I took a gulp of vodka. Ignored the burning sensation in my throat. Swallowed it down. Liquid courage. “Those are his words, right? All week you’ve been ignoring me, but you’re still talking to him?”

She continued staring into her drink, as if the answers to my questions were written in the center of the ice cubes.

“Do you think I’m lying about what happened? You think I made it up?”

Millie’s head whipped in my direction, her eyes narrowing. “I don’t know who to believe. His story is completely opposite yours.”

“It’s an easy choice, Mil. You believe me. Your best friend who has always been there for you. Not your asshole boyfriend who hits you!” I was done playing it cool. I was pissed.

Millie finally tore her eyes away from her drink. “That’s a low blow.”

“I’ll tell you all about low blows,” I said. “It’s when you try to help your best friend out and instead you get assaulted by her boyfriend.”

“Stop saying he assaulted you.” She moved in closer. “You haven’t told anyone else this, have you? Mitch could get in real trouble.”

“Oh, my God. That’s what you’re worried about? Him getting in trouble?” I lashed out, angry tears springing to my eyes. “What about what he did to me?” Shaking my head, I sniffed. Blinked. “But you don’t care, do you? He’s the one you care about. Not me.”

It hurt, even though it was what I figured would happen. My wild, seemingly carefree friend had become predictable when it came to him. Pathetic.

I took a baggie of pills out of my pocket. Dumped a few into my hand. When I first stole these, I’d hoped I wouldn’t have to enact this plan. I’d hoped Millie would see reason.

“What are those?” she asked, eyeing them.

“Just leave me alone. You made your choice.” I threw them into my mouth and drank them down with the remainder of the vodka. It burned and I didn’t actually have enough to get all the pills down. I ended up gagging a little. Luckily, there was a half-drunk cup of water on the table—Millie’s, I imagined, the smudge of her lips on the rim—and I used it to shove the pills the rest of the way down.

Millie watched, slack-jawed. “What did you just do?” She fumbled for the baggie. Only two pills left in it.

“Why do you care?”

“Seriously, what are these? What kinds of pills did you take?”

“I don’t know. Some kind of diet pill Mitch gave me,” I lied, already feeling a little fuzzy-headed. There was still a way to make her believe Mitch was a bad guy. A way that didn’t involve me having to face him again.

“What? Mitch gave you diet pills? When?”