullies him… Okay, it was a threesome with her and Alec, but yeah. And then we got into a big argument and I basically told him that he wasn’t my brother, just someone who lived in my house. It was ugly.”

Corrina blinked in surprise. Emmy...had not told her that. She hadn’t seen much of Emmy lately, actually. “...oh, wow.” Corrina had no idea what to do with this information. “That sounds intense.”

Ugh, why was she being so calm and.. nice? If Corrina would’ve just never slept with Ryder, things would be so much easier. They’d still be friends. Maddie missed having her as a friend but she was too proud and stubborn to be able to forgive her, at least right now. “I have to go.”

Corrina nodded, looking back down at her book and biting the inside of her cheek. “Of course.”

“I feel like I’ve been in my house for the past year planning this wedding. Honestly, someone should have warned me how crazy this gets.”

“Whose wedding are you planning?”

“Since Maddie… I’m so sorry, Cor. How can someone so little hold so much grudges? Eh, I’m alright. Gaspard and I are on speaking terms at home now, so that’s good. He actually let me hold Shakespeare, surprisingly.”

Corrina nodded, offering a small smile. “It’s not like she doesn’t have a right to. What I did...it was fucked.” She wasn’t trying to argue that it wasn’t. “...I didn’t know you two weren’t on speaking terms.” Her eyebrows furrowed. “What happened?”

“Apology not accepted. You’re not even trying.” Hating her was much harder when Corrina didn’t even talk back to her.

“Because I don’t hate you, Maddie. I don’t have any ill feelings towards you. That’s all you. I don’t blame you for hating me, but I’m not going to sit here and act like you don’t have a reason to, or that I have some reason to feel the same.”

“Which means that it could be the cream of the crop for some people. Five, nice. So, how’re things going? Been awhile since we’ve last talked.”

“For some people, yeah. I guess. Uh, things are just...things, I guess. I’ve kind of just been focusing on school since...” Since she lost one of her best friends and the rest seemed to follow. “How’re you?”

“You just agreeing with everything makes this so much less fun. You can’t even fight right.”

“I’m sorry I’m not making this satisfying enough for you, Maddie, but I’m not looking for a fight. I’ll play along however you want when we’re at school--I’ll play into whatever image you want. But we’re not at school right now.”

“That’s too much work. Besides, we’re friends again. Friends don’t play each other. My mistake, I meant real friends, something you clearly don’t know about.” 

“...you’re right. I don’t.”

“Really? It’s kinda cute. How long have they owned it again?”

“It’s alright. More small and run down than anything. Oh, uh, a few years now. Five, I think?”

“Good for you?”

“...yeah. Good for me.”

“Oh my god, really? That is so cool!”

“...I wouldn’t consider it cool, but...yeah. Really.”