Rotation

"Oh dear lord! Oh dear lord! Oh dear lord!" Coral screamed running into my kitchen.
Oliver clutched his head in pain and I saw Quinn roll lazily off the couch and grab a beer.
"What the fuck are you so loud for bitch?" Oliver growled holding his ears and putting his head on the table.
Coral ignored him as she always did and looked back to me. "I have huge news! Oh god, it's crazy!" She screamed delightedly.
Quinn walked up to her, scantily clad in only his boxers. Ew. That's gross. "Shut. Up. It's not even one AM yet and you're yelling like its a god damned carnival!" He snarled drinking his beer.
I frowned. Is this really what my home has come to? Alcoholism, hangovers, and pure rage? I dropped the thought and tried to think about what Coral had to say.
I grabbed her arm quickly and headed down the hall towards the front door.
"You're cleaning this hell hole up later." Quinn said as I walked out the front door.

Coral and I walked about four blocks in total silence to the town park. I didn't know how she was holding her excitement in but I can tell she was having difficulties. Most normal people wouldn't understand our friendship but we knew each other better the married couples knew each other. She knew I didn't like overload of noise, and she usually always respected that, which is why I'm so curious that she bugged out this morning.

The two of us sat underneath a shady tree in the middle of the park. Everything started to spill out of her garrulous self.

"I lost it Missy!" She smiled and clapped happily.
"You lost what?" I asked back calmly, utterly confused.
"You know, my uh..." She didn't continue.
She didn't have to. I blinked. Coral had never had a boyfriend in her life. I immediately knew whatever, or should I say 'whoever,' she did was a mistake.
She started back up again to lighten the bricks of tension in the air. "It was at my cousin college party, I was so hammered, oh my god, he was so cute..."

I let her talk to herself. Has the world gone mad? It's this really how she pictured her special moment? At a college party? If she were pretty enough she may as well go hang out with Oliver and his rat pack. My best friend was slipping out of our bubble. The bubble we created to keep the dangers from the outside world away. Fuck slipping, the girl was out. I sighed. I didn't want to hurt her, she was still my other half.

"I'm happy for you." I smiled half-heartedly. "I have to go clean the house though, the boys will get pissed if I don't."

She smiled not realizing that she had just ripped me in half. I thought I had a friend just like me. Who could talk to me before they did stupid things. But I didn't anymore. Drinking? Sex? Who was she? We parted ways a block away from my house. She hugged me. It wasn't the same. I walked slowly back into my house.

When I stepped through the door I frowned as I always did. The four of them were sitting around the family room watching same football game. I laughed, that was not my family sitting in that room. Not at all.

It was four when I finished cleaning the wreckage from the night before and scattering away all the unnecessary girls.

My body felt dirty and gross. I walked into the room that the boys had not left. Oliver was the first to look up.

"I'm going to go take a bath. I left the pizza money on the table. It should be here any minute." I said putting my hand on the door frame.
He nodded at me and Quinn groaned. "Jesus Christ, wait ten minutes for the pizza so I won't have to get up and pay the bastard."
I groaned. "No, I've been cleaning all day, tip him too." I said walking up the stairs.
"Fuck that shit!" He yelled after me.

I ran the hottest bath water I could, luckily the boys didn't bathe much so there was always steaming water left in the tank. I filled it up with soft jasmine scented bubbles. My clothes felt like weights falling off as I slid into the almost painfully hot bathtub. I shivered from the heat. This couldn't be healthy but it sure did intense my muscle after a terrible day.

I thought about Coral. I felt my face get hot and my eyes get wet. I didn't have a thing for her but in some weird way I felt betrayed. Sobbing was all I could do. I wondered what my life would've been if I wasn't as uptight as I was. If I let loose a little earlier. I became boring Missy though. I almost hated myself for it.

If it weren't for the cold breeze that struck my face I would have never known that someone walked into the bathroom. The wall of tears in my eyes only let me know it was him from the colorful blur of tattoos covering his body. I didn't scream at him to get out. I kept crying I didn't care, I was covered in a sea of bubbles. He pissed into the toilet and watched me for a minute before mumbling something incoherent and walking out.

I sighed. No family, no best friend, no care in the world anymore.

I laid in that bathtub until my skin wrinkled, until my tear ducts were dry. Collapsing in my room was the only logical idea. It was the only thing I did.