Girls, Breaking Hearts

Brooke didn’t want to go home looking like shit, so she didn’t give it a thought, hailing a cab and reciting Kelly’s address. After the horrible fight with John, she couldn’t think straight, just wanted to cry about everything that happened and let it all out. She hated fighting with John, it always made her feel as though she had somehow lost a vital body part. She didn’t think of what her friends would say once they saw her, or how they would react once she told them about her relationship. Keeping things bottled up had taken its toll.

She waited for the door to open, and once it did, she collapsed onto Kelly’s arms, the tears coming out once again. She’d managed to stop crying before getting into the cab, biting her lip to contain the sobs, but now that she was in the safety of her friend’s house, she let them all out.

“Brooke? What’s wrong, what happened...” Kelly trailed off, and it wasn’t long before all their friends circled over and pulled Brooke into the house.

They led her to the couch, and she continued to cry, Kelly rubbing her back soothingly and urging her to tell them what was up, but she couldn’t really process what they were saying. She continued to cry for at least five more minutes, before finally wiping her eyes dry with the Kleenex they had offered to her.

Brooklyn Shelton had never cried over a guy, all of them believed that. She was the only one among them who didn’t drool over the hottest guys they met and the upperclassmen who flirted with them. She was overly selective when it came to dating, and even hooking up, only having made out with a few guys as opposed to her friends.

She let out a deep breath, looking up at her friends who were all giving her worried looks. It was Kelly that spoke first, her long brown hair falling over her face, her blue eyes filled with concern over her teary friend. “What happened?”

“I, uh...” Brooke paused, her gaze flickering over to Alex, the girl closest to Shane in their group. She didn’t know what they would think of it, but she couldn’t hold it in anymore. “I’m, I’m in a relationship.”

Amber nodded slowly, her stare not wavering. “We all know that already; please elaborate.”

Brooke let out another deep breath, running her fingers through her hair as she averted their gaze. “With an older guy.”

Almost all of them sucked their breaths in, Amber blurting out a barely audible “oh my god”. Neither of them had expected such a confession, but immediately their minds went to the most attractive teachers in their school.

“Is it Mr. Burke?” Mckenna asked curiously, making Scarlet laugh beside her.

“God, of course not- he’s 35, I’m telling you-”

“Hey!” Marci scolded, scoffing at Scarlet and shoving her lightly. “This is a judgment-free zone, Brooke needs to feel that if she’s going to-”

“Guys,” Amber cut in, shooting them both stern looks, “Let’s wait for Brooke to finish, all right?” she said, stressing the word ‘wait’, and everyone rolled their eyes but listened.

Brooke let out another deep breath, closing her eyes as she blurted it all out. “With Shane’s brother. John.”

They gasped collectively, and suddenly began shrieking. It wasn’t the reaction Brooke was either hoping for or expecting. She stared up at them, wondering if she made the right choice in telling them, but that question went out the window when she caught Alex’s gaze.

“Shut up!” Marci squealed, hitting Brooke’s arm playfully. “I can’t believe this, all along I thought you were gay, but now-”

“Shane doesn’t know?” Alex asked, her tone serious as Brooke shook her head. She sighed then, hitting her forehead with her palm as she looked away. “Fuck, Brooke, I-”

“Hey, don’t do that,” Kelly scolded, nudging Alex as she scowled, then completely losing her train of thought. “We need to understand where Brooke is coming from, and- OH MY GOD, are you and Shane hooking up?!”

Suddenly the attention was on Alex, and Brooke wanted to cry again when she saw how her friends were now focused on an issue that wasn’t hers.

“So now you and Brooke can be sisters-in-law,” Amber gushed, giggling as Alex blushed and tried to cover her face, but then entirely stopped when she saw Brooke’s expression. They all stopped, suddenly realizing that their friend had a problem she needed to tell them about. Sighing, Mckenna wrapped an arm around Brooke, and the latter began to cry once more.

“We’re sorry.” Kelly sighed, engulfing her friend in a hug. “Our attention span sucks.”

They let her release it for a few more minutes, promising they were no longer going to interject, until finally, she was ready to talk again. “I forgot to tell him about last night,” she sobbed out, playing with her fingers and trying to stop the tears, “And he freaked out on me this morning, apparently he assumed that I was cheating.”

