Close Your Eyes to See

Edie White was always that one friend in her group. The friend everyone turned to for advice on boys or school or anything in general. Certain girls envied her because she hung out with all of the boys at her school and was invited to all of the parties to hang out and have fun. Seems like she had to all, right?

The one thing that was missing in Edie's entire life was love. Boys in Arizona looked for one thing in a girl – their flawless figure. Edie was far from fitting into the size 2 jeans all of her friends wore. In her group of pals, she stuck out like a sore thumb with her dark hair and pale skin, her clothes hugging her curves.

Edie seemed like the girl that wore her confidence on her sleeve, but deep down, she was never satisfied with herself. While all of the hot guys flirted with her friends at parties, she was left standing there – not even being considered as a girl that they would want to date.

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The music boomed from the house, bodies filling the lawn and every room inside the house. It was a typical Saturday night Arizona party. Cups lined the pool table for about thirty games of beer pong that would happen over the course of the night and the counters in the kitchen were filled with every type of alcohol you could imagine.

Edie stood in the corner of the kitchen, watching as her best friend, Amber, got hit on by another boy tonight. He was tan with spiked hair, probably a fucking water polo player with how deep his v-neck was. None of the guys at the party had caught Edie's eye, not that it mattered at all. It never mattered.

Edie washed down the misery in her throat with her beer before setting her cup down and walking across the kitchen towards her good friend, Eric, who was busy playing beer pong with all of his friends. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder instantly,

“What up Edie?” He reeked of beer and the goofy smile on his face made Edie laugh.

“Amber is getting hit on, again.” She rolled her eyes and took a seat in the empty chair next to Eric while he took his turn with beer pong, playing against people Edie had never seen before. Multiple guys in the room stared at her up and down before returning to their conversations causing her self consciousness to sky rocket as she carefully pulled down her shorts that had rode up from sitting down.

All around her were couples and couples of young people – all of them with their perfectly sculpted bodies and glossy tan skin. She didn't know why it bothered her so much, she had lived with seeing all of this her entire life. She never really fit in with the Arizona crowd, always being “different” as many people have described her.

“Hey Ed,” she looked up and saw Amber standing there with the boy's hands wrapped all around her, “we are heading off, okay. I'll see you tomorrow.” She leaned in and kissed Edie's cheek before disappearing before Edie had the chance to say anything to her at all. Amber always found a boy and left within the first hour of the party, ditching Edie for the rest of the night.

“Wanna play, White?” She smiled at Halvo for the offer but shook her head and getting up from the chair, readjusting the bag on her shoulder. Without another word, Edie left the party – the misery coming back to her.

She always left parties alone. She was alone.