“Thank God! I thought you would never get home!” Morgan shouts as soon as I shut the front door behind me.

“I was gone for one night,” I groan, shrugging off my jacket.

“Okay, whatever.” She waves me off before grinning, oddly excited. “Let’s hang out today. I miss you.”

Guilt washes over me. I know she doesn’t mean anything by it, but it hurts. I’m aware that I haven’t exactly been spending a lot of time with her lately—considering everything that’s been going on with me. I’m totally the world’s worst best friend.

“Yeah, sounds good to me. What do you wanna do?”

“Well…” she hesitates slightly, sticking her bottom lip out in a pout. Oh no. “As you know, it’s Matt’s birthday next weekend and I have to look hot as hell,” she hints, batting her eyelashes.

I shake my head so fast the room spins. “Nope. No way. We are not going shopping.”

Shopping with Morgan is pure torture. She’s one of those girls who has to stop at every single store in the mall to try on almost every single article of clothing. I would rather spend an entire day watching paint dry.

“Come on, Ava. Please? For me?” Shit, her puppy dog eyes are starting to wear me down.

I huff and swear under my breath. “Fine, but we’re not spending the entire day there! And you have to buy me lunch.”

“Yay! Hurry up and get ready—you smell like a guy,” she cringes, pushing me in the direction of my bedroom.

“Okay, okay, you crazy-woman. I’m going.” I shove her hands away and hurry into my room.

After spending way too long in the shower, I get out and slip on a robe. Morgan comes barreling into the room—right after I pull my nice-ish underwear on.

“You’re seriously not ready yet? Hurry the hell up.”

“Um, in case you didn’t notice, I’m half-naked,” I inform her, gesturing to my body.

“And? We’ve been skinny dipping together,” she shrugs, plopping herself down on my bed. She eyes me up with a grin. “Cute set, by the way. Are you planning on getting laid or what?”

I spin around, wide-eyed. I pull Oakley’s hoodie and leggings on with a sigh. “A girl can wear cute underwear for herself, you know,” I grumble.

Okay, maybe I have been trying a bit harder lately, but that’s none of her business.

“If you say so. I still don’t understand how you haven’t hopped on that yet. God knows I would have. The guy is smokin’ hot.”

I flip her the middle finger. She should be nagging Oakley about that. He’s the one who constantly stops us.

“Focus on your boyfriend, M. He’s not exactly ugly either,” I point out while carefully filling in my eyebrows.

“Oh, I know,” she smirks. I catch her wink in the vanity mirror and put a finger in my mouth to gag at what she’s insinuating. Morgan has never been subtle.

I stand up from my chair and notice one of Morgan’s shoes lying on the ground. With a mischievous grin, I pick up the high-top sneaker and whip it at her head.

“You bitch!” she screams, her head snapping up in my direction. She reaches up and rubs the spot where the shoe hit her. “What the hell was that for?”

what?”

“I had to get your attention somehow,” I tease. “You coming or

“Remind me why I’m friends with you again?” she asks with a glare. “Cause I’m just so damn lovable?”

“You’re funny. Let’s go.”

She grabs my hand and drags me out of my room. She opens the

front door and smacks my ass. I send her my own glare, grab the same coat as earlier off the coat rack, and slip it on before heading out.

 

 

“What about this one?”

Morgan opens the changing room door and walks out in a black mini dress covered in holographic sequins. It stops just below her butt and her boobs are practically spilling out of the plunged neckline.

“I didn’t know we were in Skanks-R-Us. Go change.” I shove her back towards the room and get a growl in response.

“You’re such a prude,” she says once she’s behind the closed dressing room door again.

“Matt would burst into a ball of fire if you showed up to a party wearing that.”

“Fine. This one’s better. Just gimme a minute.”

I stifle a laugh when I hear a bang and a muffled “ouch.” The door swings open soon after and Morgan stumbles out, attempting to do a dramatic twirl.

“What do you think?”

My eyebrows shoot up, jaw dropping. The maroon coloured lace tank top has a deeply scooped neckline. The colour contrasts nicely with her tanned skin and shows off her chest quite nicely. She’s paired the top with a skin-tight leather skirt that clings to her small waist and reaches her knees. The whole outfit shows off her body in all the right places.

