Nico and Eli's place was nice. They lived in the best student apartments on campus and compared to my small dorm room they were living large.

"Mark won't be home until later," Eli said as I stood awkwardly in his living room. "Make yourself comfortable."

Why did people always say that? It was impossible for me to do that.

I glanced around at the furniture, which was much nicer than what I had while growing up. "You have another roommate?"

Eli chuckled, tossing his hat on the breakfast bar. He scratched his scalp, loosening up his flattened hair. "You really don't know anything about me, do you?"

I wrapped my arms around my waist. "I never tried to know you."

Eli walked around the table, stopping in front of me. He softly pulled one of my hands free and turned it over to examine my palm. Goosebumps spread up my arm as his finger moved along a line in my palm.

Eli seemed to be deep in thought. "It looks like you could have a long life ahead of you, but it depends."

"What?" I glanced at my palm.

"See this right here?" He touched where two lines intercepted at strange angles. "This means you'll have a major life event happen very soon that'll change you forever. If you choose right, you'll have a long life."

I wanted to tell him a major life event already happened in my life, but I didn't want to talk about that. I'd tried to tell Todd, and I thought he'd understood, but I'd been dead wrong.

"You know how to read palms?" I grinned.

Eli's eyes flicked up to mine. "My gramma taught me. She's sensitive to energy and stuff like that."

"Can she see dead people too?" I smiled, wanting to know more.

The light in Eli's eyes dulled as he released a long breath through his nose. "How come everyone asks me that? No. She can't see dead people. She can do some insanely cool stuff, but it's not like she's a Satan worshipper, Lilly."

My question had apparently been the wrong one. "Hey, I didn't mean anything by it. Can't I be curious?"

"You can be whatever you want." Eli dropped my hand and walked to the kitchen, opening the fridge. "You want a beer?"

A beer? No. I most certainly did not want a beer. Between everything with Delia and Rick plus Jessica, alcohol wouldn't help my situation one bit.

"No, thanks," I said.

Eli grabbed a water bottle and a can of beer from the fridge. He popped the can open and took a long drink, handing me the water bottle without making eye contact. What the hell?

"Thanks," I muttered as the front door swung open.

"Jess, we can go back out later. We need to stay inside for now." Nico pulled Jessica in the front door.

When we arrived, Jessica had become utterly entranced with a large oak tree near the parking lot and started having a conversation with it. Nico actually found it funny and began playing along with her. I thought Nico's reaction was strange, but I could only assume he'd dealt with girls like Jessica a hundred times before.

Whatever Jessica had taken was strong as hell because my best friend had become a toddler, and her pupil dilation hadn't improved as the night progressed. If anything, her pupils seemed to be expanding.

"Lil! I forgot you were here." A gigantic smile lit up Jessica's face as she ran to me, wrapping me in a tight embrace. I didn't have enough time to lift my arms before hers were around me, so our hug ended up being one-sided, and uncomfortable with the dozens of glow bracelets running down her arms. "Mm. You smell like cookies too. How come everyone smells so good?"

I laughed. I didn't know what was up with her infatuation with cookies. She hadn't liked the Oreos, but she still hadn't given up on the idea.

Nico's blue eyes found mine as the corner of his mouth lifted. "Jess, you want to dance like I promised?"

Jessica jumped up in excitement with her arms still around me, which caught me off guard because she easily picked me up. When we landed, she nearly tackled me on her way to Nico.

I dodged her, bumped into a chair, and steadied myself, glancing at an entertained Eli.

"When is she going to be normal again?" I asked.

Eli shrugged as he took another drink from his beer. "I'm not sure. This is some new shit. Mark got it from a guy up north. I guess it's supposed to be something like X on steroids. It lasts a lot longer too."

I flinched as the speakers erupted with music. Nico turned it down a little before dancing with Jessica. Nico wasn't a bad dancer.

I moved to the counter to talk with Eli over the music. "Isn't Mark the guy you live with?"

"Yep." Eli lifted his eyebrow, drawing my attention to his piercing. "You got a problem with that?"

Was he joking? Of course, I had a problem with that, and what was his deal? Five minutes ago he was sweet, and now he was a dick.

"I don't think me being here is such a good idea. I thought maybe you and I could start over like you said, but I can't do this." I pressed my lips together.

Eli set his beer down, hard. "You changed your mind? Just like that?"

"I think we're too different." I bit my lip, trying not to get upset. His moods swings were getting on my nerves.

Eli's hands raised defensively, but his jaw was still tight. "I don't want to argue so if that's the way you feel, I'll make sure to get you back to your perfect life after we find out it's safe, okay?"

There were a lot of things I wanted to say, but it would only start a fight. With Jessica acting like a child, and Nico being a helping hand, it wasn't a bad idea to stay the night. We could get out of here tomorrow once Jessica slept it off.

"Whatever. Sounds good." I shrugged, refusing to look at Eli.

"I have shit to do." Eli left his beer on the counter and stalked inside a room, slamming the door.

Okay then. I guess that was that. Eli was officially off the table.

I closed my tired eyes. What the hell just happened?

I had a huge problem being around drugs all the time, so this was for the best, but it still sucked.

"You wanna dance, Lilly?" Nico waved me over.

I smiled at the way Jessica danced beside him with her eyes closed.

"No, thanks." Making my way to the couch, I let myself fall into my spot for the night.

Nico's gaze softened as he sat next to me. "I never apologized for being a fucktard earlier."

"Um... okay?" I didn't know what game he was playing.

"No, really." Nico leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. His forehead wrinkled as he thought about his next words. "I don't know why I act like that. I'm just a major dick sometimes."

"Yeah, you and every other guy," I mumbled as I rifled through the small bag I brought along, pulling out my phone.

"What?" Nico asked.

I shook my head as I checked my email. "Nothing. I'm having a shitty night. Can we just not talk?"

Nico's gaze searched the floor as he relented. "Yeah. I have cookies to find, anyway."

At that, Jessica's eyes shot open. "Cookies!"

I couldn't help but smile. Jessica's need for cookies was stupidly cute.

Nico couldn't find cookies, but there was pre-made chocolate chip cookie dough in the fridge, so Nico baked those instead.

It was a little odd, all things considered.

While the cookies baked, Nico found some colorful satin pillows that Jessica fell in love with. She perched herself on the couch next to me, and wouldn't stop rubbing the pillows over her face.

When the oven timer beeped, a bunch of laughter filled the apartment as the front door slammed.

I twisted from my comfortable couch position to see three dudes walking down the hall.

They were all laughing their asses off before one stumbled, causing the other two to trip over him.

Yeah, they were on the same shit as Jessica.

Eli emerged from his sanctuary. "What the hell is going on?"

A guy with a buzz cut laughed from the bottom of the pileup as he wiggled free. "Sorry, man. We're pretty fucked up. Hype ain't no joke. I feel so good."

"I do too!" Jessica stood, shaking the pillows like pompoms.

The guys quickly got to their feet, and their eyes fell on Jessica and me. That's when I realized their pupils were just like Jessica's.

Big black orbs.

All three gave us goofy smiles until they noticed what Nico was doing.

"Dude, how'd Nico know we all wanted those? We've been wanting sweets for hours." Buzzcut glanced around at everyone. "Nico must be psychic like Eli's magical granny witch."

Eli's gaze slid to me, and his jaw hardened when we made eye contact.

And there was my answer, but I wasn't going to say anything.

Eli would have to break the ice. I'd done nothing wrong.

My gaze fell to my phone as I continued to play my game.

💙💙💙💙💙💙