shoulder and making his way to the door.
“Fine.” I take another puff and collapse back onto my bed.
“Don’t get all pissy.” Johnny walks over to the bed, gets down on
his knees and holds my face up to his. “I’ll buy you another pack next
time I’m out,” he says with a kiss and then gets up to leave. I feel wrong
being mad at him over cigarettes so I just let it go. I’m too tired to be mad
anyway.
“Okay. And don’t forget, drinks Thursday night.”
“Sweet, what’s the occasion?” he says before walking out the door.
“Seriously? It’s my birthday, jackass!” I throw a pillow at him,
which he dodges.
“Hey, that was close! Your aim’s getting better, babe.”
“Johnny–”
“I was joking! I know it’s your birthday. I’ll see you there.”
Heather pushes her way through the busy lecture hall, apologizing every other second for accidentally stepping on other students’ feet
or backpacks. Oh, god, Heather. Just get to class earlier and then you
wouldn’t have to climb over everyone just so we could sit next to each
other.
“Happy birthday!” she squeals once she’s finally seated next to me.
“Thanks! But my birthday’s not ‘til tomorrow.”
“I know, I know, but we always celebrate on Halloween and I
have to work tonight so I won’t be able to go out with you guys and anyway I have a little something. It may have gotten a little crushed from being in my backpack all day but it’ll taste just the same!” She pulls a balled
up napkin out of her backpack and says, “Tada!”
I unravel the napkin and reveal a smushed cupcake that has lost
the better half of its frosting to the paper it’s been wrapped in. My eyes
dart from Heather’s eyes to the cupcake and back to Heather’s eyes. “Am I
supposed to eat it?” I say in between chuckles. I pretend to find this cupcake disgusting but truly I’d love to eat it, it’s just my metabolism’s been
slowing down and a nice layer of pudge has gathered around my torso. I
want this cupcake despite its lack of frosting and crumpling appearance,
but I don’t need it.
“Hey, I made a batch of these especially for you, miss, and yes,
this one got fucked up, but they taste great, trust me! I had like eight last
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