Lots to talk about.

Tiffany and Linda make their way upstairs to Linda’s bedroom. Linda leads taking confident strides as Tiff quietly follows behind her. Once they arrive Linda’s stands in the center of her room for a short moment. She hesitates just before turning around to face Tiff.

“As always, mi casa es su casa,” Linda says gesturing towards her beds. She looks quite composed now dipping for an elegant bow.

Linda has a set of bunk beds from when she and her older sister used to share this room. When her older sister moved away Lin decided to keep them for whenever friends want to sleep over. Tiffany quickly slides past Linda and sits on the bottom bunk.

Tiffany fidgets a little pressing herself against the bed post. She tears her eyes away from her lap and looks up at Linda. In contrast to Tiff Linda appears very self-assured and collected, though her eyes seem to be a bit more open than usual.

“Now, let’s get down to it! Why are we here today?” Linda openly asks.

“Um, uhh,” Tiff nervously lets out.

“That’s right! We have to talk about college!” Linda says. Tiffany relaxes just a bit.

“There’s so much we have to go through! What are our majors? What classes should we take? Are we gonna join any clubs? Sororities? College is just one summer away! There’s so little time for planning!”

Tiff tenses up again and lets out a soft strained laugh. She’s naturally anxious about starting college but at least it’s an enormously less stressful conversation than what had happened yesterday.

“Oh wait! Where are my manners? You must be parched Tiff. Would you like something to di— AH!” Linda loudly yelps and covers her mouth. She turns away from Tiffany and exclaims, “NO! Fuck! Dammit!!”

“Um, wha—” Tiff mumbles shaking a little.

“Nothing!! It was nothing! I just…bit my lip. Now, do you want anything to drink, hehe?” Linda stresses to properly say that word. “Water? Juice? Soda?”

“Uh, no...I’m fine,” Tiffany says clasping her hands to try to appear calm.

“Are you sure you don’t want anything? Mom bought coffee earlier. If you’d like I can make you cu— MMM!” Linda covers her mouth again and stares wide-eyed at Tiff. “NO!! GODDAMMIT! AAaahh my lip again...”

Tiff holds her knees to stop them from trembling. “Are you okay Lin? You seems kinda stressed out. Maybe I should lea—”

“NO! I—Wait, Tiff—I just…”

Linda’s mouth quivers, and then her head falls. She drops to her knees. A dramatic gesture that she’s quite fond of. She grabs Tiffany’s hand startling Tiff. Then Linda places her forehead on the back of Tiffany’s hand.

“Tiff. I’m so sorry about yesterday. I didn’t mean to do that to you. I didn’t control myself. I let myself take advantage of you, and what’s even worse, I ran away. I’m the worst,” Linda speaks softly but adds emphasis to that last word. “I pray that someday I may be worthy of forgiveness. That I can redeem myself. Que Dios me perdone.”

Tiffany is stunned. Mortified. She feels a dire urge to get out of there. She tries to speak but her mouth won’t vocalize any of the hundreds of thoughts running through her mind. She desperately wants to say something, anything to soothe her friend. Tiff forcefully shuts her eyes and mouth. She bites her lip on accident and uses her free hand to cover her mouth. She yelps causing Linda looks up at her. Their glossy eyes meeting each other.

“Lin…please don’t be upset. You’re not the worst. You’re a good friend…and a wonderful person…and I forgive you for what happened.”

“…a-are you sure?” Linda’s lips quiver.

“Yes Lin. It’s alright. You’re not a bad person,… and I forgive you.”

Linda lets go of Tiffany’s hand. She eases herself up and sits next to Tiff on the bed. She continues looking down and rests her hands on her lap.

“Thank you Tiff,” Lin says softly.