The boy goes to the bathroom to puke up his hamburger. The girl drops
two pills from one of those orange prescription bottles and starts
crushing them on her pastel table in the smoking section of IHOP. She
doesn’t smoke cigarettes, but the boy does. The kids at the next table
pretend not to have a joint. One of them is eyeing her, trying to catch her glance.
She could probably get a hit off the guy who is eyeing her, but
remembers the boy in the bathroom. He is taking a long time. But she
shouldn’t ditch him, though.
She realizes why he is taking a long time. She wants to storm the
men’s bathroom and pluck him from the stall where she knows he is puking
up his hamburger. It bugs her, oh fuck it. She spills some Sweet and
Low on the table and traces patterns in the powder with a butter knife.
This spill will make the crushed pills look less suspicious as she
scrapes them into a napkin, rolls up the napkin, and swallows.
She sees that the boy is out of the bathroom and talking with some
strangers, girl strangers, near the catch a stuffed animal with the claw machine. The girl reminds herself that she and the boy are not dating, so she shouldn't mind. She opens her notebook and waits for her pills.
“Is everything okay here?” The waitress’ eyes are red from late
hours and blue from eyeshadow. The girl tells her yes, but isn’t sure.
She looks up to find the boy scratching through the pockets of his
long coat. He signals the waitress to come back.
“What is going on?” The girl asks.
“You’re not going to like this.” The boy says. His nervous laugh
and his dimples almost distract the girl.
“Tell me.”
He touches his forehead with his hand, then gestures toward the
catch a stuffed animal with the claw machine. “That is my ex. The one
I’ve been telling you about. We need to go straighten out some shit.”
The girl wants to be sad, but she’s starting to roll. She wants an excuse to touch the boy, so she smiles and
hugs him goodbye.
She turns to the kids at the next table and they give her a hit off that joint.

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