Cold As You

When I stepped out of the shower the next day I heard voices coming from my living room, and I knew Sarah and Addie were waiting for me anxiously. I had told them to come over earlier in the day, finally deciding I needed to get out of bed and continue my life. I dressed quickly, throwing on a pair of white shorts and a blue v-neck before walking out into the living room to greet my friends. They both smiled upon seeing me, happy that I was out of bed and showered. I'm sure despite the bags that still hung under my eyes I looked a little better too.

I decided I might as well give myself a day out of my bed and out into the world with my best friends. I knew they would try everything in their power to help me forget about Sidney and that’s what I needed. Spending time alone just made me re-play everything in my head. And if I continued like that I would surely go insane.

"Ready to go?" Addie asked hopefully as she saw me walk into the living room.

"Of course she is! Now let's go!" Sarah announced, walking over to me quickly and grabbing my wrist. They quickly brought me out to Sarah's car when I was basically shoved into the front seat before they sped off down the street.

"I'm not going anywhere, speeding is not necessary," I told Sarah.

"Oh hush up. I'm not speeding!" She objected. I smirked and she kept driving until we got to her apartment where we would have a "girl's day". Both Sarah and Addie had purchased ridiculous amounts of ice cream, cookies, nail polish, and movies for this day. They were trying to get me in a good mood, which is something I knew wasn't possible this early in the healing process, but it warmed my heart to know my friends were trying. When we got back to her apartment Addie immediately put a batch of chocolate chip cookies in the stove before joining Sarah and I as we painted our toe nails.

"This is nice," I told them.

"We just want you to be happy again," Addie smile. I grinned back and we finished our nails at around the same time the cookies finished up. Sarah and Addie placed the cookies on a large plate and brought ice cream out to the living room where I was seated on the couch.

"So what're we watching?" Addie asked.

"I dunno," I shrugged.

"You pick!" Sarah urged, shoving a plastic shopping bag full of movies into my hand. I laughed lightly and began to dig through the large selection of movies before stopping at one I knew would make me feel better.

"Bridget Jones Diary," Addie observed with a small smile.

"I love this movie," I said sheepishly.

"Then that's what we'll watch!" Sarah proclaimed as she got off the couch briefly to put the movie in the DVD player.

However almost as soon as the movie started the front door swung open and in walked Max and Sidney. My heart stung as I watched him walk into the apartment, smiling and carefree. If it didn't hurt me before to know that he didn't care, seeing him so happy looking now really stuck the knife in both my heart and my back.

"Max!" Sarah yelled, hopping over the back of the couch on confront her boyfriend.

"What?!" He asked, smiling as he held his arms out to hug her.

"I thought I told you to stay away from here today," she said in a forced whisper.

"Yeah, but girl's day is stupid and this is my apartment too," he reasoned with the short blonde.

"Max," she hissed as she discreetly motioned her head towards me. I cast my glance to the ground and placed the pint of ice cream in my hand on the coffee table. When I looked back up, Sidney's eyes were on me. I felt uncomfortable under his gaze and I squirmed slightly, just praying the moment would be over.

"Shit," I heard Max mumbled.

"Yeah, shit is right," Sarah shot back sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

"It's okay Evan," Addie smiled at me.

"I'm gonna leave," I announced, getting off of the couch and walking towards the door. Once there, I slipped on my sandals and began to walk out into the hallway.

"You're such an idiot!" Sarah yelled from inside.

"Seriously Max," Addie agreed. I picked up my pace as I got close to the elevator.

"Evangeline!" His sweet voice echoed in the hallway. I closed my eyes and began to speed walk. I could hear him running behind me, trying to catch up. My world was going in slow motion as I pressed the button for the elevator, praying it was somewhere close and Sidney would twist his ankle before he could get to me. But just as my luck would have it, the elevator was taking forever and he caught up with me.

"Evangeline," he repeated. At first I didn't look up at him, not wanting to be sucked back in by his perfect face. Even for how badly he had hurt me, I knew if he spent a few minutes sweet talking me I'd end up in his bed again. "Listen, I think we should tal-"

"We should have talked a long time ago," I snapped at him before he could finish his sentence surprising not only him, but myself as well. He looked at me, befuddled as he brought his hand to my cheek, rubbing it lightly with his thumb. "Stop," I whimpered helplessly.

"Vannie," he pleaded with me. "Let's just talk about this." I heard the elevator ding from beside me, sending me crashing back down to reality. A reality where my best friend had used me, a reality where he shattered my heart into a million pieces, a place where he was setting us up to do it all over again.

"Get off of me," I told him, pushing his hand back down to his side. I looked up into his big brown eyes, willing myself not to fall all over again. "Don't touch me," I said sternly. "You lost that privilege the other morning when you threw our entire friendship out the window because you thought with you crotch and not your head."

"Ev, you can be serious right? I thought you were just angry because you got woken up early. I know you're not a morning person," he said with a small smile.

I looked at him incredulously. Was he stupid? Did he honestly not know what he did was wrong on so many different levels? The elevator closed and opened again as I stood there staring up at him, my mouth slightly a jar. I was in disbelief as I stared at him.

"If you honestly don't know what you did wrong, you are a bigger asshole than I originally thought," I told him solemnly as I took a step back into the elevator. I pressed the door close button and he looked confused as he watched the doors shut. "Don't follow me," I ordered him.

And he did what I said. And my heart broke a little more than I thought possible.

“So you're gone and I'm haunted. And I bet you are just fine.”