𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑑 𝑉𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠

Every friendship has threads the others aren’t part of; exclusion alone isn’t necessarily betrayal. But once information starts crossing between those threads… 

Mara hadn’t planned on going out until the red velvet dress caught her eye like a challenge she couldn’t ignore. The dress wasn’t for them, but they’d feel it anyway, the way it clung to her like a second confession she hadn’t meant to make.

And the white boots were a must. Depending on her mood, they were either her beat-a-hoe boots or her come-fuck-me heels. She wasn’t gon fight nobody, and she damn sure wasn’t finna end her accidental celibacy for some mediocre dude wearing Versace. Still… the boots kept her options open. More importantly, they made her feel seen.

By the time Cal pulled up she had already second-guessed wearing it three times over.

“Professor,” he said through the open window, always with the jokes. The car smelled of dank and peach air freshener. Sunflower seeds rattled in a cup holder.

“Driver,” she smirked, and climbed in.

He was drum-tapping the steering wheel with that grin that always promised trouble. Mara glanced at the Sunflower seeds and rolled her eyes. The sound of him sucking on the seeds, separating it from its shell only to discard the unwanteds in a can mere inches from her thigh made her vow to never allow her license to expire ever again. Cal got on her nerves, almost as often as he made her laugh. Oddly, that combination of traits meant she could trust herself with him.

They pulled off. The road was dark but familiar.

Cal cleared his throat. That sound he made when he had something to say but didn’t know where to aim it. 

He said, “Okay, don’t freak out.”

“Famous last words,” she said, eyes fixed on her own reflection in the side view mirror. 

“I told Noah about Taji.”

That sat in the car like a third person.

Mara blinked and shook her head. Now staring at the car ceiling, she asked, “You told her what exactly?”

“That Taji and Sean have been DMing each other.”

“Oh my gosh” Mara said in false disbelief. “You told Noah that Taji’s been talking to her ex, and running her mouth about their breakup in that little side chat she’s not even in?”

He winced with a slight shrug. “I thought she already knew.”

Mara scoffed. “And why would she know that?”

“Because y’all are all tight. You and Taji. And Noah. I figured it wasn’t a secret-secret. Thought it had been… I don’t know. Dealt with.”

Mara laughed once. Not a funny laugh. “That’s insane.”

“I didn’t mean to stir shit,” he said quickly. “It just came up. She said something and I thought—”

“You thought she already knew her friend betrayed her and dragged her in a side chat? Cmon. That’s a reach, Cal.”

He tapped the steering wheel. “I’m in a few side chats. Stuff crosses over. I forget who knows what.”

“How many is a few?”

He paused. “Three.”

She gave him a look.

“Okay, four. But one of them is basically memes.”

She didn’t smile.

“Look,” he said, “I get it. I do. But people have side chats. It doesn’t automatically mean something shady.”

“It means something.” She lit a cigarette. “It means we’re not all having the same conversation.”

“You’re in the big one,” he said, like that was a consolation.

She stared out the window. “Everybody’s in the big one. That’s the point. It’s where people go to pretend they like each other.”

Cal didn’t answer for a while. The car filled up with quiet the way it always did when they touched something real.

“I think people like you more than you think,” he said eventually.

Mara blew smoke. “That’s worse.”

“How?”

“Because if they like me and still don’t include me, it’s not about hate. It’s about comfort. I say things they don’t want said. ”

“No, you make them… think.”

She snorted. “Oh, I mAkE THeM THINK. How dare a friend ever cause you to do that.”

He hesitated. “Taji messed up. But she’s not evil.”

“No one said she was evil.”

“You sound like you’re done with her.”

“I sound like someone who’s tired of playing games.”

Cal sighed. “It’s not that deep.”

“It’s always that deep,” she said. “People show you how they feel when they think you won’t find out.”

“Or maybe people are just messy,” he said. “Not everything means something, Mara. Sometimes it’s just… bad timing, bad choices.”

“I guess.” She rolled her eyes so hard he could hear it. 

“Whatever,” Cal said. “Don’t act like you don’t appreciate having somebody in the chats that’ll give you the scoop.”

Mara frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Every time something pop off, who you waiting to hear from?”

She opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Cal nodded. “See. That’s what I thought.”

Mara folded her arms across her chest and looked out the window. 

He was right. She felt some type of way about side chats. But she also hated being left out of them. We all wear drag in some way or another. Hers was the quiet fantasy that she could stand outside the mess and still have an ear on the inside. Pretending to be above drama and gossip was her favorite wig.

They rode in silence.

After a while he said, “Noah posted a story. It’s vague, but her voice was shaking a little. You can tell—”

“She’s mad?”

“She hurt.” He rubbed his jaw. “She said a friend told her the truth because he assumed she already knew. That’d be me.”

Mara shook her head. “You gon get dragged for that.”

“I already did.”

“She gon cut Taji off?”

He shrugged. “I think she wants to. I also think she’s waiting to see if Taji even tries.”

“She won’t,” Mara said. “Watch what I tell you: Taji’ll cry first. Apologize never.”

He drummed his fingers on the wheel. “You ever had a friend do you dirty?”

“Not over no man.”

“Over what, then?”

“Over nothing. That’s the part that stings.”

They hit another patch of silence. The windows buzzed from some bass that was too close. The warehouse club came into view—red lights aglow on the gravel.

“You look dangerous,” Cal said.

“I am.”

He parked and turned down the music. “You going in?”

“Nah. I just wore this dress and hook ‘em boots to sit in the car,” she quipped.

Still, they sat for a moment, neither reaching for the door.

He said, “You talk like you don’t need anybody.”

She looked at him. “Being true to who I am isn’t  the same as not needing anyone.”

He swallowed that.

“You know,” he said, “people want to know you. They just don’t know how.”

“Then they don’t want it bad enough. I’m not a puzzle.”

You kind of are,” he said. “Cassandra, but for group chats.”

She snorted. “That’s not as flattering as you think.”

Mara checked her lipstick. It didn’t need fixing, but it made her feel in control.

“You gonna blow up the chat?”

“Me?” She scoffed. “I don’t know anything.”

A smirk appeared—sharp, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Knowing doesn’t help if people know you know.”

She tapped ash out the window.

“Sometimes the only way to stay included is to act like you don’t see anything.. So I’ve learned to play dumb and wait for the updates.”

Cal didn’t say anything.

He looked at her, wondering how much she really knew.

He pulled out his one-hitter, packed it. “I’m gonna hit this before we go in,” he said. “You want some?”

“Nah.” Her voice was light. “I’m cerebral enough without it.”