Friends, Lovers, or Nothing

"Hiddlestoned," I giggled, holding my blunt lazily in between my fingers while I gazed at Nazia.

"Will you stop saying that? You're creeping me out," She said slowly. I couldn't tell whether it seemed slower because we were under the influence of marijuana, or because she actually was speaking slower than normal. It was most likely a combination of both.

Someone knocked on the door and I shot up off my couch. "Who the fuck is it?"

Nazia hadn't even noticed. I kneeled down on the ground next to where she was sitting clad in a hoodie pulled all the way up to her nose. "Zia, are my eyes red?"

She looked over and shook her head. "You look marvelous, good friend."

The knocking was louder and more urgent because it had probably taken longer than normal for me to get to the door. "It's just me!" I heard Jenny say from behind the door. "Open up!"

I grinned, opening the door and leaning against it while I stared at Jenny. "What's up, Jennay?"

She rolled her eyes but chuckled. "You two are quite a pair."

The tiny Korean pushed her way behind me and began opening all the windows in my apartment. "I can smell the weed all the way from the elevator," She commented.

"Jenny, we live in California," I noted. "Much different story from good ol' Chicago."

I smirked, remembering what great lengths we used to go to in an effort to hide our illegal activity from the suburban Illinois cops back in high school. "It's still illegal," She reasoned. Jenny Kim was the mother figure in our group of friends. I guess you could say I was the dreamer. And Nazia? Well...she was the stoner. We represented all sides of the spectrum.

There was one final member of our group: Arden. She was currently in Paris studying abroad and serving as an intern with DSQUARED2. The four of us complimented each other quite well.

Once Jenny was done spraying Frebreeze and turning on all the fans she could find, she came and sat down next to me. "How did it go?" She asked excitedly.

"Smashing, Jen Jen." I said. I had only smoked one joint so I wasn't that high at all. It took the edge off of my worries, though, and that's what I needed. Meanwhile, you couldn't have a conversation with Nazia if you tried.

"That's all?" She asked incredulously.

I pursed my lips in thought. "Well, we are going to Disneyland together tomorrow."

"WHAT?" Jenny screamed.

"What's happening?" Nazia was broken out of her trance by Jenny's shrillness of voice.

"It's okay Nazia, go back into dreamland," I assured her before returning my attention to Jenny. "Our director wants us to get to know each other better so that we can play authentic siblings. So we decided to go to Disneyland."

Jenny's eyes widened and I could tell that her mind was busy at work. "Do you think he knows Andrew Garfield?"

I laughed. "Sweetheart, he's dating Emma Stone."

She sighed and nodded. "I'm sure he does though," I added. "It seems like all the Marvel guys know each other."

"So how are you feeling? It must be a lot."

I nodded, hit with a wave of reality. It crashed over me and brought back all my worry with it. There really was no escape. No matter how much weed I smoked, how hard I ran, or how much I submerged myself into sleep, my problems would still be there when I came back.

"I'm scared," I murmured. "This is all so new to me. I always knew that I wanted to act in films, but now that I finally have a role I feel like I made a huge mistake! Can you believe that? Everyone knows I'm the new kid. Everyone knows that I don't know what I'm doing. It's fucking intimidating."

Jenny nodded. "I get it. But this is what you were born to do. Soon you'll get used to everything and it'll be second nature."

I took a deep breath and began to roll another joint. I needed it. "Hey, but Andrew Garfield...I must meet him at some point," She joked. I grinned, reaching for my lighter and taking a big drag.

"Don't you worry. He'll meet you and immediately fall head over heels in love, dump Emma, and become a KPop singer just to impress you," I began laughing at the thought of Andrew Garfield singing a cheesy pop song in Korean.

Jenny squealed. "I could only hope..."

I smiled to myself, feeling at ease again. I remembered that we weren't the only ones in my apartment. "Nazia, are you alive?"

__

"Hello, Grace!" A cheery British accent caused me to look up from my phone. Tom was smiling at me from his Elantra as he shifted it into park and reached over the empty passenger seat to open the door for me. I was a little alarmed at both his chivalry and his elation to be up at ten in the morning. I was less than thrilled to be up but I wasn't about to blab to Tom about how I'd gotten high last night and only wanted to sleep away the day because going to Disneyland with him scared the crap right out of me. I shook my thoughts from my mind and smiled back at him, getting up and stuffing my phone in my pocket.

"Hi, Tom," I replied, situating myself in the comfortable leather seat and closing the door. I awkwardly folded my hands in my lap and sat in silence. He began driving and my mind filled with questions. How was he able to drive here in California? Was he driving legally? When did he get a car? Or did he rent it?

"How are you?" He asked. I looked over at him and took a good look at him for the first time that morning. His stubble was a tiny bit thicker than yesterday. He wore a thin white v-neck and a pair of jeans with a pair of black sunglasses perched on the top of his nose.

"I'm good," I said. "How are you?"

"I'm good." He replied. The conversation felt dry and forced, and I think he felt it too judging by what he said next.

"Forgive me for asking this, but are you a morning person?" He took off his sunglasses and placed them in his cup holder, flickering his eyes between mine and the road in front of him.

I laughed out of nervousness and his politeness. "No, I'm not. I'm also a very quiet person with people I've just met. It's not you, I promise. Well, it's a little bit you."

He grinned and met my glance. "What do you mean by that?"

I figured I'd be honest. "Well, you're pretty much the reason why I act, and the fact that I'm working with you is unreal. The fact that I have to create a legit sibling bond with you? That scares me."

He chuckled softly and I felt embarrassed. I knew being honest was the wrong choice. It was too early to be myself around him.

"I'm flattered," He said. "And to tell you the truth, meeting you yesterday was quite a thrill for me."

My turn to get the truth out of him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Maybe you've heard this before or maybe you haven't, but when you walk into a room you command everyone's attention. I don't think you know it, either," He said and I found myself lulled into a certain calm from his voice and eloquence.

"I wasn't aware," I said, trying to hide the blush rising to my cheeks.

"Not only that, but you're also an intimidating person. You're not black and white. You're all sorts of complicated, but I'm only guessing. We don't know each other yet."

Man, how was it that we'd only spent a couple of hours together and he already understood me? Was he that good, or was I that easy to read? I chose to believe that he was just good at that type of thing.

"I intimidate you? But you intimidate me!" I said, trying to lighten the conversation a bit.

"I have no doubt we'll get over that soon enough," He noted. I nodded in agreement. He definitely wasn't so scary anymore.

"Do you like rollercoasters?" He changed the subject.

I grinned. "I love them!"

He met my gaze and smiled brightly. "Good, because we're going on all of them."

Maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all.