Beer, Spaghetti, and Pharmaceuticals ||COMPLETED||

Seventeen

A/N: Here's a shortie but a goodie! Please let me know if you notice any typos <3
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If Alice had to hear one more country song she would lose her mind.

            "I've got a pick-up truck with a shovel in the back..."

Throwing a rock through her own window was never an idea Alice thought she would have, but as she glared with contempt at the open bathroom window, the temptation was undeniable. The sound of Mark's shower muffled the ear-grating twang, but as Alice froze on her balcony in the early December air, the irritatingly catchy harmonies sounded clear as day through the screen.

She peered behind her shoulder one last time before lighting her cigarette.

The only good thing that came from hearing that damn song was that Mark listened to it every single morning during his shower. The song was 4 minutes and 36 seconds long and without fail, the moment the song ended the shower would shut off. That left Alice with 86 seconds to toss the cigarette in the hidden ashtray under the barbecue, spray herself with perfume, and pop a piece of gum in her mouth.

It was a flawless plan.

Sure, she was an adult and should be allowed to smoke if she wants to...but it would be better if Mark didn't know about it.

"I'm gonna dig a hole to hide the beer can I held when our eyes first met..."

She mentally noted that she had two minutes left while she watched the grey smoke swirl into the equally dreary sky, reflecting on the past few weeks with Mark.

Things were...fine.

It would be a lie to say that she was blissfully happy, but really, who is in any relationship? Not to mention she knew exactly what was making her unhappy, and the blame couldn't be placed on Mark. She was willingly depriving herself of her friendship with Isaac. She had successfully avoided Isaac for the past two weeks since he returned from New York, reducing their conversations to formal small-talk about the weather.

Her plan was working, though. Every day she was imagining Isaac shoving her against the buttons of the elevator, his hand slowly sliding up her skirt, less and less.

Evidently, Alice avoiding Isaac wasn't Mark's fault. He had no idea Alice had consciously resolved to spend less time with Isaac, but it was undeniable that he was thrilled regardless. With Alice seemingly finished with her friendship with Isaac, Mark smothered her with all the time and affection he could give, planning their elaborate dates days in advance.

Alice knew she should have been thrilled about the snowy sleigh ride through the city's Winter Wonderland they attended the previous night, but instead, she felt suffocated. As if a giant cork had been shoved in her progression to being a self-actualized, thriving, individual the moment she started dating Mark again. She didn't know who to blame for this. Was it her fault or Mark's fault?

Did it even matter whose fault it was?

Does blame need to placed to create a solution to the problem?

"Are you smoking?"

She was so lost in thought that she didn't hear the song end.

Instead of exhaling the large cloud of smoke that rested in her throat, she gasped, inhaling the toxins deeper into her lungs, sending her into a coughing spree. She hacked and wheezed, tears forming in the corners of her eyes as she struggled to catch her breath.

As a last-ditch effort, she threw the smoke in the snow, crunching it with her slipper before slowly facing an appalled Mark. With an innocent, cheeky grin she raised her shoulders and wheezed, "No?"