Finders Keepers

I don’t know why people were so concerned for my safety. I wasn’t going to down a bottle of Advil or jump off the nearest cliff. Sure, I was hurt and a little upset, but I wasn’t psychotic.

Regardless, as our group of friends plus some new girl who was apparently Teagan’s roommate went out for New Year’s Eve, I was being watched like a hawk. It was like everyone thought I was going to have a mental breakdown just because the girl I was in love with for four years broke up with me.

It wasn’t that big of a deal, in reality. I mean, break-ups happened every day. It was done and over with and now I just wanted to move on.

Except I didn’t. Except I couldn’t.

I guess it’s a little harder to move on from the girl you were with for practically four years, the girl you devoted your free time to for four years, the girl you loved and cared for for four fucking years.

Not that I was bitter or anything.

It just didn’t make any sense. Macy and I had known each other since high school, but we had officially been together since the beginning of our senior year. We were the classic “best-friends-turned-something-more” love story, but it worked for us. We were inseparable, even through the band and all the touring and all the time away from home. None of that matter because we were hopelessly in love, and everything looked better when you were in love.

I guess things change in four years, though, or at least they did for us.

I must have missed all of those signals, though, because I didn’t realize we were “growing apart” (her words) or that we “just weren’t working out anymore” (again, her words.) She also told me that she just couldn’t handle all the time that I was never home, which was a load of bullshit if I ever heard it, but what could I do? Macy had made up her mind, and if there was one thing I had learned over the years it was this: once Macy made up her mind, then that was it. There was nothing in the world that would change her way of thinking.

Every single one of my friends told me that it was for the better. Macy had never really liked the guys. It wasn’t for lack of trying, she just couldn’t get along with them. That had made things hard, of course, but I guess after four years of her putting up with it I figured we had gotten past that. Guess I was wrong.

Again, not that I was bitter or anything.

But I was trying. I really was trying to move on, it was just hard. I had fallen so in love with Macy, and then she just dumped me faster than a hot potato. No one understood how much I loved her and how I could still love her after what she did, but that was fine. They didn’t need to understand.

I guess that’s why I hated everything about New Year’s Eve. I didn’t want to be out celebrating, and I didn’t want my friends constantly telling me that I was better off. I didn’t want to be better off; I just wanted to be with Macy again.

No one understood that, though. From the time the show ended, to the time we left the block party to go to a friend’s party, I was having people tell me left and right that I’d be fine, or having someone ask me if I was okay.

It was fucking annoying the hell out of me, to be honest.

So I guess that’s why I disappeared when we arrived at the stupid house party. I didn’t want to stay around my friends for fear they would drive me fucking crazy.

I immediately went in search of somewhere to go that was being watched by one of the guys. I went out on the back patio first, but when I realized there were a ton of people out there smoking, that wasn’t going to be the place to get some peace and quiet.

I decided to get a drink for myself while I searched the party, because even though getting drunk wasn’t going to help shit, it would keep me occupied at least.

As I was at the tap filling my red plastic cup to the brim with the amber liquid, I felt someone staring holes through my back. When I finished, I turned around and sure enough, there was Trey. I sighed and sipped my drink before stepping away from the keg. I didn’t feel like causing a scene because I was blocking some frat boy from his one true love. “What’s up?” I asked him when I was a safe distance away from the silver container.

“You look miserable,” he observed, sipping slowly from his own cup. “It’s New Year’s Eve, lighten up bro.”

I rolled my eyes.”I’m light as a fucking feather,” I muttered. “I don’t even feel like being here right now.”

My brother shrugged nonchalantly. “Too bad. You’re here, why don’t you make the most of it?”

I just grunted and brushed by him. I wasn’t going to take his advice, because making the most of it was the last thing I wanted to do. Instead, I walked over to the couch and collapsed on it. It was surprisingly empty, considering the house was relatively full. But I took this moment of peace to myself and relaxed into the couch to people watch everyone around me.

Before I knew it, I felt the couch sinking in next to me. I peeked out of the corner of my eye only to reveal the girl who was Teagan’s roommate. Unfortunately, I hadn’t caught her name earlier, but we hadn’t exactly gotten off on the right foot anyways.

“You look like you’re having a great time,” she informed me, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Can I help you?” I asked her.

She shrugged and sipped her own beer. “John asked me to entertain you, so here I am. Although I must say, you’re clearly having the most fun out of all of us, so maybe you should entertain me?” she quipped, a smirk gracing her lips.

I just shook my head. This girl was a piece of work, but not in a good way.

