Sapphire

It's been four days since Julissa and Ivan were supposedly gonna get exposed, and Amber keeps whining about it every day. I let out a deep sigh, resting my chin in my palm as I stare at my friend going on and on about how she hates being lied to.

"What if it isn't even true, and that's why whoever was gonna expose them bailed out?" My sweet and innocent friend, Gloria, offers and I agree to her statement by nodding my head curtly. "I mean, look at them." She points towards the couple kissing under a tree. "They're disgustingly in love."

Amber, however, isn't convinced the slightest bit. "No, because they're shady. Whenever Julissa disappears, so does Ivan. And vise versa." She yanks the stem from the strawberry as her eyes focus on Julissa. "Whoever it was, they bailed out because they were probably paid or beat up to stay quiet."

I raise a brow, "what are you? A detective? Do you realize how crazy that sounds?" I inquire, before trailing off to think better of it. Slowly, she's making me see her side of things. "Then again, Julissa is kinda psycho."

"Kinda?" She repeats, scrunching up her eyebrows. "Bitch is completely psycho!"

"I don't know," Gloria frowns. "I guess I just don't want to believe it. Ian is such an amazing boyfriend to her. Every single girl here is jealous of her. I just don't see why she would do such a thing, with his best friend of all people."

"Maybe because she's a selfish brat? I'm sure if she somehow managed to have everything in the world, she'd then ask to have everything from another planet, then the next and so on."

I bite my lip, "Even if it is true, we should stop talking about it. Unless the truth actually comes out, I think it's not our place to go on assuming what's going on. We can cause unnecessary problems."

"You're right." Amber agrees, narrowing her eyes towards the couple one last time before she gets up from the grass. She dusts her pants off, helping both Gloria and I onto our feet. "Let's hope the truth comes out before Ian finds out himself, by having to get checked at a doctor's office."

"Yikes, that would be bad..."

"Yup," she says, accentuating the 'p' by popping her lips. "Not our problem, though. Let's go."

We follow her out of the school gates and into her Jeep, in which she drives us over to the mall. We usually spend our Friday's at the mall, except when Amber decides to ditch Gloria and I to go to a random party.

"I think the new ice cream parlor is finally open," Gloria brings up as Amber finds a parking spot. "We should try it out."

"I heard today's the grand opening." I say, hopping out of the vehicle and slamming the door shut. "But people have been talking about it since the signs went up. I'm sure it's gonna be packed."

I walk towards the mall entrance with Gloria by my side. Amber runs past us, before spinning to walk backwards, grinning. "Last one there is doomed to be single forever."

I roll my eyes, "A race does not determine that."

"Maybe, but I'm not taking any chances," she shrugs. "See you there!" She quickly spins on her heel and dashes towards the new ice cream parlor.

I turn to look at Gloria and she meets my eyes. "Why is she like this?"

I laugh, "You gotta admit, she makes life fun."

"There's no doubt in that." She mutters as we continue to walk our normal pace. Amber steps into the long line and she motions for us to hurry when she sees us far behind. "I'm not running." Gloria announces.

"Neither am I."

* * * *

"Tell me again why you need so many?" I inquire, scooping the last of my long-awaited ice cream into my mouth.

Amber scoffs, snatching more underwear from the stores's drawer. "My brother's dog keeps sneaking into my room. How that damn mutt always manages to find my underwear is beyond me."

"Mutt's such a mean word," I pout. "He's an adorable husky."

"You wouldn't think that if he chewed up all of your underwear, the perv."

I stifle a laugh with my hand, "Did you just refer to a dog as a perv?"

"Yes, what about it?"

I throw my hands up in mock surrender and walk away. If she wants to keep the underwear away from the dog, she really needs to kiddie-proof her drawers. I've seen him open drawers. It's quite impressive.

I walk out of the lingerie store and meet Gloria in the book store, throwing the empty cup into a nearby trash can. "What book are you looking for now?" I ask, fingering the book covers as I walk past them.

She meets my eye for a second and smiles before looking back down at the book in her hands. "None specifically," she answers. "I'm just seeing if anything catches my eye."

"I see," I mutter, picking up a random novel. I skim through the pages and read the last page. My face falls, "Why do authors kill their characters?" I set the book back in its slot and run my hand through my hair. "I mean, why have people fall in love with them if you're just going to kill them off? It's cruel."

