"I love you too, Nikki. So much," I grinned, flicking her big toe. "You're fucking right too, what does he think I am? His girlfriend? I can do whatever I please."

"Hell yeah, you can!" she cheered on from the other side of the sofa. "I'm going to need to live through you from now on, Kitty!"

I made my face relax and go blank. I wanted to lay it on her when she was least expecting it. "I'm not planning on sleeping with any gay guys though, Nik."

"Bitch! One time! It happened one time! I didn't know he was gay!"

Chapter 32

I should've known that something was terribly wrong when I woke up to Nicole singing along to Alanis Morissette at ten in the morning while showering.

It was the Jagged Little Pill album and I groaned. If there was ever an anthem for pissed off females, it would be that one.

Then she played it again in the car. Over and over again.

The last time she went on an Alanis binge was four years ago when she found out her boyfriend at the time, Jeremy, was cheating on her. One day of "You Oughta Know" on repeat later, she'd slept with his best friend. On her ex's bed. Even my heart hurt after that. So, I knew enough to be a little worried about her emotions. Where Zoey and I would cry in frustration and sadness when something bothered us, Nikki didn't. I didn't even think she had tear ducts, honestly.

We made it through our haircuts without a hitch, bought our cupcakes without anyone getting murdered, and then we blew money shopping. I really tried my best not to spend a lot of money randomly, but with the hangover I was nursing and the way my poor heart felt constricted— I deserved the little bit of happiness I got from buying clothes. It didn't help that Tristan had been sending me sporadic text messages throughout the day with jokes. By the time I'd woken up to Nicole's rendition of "Ironic," I had two texts sitting in my inbox for over two hours from him.

Kat, when did Anakin's Jedi teachers know he was going bad?

In the Sith grade.

I thought about just ignoring him, but I didn't want to be petty. I also lacked a backbone, so I sent him the only Star Wars joke I knew off the top of my head.

Why does Leia wear buns on her head?

In case she gets hungry in a Senate meeting!

I didn't get a response from him until a few hours later, which made my stomach groan, but every time I picked up my phone to check it, Nikki would start slapping the screen obnoxiously to get me off of it. By the time I got another message from him, he had sent me three in a row.

Which star wars character works at a restaurant?

Darth waiter ha ha ha

Am I annoying?

The last message had been sent over an hour before while we were at Macy's. Nikki had slipped into the fitting room to try on a dress that looked more like a shirt, so I took advantage of her absence to make myself more miserable by responding.

Only on days that end in a y, mag.

Hours passed and I didn't hear from him. I tried not to wonder what he was doing, or better yet who he was doing but it was impossible. Everything reminded me of him and it was horrible. It was worse than my obsession with my first boyfriend in high school, and it was so far off from the person I was now that it bothered me a great deal. I really wished that Zoey would have been around because she always brightened my day. Now it was just me and Nicole doing our best to fight off the constant urge to vomit. We were pathetic bitches— this was a fact.

I wasn't much of drinker. I only did it socially and very rarely enough to get me halfway drunk, but that night, just like the night before with our endless supply of chocolate martinis, Nikki dragged me out of her loft to some trendy, new gay club downtown to meet up with Josh while she blasted more Alanis through her speakers. I was a little scared. I hadn't seen her reach for her phone very often, and I was a little worried of the repercussions. She kept playing with the ring on her hand absently while she drove, or sat, or just breathed in general.