Amy leaned over her nightstand, yet again, holding a short plastic straw to her nostril and quickly inhaling the white line of coke that laid before her. She raised her head up, shutting her eyes and exhaling sharply. "Damn," she murmured. Turning her head, she stole a glance over at Kimber, who, sat at Amy's vanity table across the room painting her toenails with a ruby red shade of polish. "I can't believe she did that. I mean, she's been the biggest slut ever since high school, and then she goes and hits on my father of all people? Bitch. If you ask me, I'd rather he be with you than with her any day."

Kimber froze suddenly, slowly raising her head up and staring blankly at her. Amy scowled, noticing something wasn't right with her, "sorry, did I say something wrong? I didn't mean to offend you or anything. I wasn't offending you, was I? I just meant--"

"I know what you meant," Kimber cut in, a woeful sigh escaping her. "Don't worry, I'm not offended honey. To be honest, I really should have given up on Christian a long time ago, but for some reason, I insisted on hanging on. After all the bullshit he'd put me through, a part of me thought that the man I fell in love with would genuinely love me back, but I don't think he ever did."

She scowled, stretching herself out on her bed like a cat and turning her body towards Kimber. She propped her head up on her elbow and watched her as she continued polishing her nails. A part of her wanted to say something, to offer Kimber some kind of support, but she didn't know much as it was. At least about what had really gone on between her and her father. Instead, she settled back on the original subject of their conversation. "Well, he's sure putting me through a lot of bullshit right now, being attracted to Courtney. You should have seen him. He was such an asshole. All he could do was stand there and let her seduce him, and if I hadn't of been there, he probably would have screwed her too!"

Kimber scoffed. "You're absolutely right, he probably would've." She finished painting her final toe and shoved the brush back into the polish bottle, shaking her head in disbelief. "As much of an asshole as he is, he does have a way of charming a women into think she's the center of his world."

She shifted on the bed, pushing herself up to a seated position and leaning her back against the headboard. "So what are you saying? That he's going to just replace me with her?"

"Look, all I'm saying is that if this friend of yours--"

"Ex-friend." Amy corrected her with a roll of her eyes.

"Sorry, ex-friend. If she's this sleazy whore you say she is, and she's already gotten Christian's attention, you might want to keep your eyes open sweetie, because chances are, if he hasn't screwed her, he's going to and soon. Sooner than you might think."

Amy's eyes narrowed at her words. There was no use denying it. Kimber was right. "Shit." She groaned in disgust, pulling the top drawer on her nightstand open and fishing out the white envelope stashed there. Her heart was already pounding and her head was spinning from the last inhalation, but she didn't care. She needed the drug and she needed it now. Otherwise, she was going to go insane! "You know, I'm really going to need more of this stuff. I'm running out. I take like a couple hits two times a day. Almost as much as I wash my face."

Kimber smirked. "Hey, all you have to do is say the magic words honey, and it's yours." Amy went about arranging the powdery substance in another two straight lines, nearly spilling it over the side of the nightstand when she spread it around. "How is that stuff working out for you?"

"Good. Actually, great. Everytime I feel like I'm losing it, I just take a couple hits of this and it's as if all the stress goes away. Just like you said it would." She sighed, holding the straw to her right nostril and hovering over the first line of powder, which disappeared seconds later. Lifting her chin towards the ceiling, she let the euphoria take over her senses for a moment.

"I'm happy for you honey. I really am. I told you it would do the trick. It's more than any over the counter pain killer could do, that's for sure."

She opened her eyes and looked over at Kimber with a light laugh. "Thank you. Really, thank you. I would probably be freaking the hell out right now if I didn't have this. You know what? I don't even want to think about that bitch or whatever-his-name-is anymore. They can go to hell." Placing the straw to her opposite nostril, she leaned in and quickly inhaled the second line of powder.

Kimber gave her a tight smile and nodded her head. "I couldn't agree more." She stole a glance at the clock on the wall. "Oh my gosh, it's almost nine. I just remembered I have to be somewhere. I better get going." Dropping her nail polish back into her purse, she carefully slipped back into her red, open-toed, two-inch heel sandals.

Amy didn't hear Kimber at first. She was too lost in the euphoria swirling around her head. Opening her eyes, she turned her head and looked over in Kimber's direction. "You're leaving already? Can't you stay a little longer? I'm going to be bored out of my freaking mind here."

Shortly after grabbing her purse, Kimber pushed herself up to her feet. Tossing her head back, she brought one of her hands up and fluffed her hair. "I'm sorry sweetie, but I promised a friend I'd meet up with them tonight."

She blinked at Kimber's words, a smirk crossing her face. "This friend wouldn't happen to be a male friend, would he? Is he? Come on, tell me."

"No, actually, they're a female. Why do want to know?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Just curious is all."

"Trust me, if he was male, I would be more than happy to set you up with his brother or something. I mean, it's the least I could do, you know? A beautiful girl like you should at least have a boyfriend by now."

Amy exchanged a smile with Kimber, and nodded her head in regard. "Thanks, and I know you would. Bye Kimber."

Kimber gave her a brief wave before turning and heading towards the door. "Bye Amy." She stole a glance over her shoulder. "You take care of yourself, okay?"

"I will." Amy called. "And you too. Bye." A moment later, she heard the door close, indicating that Kimber had left her apartment. Shifting on her bed to get comfortable, she grabbed the remote from her nightstand and flipped the television set on.

