superficial

1

Alice wasn't the crying type, which was mainly because emotions weren't really her thing, so the fact that she was locked in her car bawling her eyes out because of some stupid boy was truly shocking and completely unlike her.

Tears streamed down the side of her face, caressing her cheeks, wiping off the makeup in their trail and leaving a mark of where they traveled. Some old Adele songs played through the speakers that were connected to her phone, which quickly paused as she dialed the number of her best friend, Cameron.

Cameron was like the perfect human being. She was the one that the guys admired, which made sense because she was gorgeous and hilarious at the same time. Cameron and Alice met in middle school and it wasn't because they clicked; it was because Alice stole Cameron's seat in math every single day. Cameron, of course, being the nice girl she was, shook it off and carried on with class. One day, however, Alice didn't steal her seat. Instead, Alice sat next to her (which was Alice stealing some irrelevant unnamed characters seat). Alice and Cameron conversed for a bit but didn't become close until the summer before 9th grade. Ever since then they've been unbreakable, even with their ups and down.

Cameron answered after the second ring.

"C-Cam. I... I don't know what to do! I don't know what to-" Alice started, but Cameron cut her off, "What's wrong? What happened? Who do I have to kill? I will kill. I'm not afraid." Alice attempted to answer Cameron's abundance of questions, "Greg. He just dumped me. No warning, no signs beforehand. Just dumped... He said I was too disrespectful to him. He said my jokes were taken too far." Alice could feel Cameron getting fired up. "What?! That makes no sense. Like, yes you made jokes from time to time but you treated him like a god! You showed him off, you showed him love. How can he do this to you? He should know that we all have a list of grievances about him because honestly I am seriously about to go punch him." Alice sighed, "I know. It sucks, but you need to calm down and not kill him. He's still a great guy, I guess I just... wasn't good enough for him."

Alice was right, Greg was a great guy, he was a kiss-up so every parent, teacher, any position of authority, you name it, loved him, but Cameron was right too. It was quite unfortunate, but Alice came up with the 'list of grievances'. Greg might've been a great guy, but he did his fair share of awful things. Before Greg, Alice gave herself an invisible purity ring. Anything involving lust was off limits to her, but one day she was with Greg, and hands... traveled. It was not an ideal situation for Alice, she didn't want it to happen but he begged. He manipulated her into doing things that she had never imagined herself to do at such an age. She regretted the actions immediately after they were done. She was ashamed of herself.

Looking back on it all, Alice wanted so badly to bring up all these different events that constantly made her doubt the relationship. She wanted to bring up every moment where he made her cry tears of sadness and anger. He loved her, that was evident behind closed doors, but he failed to show it in public. It was almost like she was just his friend, who he held hands with and hugged on occasion. He told her she was the love of his life, but he would parade all her mistakes around and never mention the good things she did. There were many times when Alice had simply given up, but then she'd think about how her hand felt so comfortable when interlaced with his. She thought about how his arm holding her in a warm embrace felt like a second home.

Alice told herself lies for the past 2 years, and finally, at that moment when she sat on the phone with Cameron, she realized that she was finally free. Suddenly, the tears stopped. The shaking stopped. The stuttering stopped. Everything stopped, and a weight was lifted off of Alice's shoulders.

Alice made a revelation in a split second and without thought, she ended her phone call with Cameron, put the car in drive and just drove. She drove all the way home in complete silence. Once she pulled into her drive way she got out of her car and slammed the door shut, locking it as she made her way into her house.

Her mother was perched in her favorite seat in the living room, doing some work on her laptop when Alice barged in with mascara streaks down her cheeks. Her mother didn't hesitate to shut her laptop and race over to Alice and pull her into a nurturing, motherly hug. "What happened sweetheart?" She asked. Alice took a deep breath and replied angrily, "Greg dumped me." Alice's mom brought Alice over to the couch and sat down next to her. "Well are you sad?" She asked. Alice laughed and replied, "I was. Now I'm just mad that I wasted two years on a guy who was never right for me." Alice and her mother weren't the closest, but they were a good mother-daughter pairing. These were the moments that they bonded most over.

Alice and her mother talked for a while about anything and everything and eventually Alice went to her room where she happily took off her tear stained sweater and her scratchy jeans. She put on a comfy pair of pajama shorts and a silky smooth tank top along with fuzzy socks. She curled up under her millions of fluffy blankets and dozed off into a deep sleep.

Alice woke up the next morning to a wave of texts from Cameron and many others. All of the texts were concerning the breakup and all we're offering their condolences. Alice wasn't sad. Alice was getting over her anger. Alice was going to be strong and move on quickly.