"Tell me about it," she mutters. "You don't know how many times I wished I'd just read the last page before actually getting into it. But I just can't convince myself to do it, I like the thrill of not knowing until I actually get to it."

"And then you're left crying for a week, because you got so attached to the character." I laugh. "You're the reason I read the last page before considering a book."

She closes the book she was reading and narrows her eyes at me. "Is that judgment I hear in your voice?"

"Nope, just a comment. Plain and simple."

"Mm-hmm..."

"If anything, it's gratitude." I admit as I pick up another book to read the last page. "It saves me from having my heart broken," I shrug. "Because I get attached way too easily."

She puts the book back in its place and walks towards another aisle. "I see it differently." She says once she picks out a different book. "I don't think they initially think about killing the character. Something along the way makes them do it." Her eyes meet mine as she continues, "the reason is all on them, though. It shows the reality of life, that's for sure. If happy endings happened every single time, it would be unrealistic."

"I see where you're coming from and agree. Because if the reader gets attached to the character, I'm sure the author does as well. After all, they create the character, it's basically their child." I acknowledge as the store clerk announces that the mall will be closing in ten minutes.

Gloria leaves the book and we walk out of the store together. We meet Amber outside the lingerie store, before heading back out to her Jeep.

"So," Gloria begins, eyeing the bag in her hand. "How many did you buy this time?"

"As much as my bank account let me." She grumbles, handing her the receipt. "Good thing there was a sale going on."

"That's an awful lot of underwear."

"I just hope that damn dog stays out of my room from now on," she huffs in annoyance. "If not, I'll make my brother pay for them with his chore money. I let him off the hook way too many times."

"You know very well that he's gonna get to them again," I decide to say the obvious. "You should invest some money in buying kiddie-locks for your drawers."

"Or maybe just lock your bedroom door so no one goes into your stuff?" Gloria suggests as we all enter the vehicle.

"Locking doors is against my dad's rules."

"Oh, right, I forgot about that."

She drives out of the parking lot and onto the main road, before speaking up again, "I'll buy the kiddie-locks as soon as I can. I'll just have to put my underwear at the top of my closet before I get them." She heaves out a sigh, her eyes focused on the road ahead of us. "It's like he knows when I buy new ones."

"Dogs are smarter than you give them credit for."

I decide to change the subject as I look out of the window. "What are you guys doing tomorrow?"

"I have to take care of my brothers and sisters," Amber says in a bored tone. "My parents are going out on their anniversary."

"I'm visiting my grandma at the hospital." Gloria is next to reply, twisting slightly in her seat to look back at me. "Why?"

"I wanted to see if you guys wanted to hang out." I shrug, meeting her eyes. "But I guess I'll just binge watch movies all day."

"Sorry, Phee."

"It's fine, there's always next time." I smile at her and she furrows her eyebrows. "Really, Glo, don't worry. Your grandma needs you more than ever."

Her smile shows more sadness than happiness, "Yeah."

Amber stops in front of the apartment complex and I jump out, waving at them as I walk towards the entrance. She waits until I make it inside before driving off.

Spinning on my heel, I thank the doorman for opening the door and he nods in response, going back to his position by the entrance. I enter the elevator and go up to the sixth floor, unlocking and entering the apartment. As I'm making my way towards my room, Ian's door opens and Julissa comes storming out. He watches her from the doorway, running a hand through his hair.

"You have never denied me sex!" She exclaims and he looks over at me as he sighs. "You're probably having sex with ... with her!" She points a wrongly accusing finger at me and I make a face as if she's stupid.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me!" She screeches and Ian releases a huff before he walks towards her.

He takes her shoulders and plants a kiss to her forehead. "Go home, Julissa. You're upset and you're saying a bunch of nonsense," he tells her calmly. "I'm not having sex with anybody. I'm just not in the mood, okay?"

She seems relieved by his words and nods her head, "okay. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"For sure."

She sends a pointed glare directly at me before turning to leave. Ian follows her to the exit and rests his hand on the door as he pushes it shut. Releasing another deep sigh, he looks up at me and gives a weak smile. "Sorry about her, she doesn't know what she's saying."

"Um, it's alright," I offer lamely.

"I'm calling it a day early today, so goodnight."

I watch him enter his room again, my voice merely a whisper to the door that shuts behind him, "yeah, goodnight."