Amy shook her head in disbelief and exuded a scoff. She couldn't believe that she had ever been friends with Courtney Price. Kimber was such a better friend than Courtney had ever been to her. Since the day Amy had met the woman, not once did Kimber judge her. In fact, Kimber actually listened to the things she said. Unlike Courtney. She'd be rambling on and on about the stupidest thing in the world, and tune Amy out as though she were sitting there talking to herself. It was uncalled for. She didn't deserve to be treated that way anymore. She deserved better, way better.

Suddenly, the cordless phone beside her bed started ringing. Turning down the volume on the television, she shifted on the mattress beneath her and reached over to pick it up. She pressed the "TALK" button to answer it, hoping to God it wasn't the slut herself. "Hello?"

"It looks like you were right about Courtney after all."

Her brows furrowed inquisitively, trying to put a name to the familiar voice. "Matt? Matt, is that you?"

"Yeah. You were right though, Courtney really is nothing but a slut."

She exhaled sharply. "Well at least someone else agrees with me." She blinked, realization hitting her. "Wait. Wait a minute, are you guys...did you break up with her?"

"I just called her a slut. What do you think?"

Maybe she was hearing things, but from the vexated tone of his voice, she had a feeling he was probably telling her the truth. She shifted restlessly on her bed, placing the phone to her opposite ear and sighing irritably. "Sorry. I probably should have told you what a slut she was weeks ago, when you guys first started going out, but I was actually starting to think you two were cute together."

"That's all right. Everything you told me about her before wound up being a coming attraction, compared to what I just walked into."

Her heart skipped a beat in her chest and a huge lump formed in her throat. She didn't like where this was going, nor did she like Matt's choice of words. "Wh-what? What do you mean 'just walked into?' What are you talking about? What happened?"

There was a pause from Matt's end. "I went to see Christian. After what you told me, I got the feeling that maybe it wasn't just a coincidence."

She exhaled sharply, her heart pounding fiercely in her chest. Pushing herself up to her feet, she began pacing rapidly back and forth. In a shaky voice, she willed herself to speak. "What are you saying? Wha-what are you about to tell me? Please. Please don't tell me what I think you're going to tell me." She brought one of her hands up to her forehead, a migraine quickly taking form.

"Look, I'm sorry, all right? I hate to have to be the one to tell you this, but I walked in to find him screwing her."

She froze in her tracks as her breath caught in her throat, and her jaw went slack. All of a sudden, she felt as though she might vomit. She wavered on her heels, quickly reaching out for the bed post to keep herself from falling over. It was then that Kimber's words came back to haunt her. "If she's this sleazy whore you say she is, and she's already gotten Christian's attention, you might want to keep your eyes open sweetie, because chances are, if he hasn't screwed her, he's going to and soon."

"Amy? Hello?"

As much as she wanted to say something, she couldn't. The words were lodged in the back of her throat and refused to come out.

"Hello?"

Kimber's voice continued to haunt her subconscious mind, "sooner than you might think." Almost immediately, did Amy feel her stomach turn. Now she really did feel like throwing up. "Oh God...I-I gotta go." Without even bothering to hang up, the phone slipped from her hand and plummeted to the floor. Dashing into her bathroom, she leaned over the toilet bowl and vomited. Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest, it was echoing in her ears. So many thoughts raced through her head. Tears welled up in her eyes as she began to sob uncontrollably.

She hated Courtney. She hated her! She hated Christian. It was hard to believe, but she actually hated her father. How could they do this to her? How could he, out of all the people she loved and cared about, betray her trust? Especially after all they'd been through these past few weeks. It didn't make any sense. She felt as though her whole world were spinning out of control. It was almost as if she were on a marry-go-round. A marry-go-round that was spinning faster and faster with each passing second, and if she didn't hang on tight enough, she was going to fall off.

When she felt as if she could vomit no more, she flushed the toilet, lowered the seat and sat herself on top of it. She covered her face with her hands as the tears continued to stream down her cheeks. Brushing her hair away from her face, she sniffled deeply, trying as she might to get a hold of herself. She didn't know if she would ever be able to look Christian in the face again, and not want to slap him for what he'd done. She wanted more than anything to turn her back on him, and pretend as if these last few weeks had never happened. She wanted to pretend as if she'd never found out he was her birth father at all, but she knew deep down that she couldn't do that. Although he'd gone behind her back and slept with her best friend, they'd made too many memories together, and he'd done far too much for her already.

There was no way she could turn away from that now. She placed her right hand over her heart, feeling it constrict in her chest. Pain suddenly began to radiate in it's place. For a minute, she couldn't figure out if the pain was from the sheer fact that she was so heartbroken over the whole situation, or if it was on account of something else entirely. Regardless, she did her best to try and ignore it and put her focus back on the situation at hand.

So what was she going to do? Was she just going to sit here all night and cry about what an asshole her father was? No, she was stronger than that. She didn't need to deal with this. For that matter, she shouldn't have to deal with this. Rising to her feet, she marched back into her bedroom and once again, retrieved the small white envelope from her drawer. There was only one way to relieve herself of the pain and sorrow, and for her, this was the only way to do it.

One more hit of this and I'll be good.

It would make things better again, wouldn't it?