Six

It was Sunday and it was a lazy day for both of Mila and Emma. Mila finished all of her college assignments on Friday and Emma finished everything she was supposed to do on her weekdays since she had nothing else to do.

"Julie is coming over," Mila informed Emma as she drank her coffee.

"And Ariana too," Emma told Mila, checking her I*******m out of pure boredom.

"Great." Mila smiled and sat on the couch beside her.

Mila was texting Julie a lot and she had a lot of classes with her. Julie was a nice girl and she was a lot like Mila, so she was comfortable with her and she did not feel pressured with the friendship she developed with her.

Emma was also building a growing friendship with Ariana and she liked the friendship they were having. She loved how Ariana was making her experience new things. Mila was a little uncertain about Emma's friendship with Ariana and was concerned about how Ariana was pulling Emma into a whole new life, yet she kept her doubts to herself, not wanting to judge a book by its cover.

"Is Ariana a freshman?" Mila wondered. She was curious about the new girl her best friend was talking to a lot.

"No, she is a sophomore," Emma said.

"And Cole?" Mila smirked.

"I don't even have his number, Mila!" Emma whined. She had told Mila about Colton, how attractive he was, how he taught her beer pong, how he spent the whole night with her and almost everything they had done together.

"So you are not going to see him again?" Mila asked her.

"I don't know Mil, he doesn't have my number and I don't have his."

"He could easily get your number from Ariana," Mila pointed out with a slight shrug.

Two hours later, Julie and Ariana came. The girls ordered pizza and decided to have a Harry Potter marathon.

"There is this party next Saturday, are you girls coming?" Ariana asked, before taking a sip of her soda.

"You don't have a shift, right?" Emma asked Mila as she took a slice of pizza. Although she did enjoy the previous party she had been to, she wanted Mila to be with her. She wasn’t used to going out without having Mila by her side.

"No, I will go if you're going." Mila did not want to leave Emma on her own. She did not like Ariana; something about her sent Mila off.

"I'll go too," Julie agreed.

"Great! Emma, you have to try this new drug! It's amazing! It will make you feel like you're on the ninth cloud!" Ariana exclaimed but Mila frowned. She was never a fan of drugs. She was aware that Emma was smart too. She wouldn’t involve herself in stupid things like that, unless she was heavily influenced.

"Woah, wait here, Emma you're not going to try drugs, are you?" Mila sounded really concerned. She did not want her friend to fall into a hole she could not get out of.

"Let her try new things, protective mama." Ariana rolled her eyes.

"I... I don't really know, I've never tried drugs before." Emma was hesitant. She wanted to please both of her friends.

"Emma, you need to get out of your shell!" Ariana encouraged Emma.

"I'm sure she can be on the ninth cloud by doing a lot of other things instead of doing drugs," Julie commented, agreeing with Mila.

"I don't know about you two, but your definition of fun is way different than mine." Ariana was talking in a sarcastic tone and neither Mila nor Julie liked her mindset and how she talked. "What about you, Emmy?"

"I don't know... I don't think it's a good idea, I don't want to get addicted," Emma said in a nervous voice.

"Oh come on! Don't let whatever they say get in your head," Ariana told Emma, acting like neither Julie nor Mila were sitting in the same room as her. Mila looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Excuse me?" Mila said in annoyance.

"You're excused," Ariana said with a fake annoying smile.

"You're unbelievable!" Mila scoffed.

"Girls, stop!" Emma said, getting tired of their little fight.

"Whatever," Mila muttered and went to her room. Julie quickly followed her while Emma stayed in her position; she seemed lost.

"Is she usually a bitch?" Ariana asked Emma.

"Don't call her that!" Emma defended her friend.

Both Mila and Julie walked out of the room and they both headed to the front door.

"Wait Mil, where are you going?" Emma asked Mila as she quickly followed her.

"Going for a walk," Mila replied.

"You're not mad at me, right?" Emma frowned and Mila quickly shook her head.

"Stop doing that! You're allowing her to take advantage of you!" Ariana was glaring at Mila.

"I'm so done with someone like you!" Mila hissed and walked out.

"Why do you hate her that much?" Emma exclaimed, eyeing Ariana in disbelief.

"She is using you! She is controlling you, she is the definition of a toxic friend!"

"She is not! She loves me and only wants the best for me!" Emma defended her friend again.

"You're blinded by your love for her! Emmy...she is using you." Ariana tried to convince Emma.

"No, how can you think like that?" Emma questioned.

"She lives with you for free! She's a control freak and she feeds on your weakness," Ariana told Emma.

"No! She pays half of everything! Stop doing that! Look, can you please leave? I need to be alone," Emma said, breathing out heavily as she rubbed her forehead.

"You really don't know how toxic she is," Ariana said before leaving.

Once she left, Emma picked her phone quickly to call Mila. She felt bad for not following her, but she could not leave Ariana alone. She did not expect that her childhood best friend and her first friend in college would hate each other like that.

"Mil! Where are you? Are you okay?" Emma said quickly, she was slightly panicking.

"Em, calm down. I'm okay, I'm just five minutes away from home," Mila assured Emma, knowing how anxious her best friend could get.

"Are you coming back soon? I'm alone, she left," Emma told Mila.

"I'm coming now. Please, calm down, there is no reason to panic." Mila did her best to comfort Emma. She hung up and quickly returned home, knowing how Emma’s anxiety could kick in at any moment. Julie decided to leave, allowing Emma and Mila to talk freely about what happened.

Mila walked inside the apartment and found Emma sitting on the couch. She looked really nervous and scared, which was a thing Mila could not understand the reason behind. Mila went to sit beside her best friend. Emma was zoning out that she did not notice Mila being beside her.

"Hey," Mila said, smiling a little at her worried best friend.

"You're back!" Emma said happily and quickly hugged her.

"Woah... I didn't take long." Mila laughed a little as she hugged her back.

"I thought you'd be mad at me. I don't like it when you're mad at me," Emma mumbled.

"Why would I even be mad at you? Emma, you didn't do anything. It was all Ariana," Mila told her.

"And she is my friend."

"Not a reason to be mad at you. It was all Ariana. Em... I really don't like her, she is bad news." Mila sighed, looking at Emma.

"She is not bad news, she is just... different." Emma was not even sure about what she was saying.

"She is different! Not a good difference though. She is into drugs and probably other harmful stuff, Emma. How can you trust someone like that?" Mila was doing whatever it took to knock some sense into Emma.

"Don't worry about me, I know what I'm doing," Emma assured her. "Let's just continue the marathon."

Mila was starting to get worried about her best friend, she knew that Ariana was pulling Emma into a dark alley and she did not know what to do. She wanted to stop Emma from befriending Ariana, but she knew that she would appear controlling and she did not like that. She did not want to prove to Ariana that she was right because she was not right, Mila was never controlling, she was just looking out for her best friend. She knew how innocent Emma was, she knew how people could take advantage of her.