𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐓 𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓⁰²ʰᵉᵐᵐⁱⁿᵍˢ

ㅤㅤㅤ xv ──hey, hi, hello, good evening

asari
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"Wow," Elaine dragged the word. "Such a cool guy. Look at him, skateboarding, hair on his face - YOU'LL TRIP IF YOU DON'T BRUSH YOUR HAIR AWAY!" She shouted, her voice almost filling my ears unpleasantly.

Dizzily, she panned the camera towards Isla, chugging a lifted bottle of vodka, letting it rest on her prune-coloured lips.

Isla glared at the camera then at Elaine, swallowing before wiping her mouth with the back of her sleeve.

"Love that for her," Elaine drawled out, snickering behind the camera.

"El, give that back," My voice called from behind Elaine, rather pathetically as I knew she wouldn't bend over to a simple plea.

The camera whipped to my frowning face, looking past the lenses and right at Elaine, a pout completing my features. "C'mon, you never let yourself have some fun!" Elaine laughed, shaking the camera at my face then raising it to the air when I grabbed for it.

I remembered distinctly how much taller she was than myself. A good six inches at the least, enough so that when she wore heels, she stood right at 6'0. And she was proud of that. She always talked about getting into some modelling agency, walking down the runway for the rest of her life, having her face on magazines, and how she'd mention us in her biography if we stayed friends with her.

I wasn't interested in magazine mentions but rather the protection her friend group offered when we were at school. As long as people knew I was friends with Elaine, they were always nice, or at least not rude.

Elaine and her two friends, Isla and Jack, weren't the best to me either but I didn't let it bother me. I knew that when I'd graduate, I'd leave town for college and never see them again. They weren't the best sort of people to be friends with, but for the time being, they were fun.

Obviously, things hadn't gone as planned. I left town but not for college, and at least I'd never see them again. But they still lingered in my gallery, Elaine's videos littering my storage as she liked to steal my phone and record videos, taking photos of everything and waiting until I'd notice my phone was missing.

So as I sat in the bus, the road seeming to fly beneath the wheels, I lost myself in watching her videos then deleting them.

Something in me still cringed at the sound of her nasally voice, as though she'd taken her vocal chords and placed them up her nose. I still hated her.

She hadn't done anything, so perhaps I was only bitter.

I clicked on delete and watched the next video come up, but instead of pressing play, I immediately deleted it, again and again until I lost my thumbs to the repetitious system of clicking on delete then confirming. Click and confirm, click and confirm.

Elaine's toothy smile - click and confirm. Isla's empty vodka bottle - click and confirm. Jack's beat up skateboard - click and confirm. Elaine's horrible directing - click and confirm. Jack's sharpied sneakers, Isla's dyed orange highlights, Elaine's mirror selfie - click and confirm. Riel smiling by his science project - click -

I paused.

He was smiling. He was still smiling. He wasn't even looking at the camera, but instead at the taker behind it, me. He grinned, showcasing the science project he'd made the previous night of the different parts of a nucleus. He smiled.

The bus' stopping squeal made its announcement and I looked up, taking note that I was only 2 stops away from home.

When I looked back at the photo, he still smiled, causing a smiling reaction from me as well.