She told them everything, about the fight, her struggles every time he was away and she was left with her 2 AM thoughts, how they officially started, until there was nothing to talk about. Her friends listened throughout her rant, jumping in once in a while to comment on how they wished they were there for her from the start, and how hard it must have been for her to keep it to herself all along.

Admittedly, she felt better the moment it was all out in the open. Her cards were on the table and it felt good, to let it all out like that and have her friends listen.

She looked at Alex, who was uncomfortable the whole time, and with a pleading voice, she said, “Please don’t tell Shane.”

Her friend was conflicted, but each girl was giving her the same look Brooke had and she knew what she had to do. “Fine,” she sighed, closing her eyes as she leaned back on the couch. “Girl code. But I swear, Brooke, if he physically hurts you or anything-”

“He won’t,” Brooke assured, her voice breaking as she thought back to John’s face when she yelled out he was hurting him. “I swear, he didn’t mean to, he let go of me right away- he was just trying to-”

“I get it,” Amber said soothingly, moving her hand to rub her friend’s back. “Look, you care about him, obviously, so.... what are you planning to do with this whole thing?”

“Well, I for one think you shouldn’t forgive him right away,” Mckenna spoke up firmly. “It was stupid for him to assume that and he needs to accept that before you give him another chance.”

“Thank you, but your input is hardly needed,” Kelly scoffed as she eyed the small, short-haired brunette. “You keep pushing your boyfriends away once you think they start caring too much, that’s why you’re single right now.”

“Shut up!”

“It’s true!”

Brooke bit her lip, not paying attention to her friends’ exchange as she looked up at Amber questioningly. “What should I do?” she asked. “I want to be with him, I just...” She trailed off, waiting for her friends’ input.

Amber shrugged, sighing as she thought of what to say. Being the most experienced, the girls always went to her for advice, not entirely liking but rather needing her bluntness and critique. “You know, I can’t really blame him for thinking that,” she started, and everyone but Brooke gaped at her, making her roll her eyes. “What? He’s older,” she scoffed. “It’s just natural that he’ll doubt it sometimes, because he was once our age, too- he knows how teenagers’ minds work. Plus, Brooke’s a girl-”

“Thanks for pointing that out-”

“A teenage girl,” she drawled out, sighing once more as she looked at Brooke. “I think he just worries about how you’re going to change your mind one day and leave him. He cares about you, it’s obvious- I mean, Brooke, he risked it last night, driving to your house-”

“Well, that’s sort of sweet I guess,” Scarlet muttered under her breath, making the other two agree.

“And you see it firsthand, everyday- just look at me! How I sway from one boy to another, because suddenly I want something new,” she continued. “Obviously, you’re different- I mean, you’re sort of more mature than us, when it comes to making decisions, but still, he’s allowed to doubt it from time to time. You’re going to hate me for this, but it’s human nature, you know? Seems like he’s just scared of losing you.”

“Sounds about right,” Marci agreed, sighing as she stared at her friend. “But you know, you don’t have to forgive him right away, and God, don’t fucking grovel- he shouldn’t have yelled at you like that, it was wrong. So just chill with us for a bit and talk to him when you’re both calmer. What you need right now is space.”

Everyone agreed, and Brooke looked up, her eyes filling with tears again. “I already miss him,” she sobbed out, covering her face with her hands. “God, I’m pathetic.”

Amber laughed, sitting beside Brooke and pulling the latter into her arms. “No, you’re not pathetic,” she said soothingly, pushing Brooke’s hair away from her face. “Just stupidly in-love.”

Her friends distracted Brooke for the rest of the day, just watching chick flicks, drinking up, ordering too much food, and bitching about their lives, but this time Brooke kept her phone by her side, waiting for whatever call or text that could come from John but it never came. When the night rolled in, each girl called their parents to explain there was a sleepover-extension for another night, but Brooke still couldn’t shake off the want to fix things with John and just stop fighting.

It was 10 PM when her phone vibrated, her nickname for John flashing on her screen indicating he had texted. She sucked in a deep breath, clicking on the message and wondering whether or not it would be long and pleading, but rather it was short and concise.

Can I call you?