“You look perfect, M.” I give her an encouraging smile.

She jumps up and claps her hands in excitement. “Yay! Okay, I’m going to get this one. Wait for me while I change,” she commands, heading off to change again.

Ten minutes later, we’ve made our way out of the mall and into the safe confines of Morgan’s Jeep. Some catchy pop song is blasting through her speakers and it’s only a matter of seconds before we’re both singing along shamelessly to the cheesy lyrics.

Eight songs later and with our throats sore, we pull into our parking spot a few feet from the side door of our apartment building. I didn’t realize how much I missed her—even if she did make me go shopping.

Morgan goes to the backseat to grab all of her shopping bags while I head inside. I get to our floor and push the heavy metal door open.

When I see a woman leaning against the wall opposite my apartment, I pick up my pace, hurrying down the hallway as curiosity gets

the better of me. If this is one of Adam’s one-night stands I swear I’ll kill him.

As I get closer, I realize she’s way too old to be a one-night stand.

Or at least I would hope so.

The woman’s hair is scarily thin. It is a dark shade of brown that highlights just how pale her skin is. Her green eyes are bloodshot as they move to stare back at me, hauntingly vacant.

“Hello? Do you need something?” I politely ask the woman.

She pushes away from the wall and stands up straight, brushing her hands across her torn clothing. The sweatshirt she’s wearing isn’t exactly the most eye-pleasing piece of clothing I’ve ever seen. It’s stained, faded, and the yellow material hangs loosely on her thin frame.

“You’re beautiful,” she whispers, her voice rough and faraway. I raise my eyebrows and take a cautious step back from her, gripping my keys tight in my hand. What the…

“Do I know you?” I murmur, panicked and unsure of what to say. The woman flinches back at my question. I want to ask her more but decide against it.

“You don’t know who I am?” she asks in disbelief, which only confuses me more.

The sound of the stairwell door slamming shut makes her jump. She steadies herself against the wall and looks in the direction of the noise.

I take my gaze off the woman to see Morgan making her way down the hall, her hands full of shopping bags. Her eyes widen in surprise when she notices our visitor. Glancing between the two of us, she mouths something at me that I don’t understand before dropping her shopping bags and whirling on the woman.

“Who the hell are you?” she hisses. Morgan crosses her arms and narrows her eyes at the nameless woman. She gets no response from her, just an emotionless expression. “Well? Do you speak?” Morgan asks again, clearly losing her almost nonexistent patience.

Still, the woman doesn’t speak. She just stares at me. I begin to feel even more uncomfortable when she bravely places her hand on my forearm.

I cringe and pull away. I smack against the wall behind me as I stare back at her with wide eyes.

“Can you just tell us who you are?” I try to plead with her and smile in an attempt to seem friendly.

“I want to talk to you alone. Without her,” she adds in a sneer, not hiding her dislike for Morgan.

“Yeah, right. Not happening,” Morgan laughs and points her house key at her. “I suggest you scurry away back to whatever hole you crawled out of. I’ll call my friends if I have to. My friend’s boyfriend here is quite the fighter, and you really wouldn’t want to be on the opposing side of his anger. Or mine for that matter!” she snaps, throwing her arm around my shoulders and pulling me close.

The woman flinches and takes a step back. She regards Morgan with cautious eyes before turning her gaze back to me.

“Is that what you want, Octavia?”

How does she know my name? My heart pounds in fear, hands beginning to tremble.

“Who are you talking about? We don’t even know an Octavia, you wack job,” Morgan lies smoothly. She steps in front of me, as if to shield me, and pulls her phone out of her coat pocket. “Last chance. All I have to do is send one message, and you’ll be in for a whole world of trouble.”

“Just take this. I’m sure I’ll see you soon.” The woman reaches towards me and holds out a small piece of paper.

Against my better judgment, I grab it with my trembling hands. She gives me one last look and turns around to walk away.

When she disappears, I peel open the folded paper. I take in a sharp breath as I read the messy writing scribbled on the paper, feeling the bile rise in my throat.

I’ve missed you, baby girl. Love, Mom.