Page 19 of Close to Falling

“I love your girlie shampoo,” he says.

“My girlie shampoo?” I ask, reluctantly pulling away from his arms a tad and looking up so I can see his face.

“Yeah, it reminds me of you.” He lifts his lip, and I smirk.

“That’s because I use it all the time.”

“Don’t stop,” he says, so serious.

“Okay,” I reply softly. He kisses my forehead before we make our way back inside the house. “I love your shampoo, too.”

Chapter Nine

Friday night lights shine bright above us as we sit on the bleachers at school. They rattle from heavy steps and excited fans. We’ve watched the entire game, and I’m knee bouncing and nail chewing to get out of here.

“It’s almost over,” Cali whispers to me.

“I know. When is your guy meeting us?”

“As soon as it’s over,” she says. I’m on a double date and watching high school football. Mikey sits beside me as his friend John sits beside my girl. I didn’t tell anyone but Landon that I was going on a date because I didn’t want to hear Frankie or River’s mouth. Our team scores a touchdown, and that’s the game. We stand, and I follow Mikey down the steps.

“I wanna meet him,” I tell Cali as she grabs for my hand.

“Let’s tell the boys we both gotta pee, and then we will meet them at the car,” I say loud enough for only her.

“All right,” Cali whispers as we walk down the last bit of steps.

“Gotta pee, guys. Meet you at the car,” I say to Mikey.

“Okay,” my date replies, and Cali and I head toward the bathroom, but as soon as the boys are out of sight, we turn back around and walk to the bleachers.

“Where is he?” I ask once we make our way to the back.

“There.” Cali lifts her chin, and we walk toward the guy standing alone.

“’Sup, Cali?”

“Hey, this is my friend Maddie,” my girl says to the guy with baggy pants and a shirt that could be smaller.

“I’m D,” he says. “What do you need?”

I feel for the cash in my pocket. “I need something stronger than what I’ve been taking.”

“Okay, baby girl, I got you. These will knock you off your ass,” he says, pulling out a bag of small blue pills. “They call them Blues or Roxys.”

“Give me twenty worth,” I say, and I don’t even feel bad for spending my parents’ money on drugs. Because drugs make you not care. “And give me twenty worth of the others, too.”

After we walk away from our drug dealer, we head back to the boys, but not before I slip a pill into my mouth. Cali does the same, and we link hands. She’s got a ring on each of her fingers, and her nails are bright pink. She dyed her hair bleach blonde, and it looks good with her blue eyes.

“Did you bring your lip-gloss?” I ask. She slides it out of her back pocket and hands it to me. I let go of her hand and smack my lips after I line them with vanilla-flavored gloss.

“You like John?” I ask. She shrugs, likewhatever.

“What about Mikey?” bottle blonde asks me.

“I think I like him more as a friend. I’m not feeling anything else.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t seem like your type anyway,” she says, and I look over at her.

---