Beer, Spaghetti, and Pharmaceuticals ||COMPLETED||

Twenty Six

"Hey."

Alice whipped her head around to find Mark standing behind her. An aloof air hung around him as he watched her quickly turn away to dab her eyes, ensuring that they had remained dry throughout her conversation with Isaac. One of his eyebrows slowly raised as Alice turned back to him with a bright grin on her face, casually resting her hands on her hips.

"Hey, Mark," she said. "What's up?"

"What's up?" He scoffed. "I've been looking for you for nearly an hour, that's 'what's up'."

"Oh..." she shifted in her spot, taking a quick peek over the ledge of the balcony and frowning when it was too high to safely jump. "Yeah, sorry about that."

Mark gawked at her, raising his palm to motion for her to continue. When she stayed silent, awkwardly rubbing her shoulder to keep her hands busy, he let out a disgruntled sigh.

"Well? Are you going to tell me what's going on?" he asked. "I know it's shocking, but being left alone at one of Isaac's parties isn't exactly my idea of a great time."

A certain sensation bubbled through Alice as she stared into Mark's green eyes looking bitterly back at her. It was this strange, somber excitement; impatient even. Even though she knew it would wise to wait to have this conversation when they were in the privacy of her home, she couldn't wait. She didn't even think she could make it out the door without the words exploding through her mouth.

She took one last look at the extinguished candle and gulped.

"Mark, umm..." She lowered her eyes to her shoes and took a steadying, deep breath. "Mark, I don't think this is going to work out..."

"What isn't going to work out?"

She clenched her eyes shut.

"Me and you..." she said. "I...think we need to...break up."

An eerie silence overtook the balcony, and with her eyes still shut, she was secretly praying Mark had gotten so furious he immediately left without a single word. Through her squinted eyelids, she took a quick peek, and much to her dismay, Mark remained in front of her with his nostrils flaring in sync with his chest.

"You're joking, right?"

"Erm...no. I'm not joking."

Right then, Alice realized she had never been the one to ever break up with someone before. She was always the dumpee, not the dumper. Despite all the heartache she would accumulate from getting dumped, as the awkward stiff tension filled the gap between her and Mark, she almost wished she could trade places with him. Besides, she was a veteran at the Mark-Alice-Breakups, she could handle it.

Sadly, it didn't appear Mark was on the same page as her.

Mark threw his hands in the air. "Then why the hell am I here, Alice? Why am I all dressed up just for you to break up with me?"

"Well, I didn't exactly invite you to come," she muttered, trying to keep her voice quiet, but based on Mark's loud scoff, he heard. "Listen, Mark, I'm sorry but...it sort of had to happen eventually, right?"

"How can you say that?"

"I dunno, we can barely tolerate each o - "

"Alice," Mark cut her off and took four large strides to meet her. His fingers grazed her bare shoulder as he gently brushed a strand of her long hair; Alice noted the complete lack of fluttering inside her.

The eruption of emotions from Isaac's arms wrapped tightly around her was still in her mind, but with Mark, she felt like stone.

"Alice," he repeated, bending his knees so they were at eye-level. "I love you."