Behind The Screens

15 | Men's Bathroom Heartaches

Alex

I had nowhere to go.
The snowflakes stung my face with burning cold, making me cringe. Cringe with pain... Pain of the sight of her lips on my best friend's instead of mine. Cringe with fear... Fear that I had lost her to someone I thought I could trust, fear that I'd never see her again... and anger. I balled up my fist and pounded it into a nearby table.
The cold struck back.

I decided that I probably shouldn't continue to walk in the bullets of ice being shot from the sky, so I quickly covered my mouth with my scarf, shoved my hands in my pockets, and found the nearest place to sit in... Starbucks- Tyler- the cake pops. The place that if I had never went, I would've never met her. I blew out a puff of cold air and headed inside.

"Welcome to Starbucks!" An employee exclaimed. I awkwardly waved a hand and sat down at a table in the back. I slipped off my scarf and my hat and sat it next to me. "Coffee? Hot chocolate?" A girl asked, walking toward me with a look of concern on her face. "Uh-"
"Great! hot chocolate, on me." She interrupted. I shrugged then put my face in my hands and sighed.

There weren't many people in this Starbucks, mainly because no one wanted to leave their homes during this weather. However, there was a small ding sound and the door opened, letting in a rush of cold air. I looked up and was surprised to see
Mira.

"Hey, Mira!" The same girl who was getting my hot chocolate exclaimed. She brung the drink to me, saying, "nice and warm." Then winked. Flirtatious. Mira laughed and said, "He's taken, Kayla." I scoffed. "Not so sure about that." I mumbled. "Huh?" Mira asked. "Nothing," I said, taking a sip of my hot chocolate. "Nothing, I uh, I have to go to he bathroom." I got up and quickly ducked into the men's restroom.

I turned on the sink and splashed warm water on my face. Nope. Not a bad dream. I cupped my face in my hands and rested my elbows on the sink.

I didn't understand. She always seemed to be so interested in me and only me and last night made me feel for sure that she's the one. It was disguised poison. I was angry. I was hurt. I had fallen hard for her and finally hit the bottom. All of a sudden the door swung open and I quickly jumped away from the sink and wiped the water off of my face with my coat sleeves.

"Mira?! This is a guy's restroom!" I said, shocked. "What's going on?" She questioned, completely ignoring me. "Well you just busted into-"
"There are no other dudes in here, tell me what's going on." She demanded, interrupting me. We stared at each other for a second until I finally spoke. "I'm surprised she hasn't told you herself."
She grabbed her phone out of her back pocket and after responding to a text, shoved the phone in my face.

Britten: we need to talk.

Mira: I'll be there soon.

"What did you do to her?" Mira questioned. "Why do you assume I'm the one who did it?" I replied. "Why do you think that I must be the one breaking hearts instead of the one broken hearted?" Mira sighed.

There was a moment of silence, then I mumbled, "she cheated on me." Mira made a face that looked like she was going to gasp, yet nothing emerged. She opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it once more and squeaked, but quickly closed it again. "I..." She finally spoke. "I don't... believe you." I rolled my eyes at jet. "She would never-"
"Yea, right, that's what I thought." I interrupted. "But, when you catch your girlfriend locking lips with your best friend, you get a change of mind."
This time Mira did gasp. "...Tyler?" She whispered, pain seeping through her words.
"Mira, did you-"
"I did." Her voice wavered. "I did."
"Oh..." I said in a soft tone, realizing then that Mira definitely had been interested in Tyler.

Mira covered her forehead with her hands and began pacing. "She knows I like him." She said to herself. She sighed and claimed, "I'm not going." I furrowed my brow. "Where?" I asked. "I'm not going to talk to her. I don't want to see her. I've heard all I needed to hear." She responded.

I was going to say something, but realized I was going through the same thing. When your best friend kisses the person they know you have feelings for, it makes you mad, hurt, and you just want to... Cry. I refused to cry, but she let it all go. Mira stood in the mens' bathroom and cried.

"Mira..." I said, coming toward her for a hug. She kept her arms still at her side as I rubbed her back. Her tears dampened my coat and I could feel her breathing heavily on my chest as she stuttered, "I thought- I thought th-that once he- once he g-got here, we... W-we" then she cried even harder.

A dude walked into the bathroom and when he saw us, he awkwardly stopped and just looked. Mira didn't care, she just kept crying. I waved the guy on. "Just, uh, just do your business." he shrugged and headed for a urinal.

"Mira." I said, trying to stop her from crying so we could leave. "My head..." She squeaked. "My heart..."

"Rough day?" The guy asked over the sound of his pee. "Uh.. Yea." I replied, awkwardly. "For both of us... Mira lets go." Mira sniffled and said, "I don't want to go anywhere." I chuckled a little.
"We don't have to leave Starbucks, but we might wanna leave the men's restroom." I explained. She lifted her head off of my chest. "Why?" She questioned, sniffling again and wiping her face with her sleeve. "Because you're not a man?" I replied. "Oh yea." She realized. The guy was walking out of the bathroom, laughing. I slung an arm over her shoulder and walked her out of the bathroom.

Luckily, when we came out, my stuff was still there. I didn't want to be mugged or robbed or anything in New York.

"Everything okay?" The same cashier, Kayla, asked. Mira shook her head. "No, but I'll be fine. Don't worry." Kayla nodded. "You're hot chocolate must be cold, want me to warm it?" She asked me. I nodded. "Please? And one for Mira too." I replied. She shot me a thumbs up and grabbed my hot chocolate. I turned to Mira and said,
"Okay... Let's talk."

-------------------------------

Britten

My pillow was soaked with tears and was only getting worse as I sent the 5th text asking Mira where she was. Alex wasn't answering my texts or calls and neither was Mira. She told me she would be here thirty minutes ago.

I heard a gentle knock at my door. "What." I groaned. The door opened, and Tyler stood at the frame. "I'm sorry," he began. I turned my head away. "I really am. I... I don't know what I was thinking." I didn't respond. Tyler sighed.
"Okay, look, you can't make me the bad guy here." He claimed.
"It's your fault, you shouldn't have kissed me." I said.
"Well you shouldn't have kissed me back." He responded.
I said nothing. That was true. I should've pushed him away as soon as he did it instead of when it was too late. I could've put him in his place and I could be kissing Alex right now... Alex. I miss him so much. I began to cry again.

"Britten, just be honest with him. Tell him what really happened." Tyler suggested. "He already knows." I said. "He walked in and witnessed you kissing me... There's nothing to tell." There was silence for a second, then I heard Tyler moving and he said, "Okay." And left.
That was it. And all I could do was let the tears fall, for I had given up on contact with the love of my life and my best friend.

The next morning, I woke up and the weather was calm, but we were snowed in. I was sure that Tyler was still here because he had nowhere else to go now. Sure enough, I found him sleeping on the leather couch in the living room. He was snuggled into the throw blanket, so I could only see the top of his head. It reminded me of how adorable Alex looks when he was sleeping. I wished I hadn't messed up. I wished I could be in his embrace right now. But, unfortunately, wishing doesn't always guarantee it.

I sighed and went to grab my coat off of the coat rack. I quickly threw it on and walked out on the balcony. The sounds of NYC were unusually silent today because of all the snow. There were a few sparse honks and several people on the streets, that's it.

A taxi slowed to a stop and a man dressed in a suit forcefully swung the door open and got out of the taxi. I heard him yell, "I can walk faster than you can drive!" In a thick New York accent, and the driver yelled something back that I couldn't hear. I laughed... then I cried.
I didn't want to laugh if it wasn't with him.