The trio was laughing as they checked out. One was a brunette, tall, with sidebangs, very long hair, no make-up and a really odd laugh, but behind all that seemed to be a concern for more than a few things. She needed this laugh.
The other girl was also a brunette, with side bangs, but very small, with short hair and lots of make-up. She was acting almost drunk, but her eyes were clear. No one acted like this all the time. She was escaping from something.
The third was a guy, with auburn hair and an Iron Man goatee. He was a couple inches taller than the tall girl. He seemed to be barely covering a large amount of bummed-out-ness. 
I rung up a massive bag of Hot Tamales and a four-pack of Monster. They were still laughing as they walked out, the smaller girl rapping some really inappropriate song.
***
Lady was exhausted when she walked in at midnight.  She hadn't seen Dawn in forever, and she had warned her parents she'd be home late, so luckily the door had been unlocked. She locked it behind her and went to get a shower.
After they had gotten back to Tony's house from Wal-mart, the three of them had shot pool in the small room in the back of the garage. She grimaced as she worked the shampoo through her long, dark hair, remembering the off-color jokes she had pretended to be okay with and the sexy moves Dawn had been making all night. It had been worth it, though, to see Dawn laugh. Every time she saw Dawn lately, she was with Trey, and Lady really didn't like Trey. He reminded her of Gin from Bleach, always happy, friendly, laughing, enough to make him extremely suspicious. And Dawn never laughed around him, or even looked happy. She always looked like she wanted to kill something. Lady couldn't understand why she would want to live with someone so loud, controlling... unnerving. It confused her and made her worry. A lot.
Tony seemed to be all right, but she could tell he was still upset about Trish. It was always weird when her best friends decided to get all couple-like and then decided to get mad at each other over nothing. What was she supposed to do? She wasn't going to down on either of them, and there was never anything she could do to make Tony all right. So she had ignored his poorly veiled melancholy and just enjoyed the first time all of them had been able to hang out in forever.
She towel-dried her hair and checked her phone. It was a message from Cameron.
"They're sending me out the 15th."
Of course. That couldn't go right, either. Cameron was one of her best guy friends, but while she was on a mission's trip he had enlisted in the marines, and they had decided to send him out a few months early. The 15th was only a few days away. She told him that she was happy for him, tagged on a smiley face, and then cried into her pillow.
"God," she whispered, her voice muffled, "I need Your help right now. I know that you are in control. I know that. And I know that your plan is perfect. But how do I handle this?"