Sunburn

Miranda rolled over in her bed, barely glancing at the neon numbers on the alarm clock, and groaned as the person who had woken her up rang the buzzer again. She buried her head under her pillow, figuring the person would just give up when she didn’t let them up, and was relieved when the noise finally stopped. She took the pillow off her head, tossing it onto the empty side of the bed, and stared around the bedroom she was now calling hers.

It was much smaller than her old bedroom, the full bed she was occupying taking up most of the floor space, but she still managed to fit a vanity and dresser into the small space. The only decorating effort she had applied was hanging up a pair of thick black curtains, so she could sleep through the day without worrying about the sun waking her up. Her laptop sat on top of her dresser, only used when an article was due at work, or if she wanted to drown herself in romantic comedies on Netflix.

Miranda was so caught up with in her thoughts, that she didn’t hear the knocking on the door, or the sound of it swinging open. She was nearly asleep again when her bedroom door burst open, revealing her impatient looking best friend.

“Care to tell me why you can’t be bothered to let me up?” Katie asked, planting her hands firmly on her hips.

“How in the bloody hell did you get into my flat?” Miranda asked, still shaken from the sudden visitor.

“Your neighbor seems to think that I’m a lovely bird, and let me up as he was leaving,” Katie smirked, pushing her hand into her pocket, “And you gave me a key when you moved in, for emergencies.”

“Is he aware that you have a fiancé?” Miranda asked, earning a wave of the hand from Katie, “And yeah, emergencies. I doubt there is an emergency at 10 am on a Tuesday.”

“Oh but there is my dear, sweet, Miranda,” Katie quipped, ripping the covers from Miranda’s body, “It’s called you look, and probably smell homeless. Now get your ass in the shower before I physically put it there.”

Miranda raised her middle finger to her friends retreating form, earning another snarky reply from Katie, and halfheartedly rolled from bed. She eyed herself in the floor length mirror, and grimaced as she realized she did look homeless. Her short, now dark, hair was sticking up in wild directions, and her leggings and cropped tank were full of wrinkles. She hastily grabbed a clean set of clothes, and trotted into the bathroom to take what became the longest shower of her life. When she finally emerged, her skin was tinged pink from the heat of the shower, and the bathroom was full of steam.

Miranda got dressed quickly, barely combing out her hair, and slid her glasses on as she ventured into the living room. Katie was flitting around the kitchen, stopping to stir the Mac and Cheese every few seconds, and emptying the surely full dishwasher. Miranda quietly sat at the breakfast bar, greedily grabbing the white paper cup from in front of her, and smiled softly as the familiar taste filled her mouth. Katie was babbling endlessly about something Miranda could care less about, and when Katie noticed she just rolled her eyes and placed the bowl of Mac and Cheese in front of her friend.

The pair ate in silence, and Miranda realized how hungry she actually was. She had been living off of junk food and beer for the past week, too lazy to cook or call take out, and having real food in front of her made her attack it like a starving child. Katie could only laugh at her friend’s eagerness to eat, something that had been missing from her normally bubbly personality, and gladly let Miranda finish off the pot. When Miranda was finally finished, she cleaned up the kitchen, and joined Katie on the couch in the living room. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Katie twiddling her thumbs nervously, and Miranda finally cracked after the fourth minute.

“I’m sorry, I just don’t know how you’re truly doing,” Katie sighed, averting her eyes from Miranda’s, “I know that you had planned on giving those papers to Niall for a while, but how are you feeling now that it’s done?”

“I could give you the rehearsed response I’ve been giving my mother for the past five months, telling you I’m fine and never been better,” Miranda started, feeling a lump rise in her throat, “Or I could tell you the truth about how I’m not sure what I feel anymore, and how I think I may have made the biggest mistake of my life.”

Miranda bit at her bottom lip as she spoke, blinking rapidly to stop the tears from falling down her face, and cracked when Katie placed a hand gently on her shoulder. She had cried for hours after giving Niall the divorce papers, and had found herself crying herself to sleep everyday since. Katie hugged her friend close to her, rubbing her back soothingly, and felt her heart break for her friend.

Katie had always thought that Miranda and Niall were going to be the couple to grow old together, and was shocked when Miranda told her the plans of the divorce. She understood where Miranda was coming from, the miscarriage had put quite the visible strain on their marriage, but she had figured that they would work it out like they usually did. When Niall had shown up sobbing at Katie and Harry’s flat, Katie was out the door instantly to find Miranda. She had found Miranda in her new flat, crying against the wall by the door. She had stayed with her as she sobbed, finally grasping what had happened after a few failed attempts at full descriptions on Miranda’s part, and eventually got Miranda to go to bed after a few hours. When she had returned to her own flat, she had found Niall curled up in the fetal position on the couch, asleep, with tear tracks still on his cheek.

“Randa,” Katie said softly once the tears had stopped.

“No, Katie, it was a mistake,” she said, taking a few deep breaths, “I messed up the best thing about my life. I’m a complete mess, and Niall is probably doing just fine. Am I right?”

“I haven’t seen him since the night you gave him the papers,” Katie whispered, fiddling with her ring, “No one has, actually. He doesn’t answer his phone, never responds to texts, and doesn’t answer his door. He’s more shut in that you, Miranda.”

Miranda felt more tears well up as she listened to Katie, realizing that she had possibly ruined Niall’s life too, and jumped off the couch before Katie could stop her. She ran into her bedroom, locking the door behind her tightly, and slid to the floor with her head in her hands. She ignored Katie’s frantic knocking and pleading, practically yelling at her to leave, and curled into herself as her tears subsided. Katie stayed outside of the door patiently, making sure Miranda didn’t do anything stupid in her emotional state, and finally left when the sobbing noises ceased. She left a brief note on the kitchen counter, not one hundred percent sure that Miranda would even see it, and dialed the familiar number as she left the flat.

“We have to fix this, and fast.”