“Right, you’re the girl John picked up at the block party. Shouldn’t you be with him now if you’re hooking up later?” I retaliated just as quickly and as smoothly.

She wasn’t fazed though, and instead just rolled her eyes. “You’re so pleasant,” she muttered, finishing her drink. “And you act like you know me so well, but I bet you don’t even remember my name.”

If I wasn’t so irritated, I would have blushed in embarrassment. But irritated I was, so embarrassed I was not. “You’re right,” I said simply.

“Kendall.”

I nodded, but didn’t add to what she said. If she wanted to know more about me so badly, she could ask. She was probably just another groupie who I would never see again anyways, so what did it matter?

“Gee, Kendall, nice to meet you. I’m sorry I’m such a gigantic prick, I was just programmed this way,” she muttered under her breath, obviously trying to imitate me.

“You should work on your impressions,” I told her with a smirk.

“You should work on your people skills,” she shot right back.

“I have plenty of people skills, just not around people I don’t like.”

She let out a groan of frustration and got off the couch. She stood in front of me with her hands on her hips and fire in her eyes as she glared at me. “You know, I felt bad for you earlier, because it seemed like you were genuinely upset about something. Now I just know you hate the world and you’re a giant prick!”

I shrugged. She was dead-set on this accusation, so even though she was dead-wrong, I wouldn’t be proving her otherwise.

“Ugh!” she exclaimed, frustration dripping from her every word. “Prick!” she repeated before stomping off.

It would have been funny if it didn’t irritate me so much. She was acting like she knew me, and yet we had just met that night. She didn’t know me. She had no idea who I was or why I was upset or why I was acting like “a prick.”

“Hey!” I called after her, getting off the couch and following her. When I was close enough, I grabbed her arm to stop her because she didn’t seem like she would be doing any of that on her own time anytime soon.

“What?” she all but snarled at me.

Seriously? I thought to myself, stepping back and looking at her in disbelief. She was the one who was mad? She had just called me a giant prick, and she was mad? I hadn’t even done anything. “You don’t get to just call me a prick and walk away, as if that’s an okay thing to do, and then continue to be mad at me for reasons that I’m still unsure of.”

The smirk on her lips was one of amusement as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Oh really now?”

“Yes really.”

“Maybe you should try being a little happier then, maybe even a little nicer to new people you’re just meeting for the first time, yeah?” she said lowly, taking a few steps closer to me. There was fire in her eyes still. In all honesty, it would have been attractive if this fire wasn’t directed towards me in the form of a hate-rant.

“Maybe you should take your own advice,” I fired right back.

“I wasn’t the one being a jerk right off the bat, so I don’t need to take my own advice.”

“Sure are making up for that right now, aren’t you? Because you’re kind of being a bitch.” As soon as the word left my mouth, I mentally slapped myself and prepared for her to physically do the same. I hadn’t meant to call her a bitch, she was just getting under my skin and it had slipped out.

What she did next, I was totally not expecting. Because she laughed. She actually threw her head back and laughed. It was a mixture of genuine laughter and bitterness though, so it confused me. I wasn’t sure how she was taking this.

“You think that bothers me, don’t you? The fact that you just called me a bitch, as if that’s something I didn’t already know?” She shook her head, laughing much more quietly to herself this time. “You obviously think that’s equivalent to me calling you a prick, but here’s the thing. I know I can be a bitch. I’m blunt, and I have a tendency to not hold back; some call it a flaw, but oh well,” she shrugged. “Me calling you a prick, on the other hand, is different because apparently you not only don’t believe this fact, but you didn’t realize you were being one. Which is a shame,” she added, “because the first step’s admitting it and all that.”

This girl was absolutely unbelievable. And absolutely infuriating. And she was definitely getting under my skin, and I hated that more than anything. “No Kendall, you know what’s a shame? You acting like you know everything and being such a damn bitch in the process. Drop the know-it-all attitude and maybe people would like you better.”

I didn’t bother sticking around for what she had to say. I turned on my heel to leave her, but she had other plans in mind. Just because I didn’t feel like listening didn’t mean she was finished talking.

“Act like less of a prick and maybe whatever girl has your panties in such a twist wouldn’t have you feeling so shitty!” she called after me.

“Fuck you,” I muttered to myself, rolling my eyes as I kept walking.

I immediately started looking for John. When I found him, I stomped up to him, said, “That Kendall girl? No good,” and then turned and left. I didn’t stick around to hear John’s response, and I didn’t feel like being at the party anymore. I just wanted to go home.