Chapter Six

                                    

                                          
Lucia

 "How long are you guys going to take in there?" Lucia kept hitting the door, she wasn't impatient but she hadn't been alone with Jose in a while and the conversations kept getting awkward, she was so used to hanging out with Jose only when Ian, Renee or Claudia were there. She liked everything about Jose, he had the prettiest smile and his hair was amazing, Lucia always loved that about him. He dressed better than anyone she knew, even Ian, she loved the way he spoke, he was always so eloquent and articulate and she could listen to him for hours, but she was so scared of him, she was afraid to speak directly to him. She hated when he was speaking about her as well, everything he said felt like daggers, with the rest of their friends it was honesty but with Jose it was different, it was like he was purposely looking for a way to attack every insecurity she had, sometimes it felt like he hated her, she knew he didn't, he spoke to everyone that way but growing up as friends with him it felt like at a point he stopped replying her from a place of indifference and started replying from a place of anger.
 When Claudia and Ian went into the bathroom, she didn't want to go with them at first, she knew Claudia would've made a joke and Ian would laugh because they would be too high to realise the joke was probably an insult masked as "friendly banter" directed at them or her, it was Claudia so probably both of them. She had work to do anyway so instead she opened up her laptop and logged into her work server.
 "What are you doing?" Jose asked scrolling his phone
 "Do you make any eye contact when you speak?" Lucia asked jokingly 
 "Would you like me to?" he asked cockily 
 "I mean once in a while would be nice"
 "Alright" Jose put his phone down and sat on the bed next to her "what are you doing?"
 "Just work, nothing serious. I have some timetables to crea-"
 "That's boring" Jose sighed closing the laptop
 "Funny, but I have serious work to do"
 "What do you do on the days you don't slave yourself away?" He had started, she should've expected him to talk like this
 "Slave myself?"
 "I didn't stutter"
 "Neither did i!" She snapped at him, "fuck" she repeatedly kept on swearing in her head, she didn't mean to snap and when she saw his face switch up, she fell silent.
 "Okay Lucia, let me rephrase the question" He sat up "What do you do when you're not working multiple jobs and kissing ass as well as subsi-"
 "Why do you hate me ?" Lucia cut him off, for the first time in a long time she looked someone dead in the eye without flinching. "Why? The soft jabs, the comments, we all know you're messed up. We don't know how, but we know, my issue is how is that my problem?" Lucia kept going. Honestly, his silence made her uncomfortable, but she didn't care. "Why is it somehow, assuming there is even something wrong with you, you know what Jose, let's pretend you even have real life issues apart from bagging STDs, so let's say something is wrong with you..." She spoke so softly but you could hear the exhaustion in her voice "what does that have to do with me? I care about you but not enough to listen to you talk to everyone like we're less than because we're supposed to believe you're blunt? You're damaged and that's not my problem"
 She hated his silence so much, but she hated when he spoke more. He got up, picked up his phone and laid back on the couch. She stared at her closed laptop for about five minutes before she snapped "say something"
 "Say what?" She could see him smiling as he asked through the screen of his phone
 "Say something, anything" her heart was beating really fast, she hated confrontation and she hated feeling like something bad was coming, but she knew Jose and she knew he knew her well, she knew he was punishing her with his silence. "Jose"
 "What Lu?" he kept staring at his phone
 She got up and went straight to the bathroom, she wanted to talk to Ian. She hated the way Jose treated her so much, who did he think he was anyway?.
 "You guys, open up" She really needed to talk to someone else, she could feel hot tears welling up in her eyes. 
 "It's.. a.. party.. on.. this.. end.. bitch" Claudia was stuttering
 "Dude I don't care, are you stoned?" She kept knocking "Open up"
 "I'm.. kissing your... girlfriend or boyfriend, what are they again?" Claudia was clearly high on something illegal and honestly Lucia could care less she just wanted to speak to Ian
 "Ian, can i talk to you" She asked while knocking more aggressively 
 "Chill, obsessed much" Claudia was laughing hysterically
 "Why isn't Ian speaking?"
 "Shhhh, we're speaking" Claudia fell silent 
 "Ian? Ian" Her chest started feeling heavy, she could feel something wasn't right, she didn't know what it was but she knew something was weird, why would Claudia be alone with Ian for so long "Ian what's wrong?"
 "Shut up for once, o my God Lu"
 "Why isn't Ian answering, what's happening Claudia" She kept shaking the door knob "Open up"
 Claudia stopped answering her, everywhere was so quiet Lucia felt like dying, her palms became so sweaty. 
 She used her body to push the door open, but it wasn't budging, she could hear sobbing from the other side and she could tell it wasn't Ian "why isn't Ian saying anything, open up"
 Why was Claudia sobbing? Why would Claudia be sobbing and Ian would be quiet ? Why wasn't Ian answering her? What the fuck was happening ?
 "Claudia" Lucia started screaming "open the door" She hit the door harder and she could feel the pain in her shoulders, it was so bad but she was so scared, Ian never shunned her, no matter how bad it was Ian never shunned anyone.
 Finally the door burst, she saw Claudia holding her knees to her chest in one corner, she was so still, she kept staring at something, Lucia's eyes followed Claudia's and at the other end she saw Ian on their side, they weren't moving. They just laid there. "Ian" Lucia was too afraid to go too close to them, she was so scared of what she thought was happening, she couldn't move, she saw thick foam by the side of their mouth and their hand was stretched toward Claudia, the tears fell down to her feet, they felt like hot acid on her skin, "Ian please" she couldn't see anything anymore, just tears. She looked at Claudia and looked back at Ian's hand, it was so pale.
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