Faster We Burn

sorry you had to go through that, Stryker. I had no idea.” No, but she’d had her own crosses to bear.
    “Everybody goes through hard shit in their lives. It’s how you deal with it that determines what kind of person you are.”
    She picked at the edge of the blanket. “What kind of person am I?”
    “You’re a girl who’s been trying to be something she’s not for her whole life and it finally stopped working for you. Now you’ve got a chance to be who you really are.”
    “Who is that?” She brought her knees up under the blanket and put her chin on them.
    “A girl who does makeovers for her friends and puts on a brave face for them, and cares so much about people that she can’t even see it.” There was a hell of a lot more than that, but that was enough for now.
    “Is that what you see when you look at me?”
    “I also see a lot of pink,” I said, leaning back and putting my arm around her, hoping she wouldn’t bite my hand off for doing so.
    “I really like pink.” She brought her head up and moved her face closer to mine.
    “I know,” I said, moving until our faces were only a millimeter apart.
    She pressed her lips together and shook her head back and forth.
    “I should go. Thanks for…all that.”
    “You’re going to leave me after I unburdened my soul?” I said, clutching my chest. “I’m hurt, Katie.”
    She rolled her eyes and stood up, handing me back my blanket.
    “You’ll get over it. See you later.”
    I got up and caught her before she got all the way out the door.
    “I don’t know if this fits into the “things we’re not supposed to do” category, but do you want to come over tonight? I’m having some friends over to have a session and I would like to invite you to come. As a friend.” I didn’t stop to think about the consequences of inviting her to hang out with my friends. If I did, I probably wouldn’t have invited her. Too late now.
    She toyed with her keys. “A friend? Is that what I am?”
    “I told you, you can be whatever you want to be.” She leaned in the doorway.
    “I guess I can be your friend. If you want me to be.”
    “I want you to be what you want. You have enough expectations already.”
    She looked down with a little smile.
    “You’re right. And yes. I will be your friend. At least for tonight. What time?”
    “Around six?”
    “Sure.” I waited for her to move, but she seemed conflicted.
    “We can still screw each other if we’re friends, right?” she said.
    She leaned closer and touched my belt.
    “I have absolutely no problem with that definition.” I moved closer to her and I was about to yank her in for a kiss when she took a step back.
    “No. I shouldn’t. I have to go. I’ll see you tonight.”
    She skipped down the stairs and I was left with a hard dick and no one but myself to take care of it for me.
     
    Katie
     
    “What are you doing?” Lottie said as I went through my closet, trying to find something that would work for a music “session.” I’d gone to plenty of concerts, but this was totally different. I didn’t think my pink glittery cowboy hat would be welcome. Or maybe it would. I had no idea, which was what made it so hard to choose.
    “Looking for something to wear. Stryker invited me to one of his music things and I don’t know what to wear. Ugh, I have nothing!” I threw everything off my bed onto the floor.
    “You have more shirts than I have books,” Lottie said, getting up to help. “And that’s saying something.”
    “I just don’t want to look like an idiot.”
    “You could never, ever look like that. Well, maybe if you wore this,” she said, holding up a pink shirt that said STAY CALM AND WAIT FOR PRINCE CHARMING. It had actually been a sarcastic gift from Kayla. I’d forgotten that I even had it.
    “You’re the makeover queen. Look at what you did with the red dress.”
    “I know, but it’s one of those things that I can do for other people, but not for myself.” Lottie started folding shirts and putting them back on my bed.
    “You’re overthinking, which means you care. A lot. Stryker isn’t going to care what you wear. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”
    “It’s not him I’m worried about.” It was his friends. I knew pretty much nothing about them, except a few of their names and that they played instruments. Other than that, I was shooting blind.
    “How about this?” She found a soft t-shirt with little pink flowers and a grabbed one of my pink