2. Complicated

Heather lets out a puff of smoke after keeping it deep in her lungs long enough for them to ache in protest. The affect is so worthwhile the momentary pain.

Riley stares at the poster on Heather’s wall of James Dean and Natalie Wood and gets an urge to re-watch Rebel Without a Cause. She knows she shouldn’t but she likes to think of Julia as a twisted Jim Stark, deeply wishing Julia was as simple as a misunderstood teenager of the 1950s.

“I don’t understand why you can’t just leave,” Heather says after a long silence, her voice distorted after taking another hit.

Riley sighed quietly, her eyes trailing off Dean’s meaningful yet hollow gaze.

She didn’t know why either.