When Forever Ends

I haven’t moved from my spot of the cold title floor. Well, it was cold. Now it’s warm from my body heat. The tears stopped an hour ago, I feel empty inside. I want to cry but the tears refuse to fall anymore. I pick myself up off the floor and look around. Everything in the apartment reminds of him, of Dylan, the asshole who ruined me.

I lean against the cold metal door, the air conditioner is broken. Dylan was supposed to talk to the land lord about it. I bite my lip. I can’t cry anymore today. I fish my phone out of my purse and dial the number I know by heart.

“Hey baby!” Shayne squeaks. Shayne and I have a funny relationship. She’s like my protector. Sweet as a kitten to me, and vicious as starved lion to anyone who threatens to harm me. She’s my rock. Shayne is always there for me when I’m down. Most of the time, I call her crying because a boy ripped my heart out and tap danced on it. It’s been this way since kindergarten, and Shayne always manages to pick my heart up the floor, put a band-aid on it, and put it back where it belongs.

“Hey.” I say feeling my lip quiver and tear prick my eyes. I thought those little buggers where gone.

“Who do I have to stab now?” she asks in her hard protective voice.

“Dylan.” I say in a sob.

“What’s the monster do today?” Shayne growls. Shayne and Dylan were like oil and water. They hate each other.

“He left me! He’s been cheating on me!” I cry harder into the phone.

“Aw, babycakes! I’m so sorry! Want me to slash his tires?” Shayne asks. My lips twitched into a smile. Shayne should be saying ‘I told you so’ but instead she’s willing to seek revenge. Shayne knew from the first time she met Dylan that he wasn’t a good person. Shayne has this...this gift! She’s can literally tell what kind of person someone is after speaking to them for a few minutes.

“No.” I laugh. “I want you to come over here though, I have a whole box of cupcakes sitting here and I would feel less like a fat pig if you came over and ate them with me.”

“I was going to come anyway, but now that I know there are cupcakes I’ll be there faster. I’ll see in about fifteen minutes. Bye!”

“Bye.” I smile and close my phone. Even after my boy friend of two and a half years tells me he’s been cheating on me, Shayne still makes me smile. What would I do without a best friends like her.

Finally, I pick myself up off the floor for good. I move to the bathroom and wipe the rings of mascara from under my eyes. My long blonder hair hangs loose and reaches the small of my back, the way Dylan liked it. I grit my teeth and pull it into a large messy bun. I move to the bedroom and open my dresser drawer. Half of the drawer is empty, where Dylan used to kept his clothes. I spread my sweat pants out so they take up the whole drawer.

I pluck a pair of grey sweat pants out and throw them on the unmade bed. I slip out of my skirt and into the sweat pants I had from my high school marching band. The school initials were written in black along the right leg, and ‘Blondie’ was written across the butt.

The obnoxious buzz of the door fills my ears. I cringe as I walk through the hallway to reach the door I was slumped against only minutes ago. I pull the door open and Shayne mauls me with a hug. Both of her hands full of bags from the grocery store. I hug her back, thankful she’s here and for all the junk food she brought with her.

“You know, Ace and Jake agree...we should totally find out where he’s staying and burn his house down.” Shayne says releasing me. I laugh and step away from her so she can set the bags down.

“Aw!” Shayne grinned. “There’s my giggley Marley!” I laugh again. I am known for my laughing. I laugh all the time, I’m just a generally happy person who is easily amused. Shayne, yeah, Shayne definitely knows how to make me laugh. She has me laughing so hard I cry all the time. Who would guess such opposites could share such a close bond.

Another good quality about Shayne is her two roommates. Ace and Jake. Two of the nicest guys in the world, who share the curse of the worst luck in the world with Shayne. They’re a package deal, if someone wants to sponsor Jake...they have to sponsor Ace and Shayne as well or it’s no deal. Same rule applies when Shayne wants to protect me, they go right along with her crazy plans to attack my exes. They rarely ever follow through with the plans, but when they do...it’s all of them or none of them.

I watch Shayne as dumps out the contents of the grocery bags. The sweets aren’t what hold my attention, it’s what she’s wearing. The same black skinny jeans with a ripped knee, white tank top, and long sleeved purple plaid shirt unbuttoned. Shayne, I love her to death, but she looks like a hobo all the time. She’s been wearing the same outfit for a week at least, and by the looks of her she hasn’t showered. She was just like one of the guys.

I let it go this time. I don’t want to nag her about her hygiene tonight. I just want to hang out with my best friend, eat junk food, talk about boys...even if Shayne is rarely interested, and watch movies. That’s all. I want a quick therapy session and then I want to get back on feet and move forward.

“So, how was your day?” I ask honestly interested. Shayne gets herself into to crazy sistuations.

“It was decent.” She replies half heartedly.

“Decent? Care to go into detail?” I ask.

“I guess. I woke you. I ate Cocoa Pebbles with Jake. Fought over who got to read the back of the box. I cleaned Dumbledore’s litter box. Jake snapped a butter knife in half while trying to pry is bedroom door open, he was turning the handle the wrong way. Ace found this sweet drained pool. We tore that shit up for a good hour and a half. Ace got stuck in the pool, while Jake and I ran from whoever opened the gate. Then Ace called and was all ‘we’re getting sponsored’ and then we all had fits of joy momentarily. We went to Wendy’s. Ace and I tried to capture the stray cat, but it runs way too fast...even with three legs. Then I came over here.” Shayne grins at me once she’s done.

“Shayne! Oh my God!”

“Marley! That cat is a freak! It’s the fastest three-legged cat on Earth! I tried to catch it but it runs too fast!”

“No! You’re getting sponsored?” I scream with joy. Happiness consumes my sorrow. Shayne needs this. Shayne, Ace, and Jake need this!

“Oh. I don’t know. We have to meet with this guy, and he’ll probably hate me. So he’ll call Ace and Jake back, but not me. I mean, he really hasn’t even seen my skate, so he’ll probably think I suck.” Shayne rambles. It’s happened to her before, she just gets cut out of the deal. Which is horrible! She’s good! She’s so good! I personally think that all these sponsors are blind. Maybe the problem is that they aren’t blind...and Shayne looks like a hobo. I don’t know.

“Oh shut up! This is so good!” I shout and launch myself at her. “I’m so happy for you!” Shayne laughs uncomfortably, that’s her way of dealing with attention focused on her. It’s a different story when there’s a skateboard under her feet, then she has no problem having everyone look at her.

“Hopefully, I won’t ruin it this time.” Shayne says plopping down on the couch.

“You won’t. You’ll be awesome and they’ll love you and in a few months I’ll see you on TV!” I gush.

“Shut up, bitch. You’re making me blush.” Shayne laughs softly with a slightly pink cheeks.