Letters

An Ice Cream Ending

I woke up the next morning in a haze of sleep. At some point during the night my mom must have come in, removed my shoes, and thrown a blanket over me. I was still dressed in my clothes curled up under the quilt we kept on the couch, my bed still made up from the previous day. It didn't take long for me to also find my phone on the other side of the bed, completely dead. I must have fallen asleep with the music on.

I groaned and buried my head under my pillow. Getting up sounded like the worst idea I had heard in a while. I would have to face my family, tell them what happened, then pretend I was okay and go to church like it was a normal Sunday. I would have to answer my friend's inevitable texts and again pretend like I was normal. My stomach tightened and a fresh wave of anger swept through me just by thinking Bryce's name.

A knock sounded on my door. "Zeke are you up?" I heard my mom ask. The worry was already apparent in her voice. I forced back a groan.

"No." The door squeaked as my mom opened it a crack to look at me. I rolled over and buried my face in the quilt. She took that as an invitation to open the door a little more.

"Do you want to tell me what happened last night?" I sighed and rolled over to look at her. She knew that I wouldn't want to tell her, but I needed to because if I didn't she was would worry. The happy charade starts now.

"It was nothing mom, Bryce just kind of," I fumbled for the correct word. "Took Mia and she preferred him. They went to a party together. I went home. Nothing special."

I couldn't keep the sarcasm out of my voice and I knew she heard it. "Oh Zeke, I'm sorry."

I put on what I considered a nonchalant face. "Really mom," I insisted. "I'm okay. Mia and I didn't really click anyway." That much wasn't a lie.

She looked at me doubtfully. There was no way she believed that I was okay, but I knew she wasn't going to press. She sighed.

"Okay, if you're sure you're okay." She patted my leg. "If you need anything just come ask either your dad or I."

Internally I knew I would never do that but in her own way she was trying to help. "Thanks mom."

She smiled and nodded. "Well, I hate to do this to you but you really have to get up. We leave for church in an hour."

This time I didn't suppress my groan. My mom laughed.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry. If it's any consultation I made scrambled eggs for Sadie if you want some." I sighed and pushed the covers back.

"Okay, I'm coming. Just give me a couple seconds." She nodded and got up to leave but not before shooting me one last motherly look. As soon as she shut the door I collapsed back on the bed. I didn't want to get up. I didn't want to think. If I stayed here then I could pretend that homecoming was just one really bad nightmare. Subconsciously though I knew I couldn't do that. Maybe church would give me the distraction I needed.

Turns out church didn't help me at all. The only thing it did was give me lots of time to think about everything. I stewed over it. Bryce's idiocy, his betrayal, Mia's disloyalty, Nathan's blindness. This led to a new worry of what I was going to do about it. If I were any other person the correct response would probably be to go off on Bryce and break up with Mia. I didn't want to do that though. I wasn't a confrontational person and Bryce was the only friend I had. He isn't the kind of person to feel guilt either, he would just get angry at me for no reason except that I was mad at him. At the same time though he had completely betrayed me and 'stolen' my 'girlfriend'.

That led me to another thought. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I didn't like Mia all that much. She was pretty, funny, and smart, everything a person should want, but every minute I spent with her I was so worried that I would do something wrong that I never enjoyed the time. Homecoming had shown another side of her too, one that wasn't really interested in me, danced with my best friend instead of me, and didn't even tell her family members my name. That hurt like a sharp pain in the chest, but when I examined why I was upset it wasn't so much about her just about what she and Bryce had done.