letters to the boy who never cared

t h i r t y

jenny baby: dude what happened at the mall?

$grace money$: um why u leave like that???

summaaah: is it reed bc s2g ill really f him up, lex

$grace money$: can we jump him pls

jenny baby: i usually dont like violence but...

summaaah: guys. focus. pls answer alexa

$grace money$: we're worried about u babe

jenny baby: u can talk to us. whenever ur ready.

I held my phone in a shaking hand, watching my friends reach out to me via a groupchat. By now, they knew I was reading what they wrote; my phone had marked the messages as read. I just had no idea what to say. Not only had Reed broken my heart, he'd managed to leave me incredibly embarrassed. For months my friends had warned me of the trouble Reed would bring, and I had brushed them off. Now, I was humiliated at how stupid I had been. But, ashamed as I was, I needed them right now. Badly.

I steeled myself with a deep, shuddering breath, my eyes still slightly itchy from crying since yesterday, and texted them, sleepover? we have catching up to do.

~

"I wish I could be sad for you," Grace said, once I'd finally explained all that had happened. "But I'm just really happy that's finally over."

I shrugged. "He doesn't seem to think so." I held up my phone to show my friends the long queue of text messages Reed had spammed me with.

"What a rat," Summer murmured, shaking her head. "'What did I do'? What didn't you do?"

I sighed heavily. "I feel so stupid. I should've listened to you guys, like, months ago. I'd have moved on by now."

"Well," Jen said. "You didn't. But now you can start a new chapter in your life."

I chuckled. "Thanks, Mom. That was super deep."

Shoving me lightly, Jen laughed. "I was trying to be helpful, you idiot. You ruined it."

"But, now that Sir Thottie is out of the picture for good, we can get down to business," Grace interjected with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

"What?" I asked. "What are you talking about?" She and Jen just snickered in response.

"Oh, Alexa," Summer sighed. "We're referring to a young, brown haired boy you may or may not know."

Internally, I groaned, knowing just where the conversation was going. "Guys, please," I begged, burying my head into one of the couch pillows. Here we go.

"Come on, Alexa. Don't play dumb. Matty's so hung up on you, it's actually sad." Grace shook her head.

"Undeniably," Jen added.

"He lost his virginity to that beautiful, perfect, emotionally stable girl, and you guys honestly think he still wants me?" I asked them incredulously.

"Yes, that's exactly what we think."

"Well, keep dreaming."

Summer began slapping me on the arm. "I need to beat some sense into you, girl."

"I have sense!" I scoffed.

"Not enough to realize what's right in front of you," Jen countered. "Look, we all know the only thing keeping you from Matt before was being taken. Now that Reed's not tying you down, nothings stopping you from going after what you really want."

"Except Arabella," I clarified.

Summer dismissed the thought with a wave of her hand. "Girlfriends are easily gotten rid of."

"Summer!" Grace scolded. "Arabella's nice!"

"She's in the way," Summer replied bluntly.

"Guys! I'm not breaking up any relationships, okay? Can we just enjoy the sleepover and talk about something else?"

Jen grinned slyly. "Grace has a lot to tell you. About a certain cousin of a friend."

Summer leaned over and whispered in my ear, "They hooked up."

Grace buried her face in her hands. "Shut. Up!"

I smirked at Grace. "Wow, someone's been busy."

Grace groaned. "Jeez. I thought this night was just to talk about Alexa."

~

matty: are u ok?

I sat up, tangled in a pile of blankets on the floor, as my screen lit up with a text. The others barely noticed: between the popcorn and Mean Girls, they didn't have attention to spare.

me: no. but getting better
me: thank you

matty: for what?

me: for everything. always being there for me

matty: thats what im supposed to do, right?

me: well, so was reed

matty: right.

I paused before typing, im just so glad to have ppl like u who actually care.

me: i didn't realize how important it was until now

A long time passed before he finally replied.

matty: dont worry, alexa
matty: you'll always have me

A/N happiness overload omg

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xoxo janai