Eyesore

She’d texted him twice through out the morning and though she wanted to send him another one, she resisted out of fear that she might come across desperate. It’d been three hours since the last message Minnie sent Joe, and she was beginning to sink inside her comfortable hole hollowed by self-consciousness. She blamed the handful of whole wheat Cherrios, that she had swallowed that morning before running to school, for the reason Joe hadn’t called her yet.

How could someone pick you up to take you to a movie one day and then avoid you like the plague the next? Minnie hadn’t asked him any difficult questions, she thought, her first text was simply asking how his day was going. She had sent it in her first period because she was bored and for a reason unknown, Joe made her feel a little bit better about herself. Being around him made her feel inadequate, but she liked the attention, at least.

Minnie sat in the library with her hair thinly covering the sides of her face at the usual table she took to at lunch time, and concentrated on reading the latest issue of “Shape” magazine, studying the newest cardio plan that they suggest for fast results.

“Minnie, you’re the girl I wanted to talk to.” She was so entranced by the work out plan that Minnie hadn’t even noticed the clicking heels of Addison Crickett and her posse approaching the table she was at. Once, Minnie’s eyes and hers locked, she unconsciously covered the article by folding both her arms over it, ashamed.

“Why?” Both confused and intimidated, she dryly asked. Her eyes watching the two girls behind Addison chuckling to themselves, she tried not to listen, but it was a difficult task.

“You were on E! again last night! One of the top headlines, actually.”

She wondered what Joe had cooked up this time about their fabricated relationship. Finally, Minnie smirked and hoped that Addison was jealous that Minnie was getting attention and “dating” a famous pop star. One of Addison’s favorite topics to whip out as small talk is that once when she snuck into Club Ice Aaron Carter hit on her, she swears this is when Aaron Carter was cool, but when Aaron Carter was cool, Addison and Minnie would’ve both been seven.

“Oh yeah, what about?” Talking like she didn’t really care, Minnie asked.

“You and Joe broke-up. I mean, I was shocked you two were together, but I mean, what happened?”

“I don’t know.” Shifting her eyes to the side and noticing her cell phone, still without messages or calls, sitting by her elbow on the table top. Minnie had missed last night’s episode of E! due to being so excited by Joe’s attempt to take her to a movie that she celebrated with a run, hoping she could get even trimmer for next time they saw one another.

“Well, the reporter said that he found love in the arms of another girl. One of those Tommy Hilfiger models.” Addison looked down at Minnie, and not just because she was standing while the sickly pale brunette was folded over chair. She wore an extra glossy smile and lifted her shoulders into a shrug. “Break-ups are tough, Minnie. You can always talk to me.” Minnie wasn’t sure if Addison was being condescending or not, but she watched the blond walk away while she felt mortified.

She rolled up the magazine as fast as she could while springing up onto her feet, almost knocking over the chair she had been sitting on. Minnie shoved the health glossy into her backpack and grabbed her cell phone before rushing outside to use it.

Like she wanted to attach it to her ear, Minnie held the phone there and listened to it ring over ten times before hanging up. She wasn’t going to leave Joe a message, she wanted an actual conversation that included both an apology and explanation, and not a cryptic Joe-ism. Minnie wasn’t sure why she was so upset, she knew that they were never actually a couple, but she’d put herself out there and now she was being publicly humiliated. Her head ranted at her for being too fat: This wouldn’t have happened if you were thin., He likes models, Minnie, what were you even thinking?, Not-so-skinny Minnie, Suck in your gut, fatso!. Out of nowhere, she burst into tears and headed home, skipping the rest of the day to go to the gym. She stuck to the girl’s side and worked out until three thirty when she knew it would safe for her to come home.

Wiped out to the highest point of exhaustion, Minnie’s face was all thirteen shades of red and her tongue sat dryly inside her mouth. She shoved the front door open without any force and kicked her runners out from under her goucho pants.

Instead of being greeted by the usual ‘Hello, how was your day, honey?’ from her mother, Minnie heard the sound of high pitched squealing laughter from the living room. It must’ve been Brier, and Minnie would’ve just headed slowly into her bedroom, if it wasn’t for the male cackle that she heard right after.

Nearly snapping her neck in two, Minnie spun her head around and let her dim eyes stare into the messy living room, covered in laundry that needed to be folded. Sure enough, Brier was sitting, with her feet up on the coffee table, eating a bowl of chocolate ice cream with caramel sauce right beside Gaston, better known as Minnie and Brier’s father.

“Minnie, you’re home!” Like the love child of Mrs. Brady and Santa Claus, Gaston turned to his eldest with a smile so bright and so wildly charismatic, Minnie didn’t know if it was really her dad or just a man who looked like him. “I brought you some ice cream!” He tapped his spoon against the inside of the bowl he was eating out of.

“I’m not hungry.” Mechnically, at this point, she replied. “What are you even doing here?” There wasn’t a hint of hostility in Minnie’s voice, surprisingly, just sincere curiosity.

“My oldest daughter goes through her first tough break-up, I want to be here. Do you want me to kill Joe for you? He’s not my client anymore, I can kill him.” Laughing gently along with Brier under his arm, he tried to make light.

“Joe told you before he told me?” Minnie was no longer just uncomfortable with her dad being in her house, she was now furious with Joe for putting her in a situation with him where he was acting fatherly. She’d been living without loving him for so long that she didn’t think he mattered anymore, but watching him being so sweet made her hate herself even more. “Wait, he’s not your client anymore?” It hadn’t ever been a kept secret, Gaston Savard loves the brothers Jonas. Not because of their music or because they got along with him, because they didn’t, he simply loved them because they could pay for everything he liked in his life. He never needed to lift a finger for any other client as long as he had those three purity-ring wearing and rock ‘n’ roll loving band mates.

“I told him I couldn’t support him anymore if he was going to treat my daughter like dirt.” Gaston lied, resting the bowl down on the table in front of him. He stood up and wandered over to Minnie with arms opened wide, but her quick reflexes took her back a few steps and out of reach. “I saw him with the models and I couldn’t take it anymore.”

Minnie felt tears burning in her throat, but she wanted them to stay there. She just felt stupid, fat and stupid.

“Minnie, tell me what I can do? Tell Daddy what to do to make it better.”

“Where’s mom?” She asked in a whisper, careful to not let her voice crack when her lips parted. There was nothing her dad could do. First of all, she didn’t want her dad around and secondly, she didn’t even know what was going on, how could anyone help out?

“She had to make a few deliveries.”

“I have to go out.” Minnie cupped both her hands over her forehead, feeling how cold they were in comparison to her face and returned her shoes back onto her feet. She wasn’t going to run, there wasn’t anything to rush to or work for now, she didn’t even know if she wanted to find Joe. She just wanted some silence.