Misery Loves Company

Track 36: Serendipity

Misery Loves Company

By: theinkslingerr

Track 36: Serendipity

"Shy? Anti-social? Miserable? Meet Misery! With my help she's gonna show you how to get the man of your dreams, and maybe land her own..."

That was what Enid had announced in the dream. For some reason everything was in black and white, and she was smiling to an audience wearing pencil skirts and corduroy sport coats. I was on a garish stage under bright lights in a polka dot dress.

"Will it be bachelor number one? The charming and mysterious Rocco Alden? Bachelor number two, the reformed hellion, Josh Henderson? Or bachelor number three? The roguish, damaged Dominic Finn?"

The crowd went wild in a way that was suitable for families in the fifties.

"Come on out, bachelors!"

Rocco, Josh, and Dom walked across the stage waving. They wore suits with ridiculous shoulder pads and cheesy grins. Announcer Enid stuck the thin handheld mic in my face. "Whaddaya think, Misery?"

Before I could answer, she leaned in close and hissed in my ear, "You greedy little slut. You want all three, don't you?"

I woke up with a start on the couch, disoriented at being able to see in color again.

It was Tuesday, which meant I had another episode of Misery Loves Company to film. That explained the Ed Sullivan meets Love Connection dream. I wasn't sure why Josh was in it though. Back in grade school, he'd been a feminist before it was cool, and bullied girls just as much as he bullied boys. I was a prime example of that. The funny thing was even though Josh was good-looking now, and girls seemed to like him, I viewed him as a sex-less being. An asexual entity. I couldn't picture him as anyone's boyfriend— much less my own. I could barely stomach the idea of us being friends, so why was he popping up as a romantic interest in my dreams?

After yesterday's encounter in the stairwell, Josh had steered clear of me. I hadn't seen him today either, so he was really taking his vow to leave me alone seriously. A tiny part of me felt bad, but I was mostly relieved. He was one less thing I'd have to worry about. Right now, all I could handle were drama-free friendships. What good would one built on bullying do me? My friendship with Enid was the product of two lonely little girls, and look how well that turned out?

Sienna and Ji-Hyun were all I needed. They were nice and easy.

Except...after New York, Sienna probably felt differently about our friendship. I'd been the one who invited her on a weekend getaway that included getting yelled at by the man of her dreams. And there was no way she hadn't caught onto the fact that I wasn't really dating Dom. I'd barely said two words to him, and spent the night at Rocco's apartment. If she started buying into those gang-bang rumors online, I wouldn't even blame her.

Then there was Ji-Hyun...

Despite our shared history with Dom, and the fact that I disliked her brother, we got along well. But with that dislike becoming disgust over Jae's harsh treatment of Sienna, would we be OK? Family was really important to Ji-Hyun, and I was bad at hiding my feelings.

I groaned, and stared up at the ceiling fan. Yup. Nice and easy.

Eventually, I dragged myself up to my room in search of something to wear. I don't know why I bothered when I just ended up in jeans and a t-shirt anyway. Either that, or Enid made me change when I got to her house. I dug through my closet, moving clothes, throwing shoes, shifting shoe boxes in order to find something I didn't hate. A short stack of shoe boxes collapsed, and out spilled old vans, doc martens, and everything else I'd been keeping in them. Notebooks filled with poems and lyrics, a dead phone with a cracked screen, guitar pics and drumsticks I'd caught or fought for at concerts. I heaved out a sigh as I tried to rearrange everything, picking up a wrinkled piece of paper and trying to stuff it back into a shoe box. I glanced at the writing before smoothing it out and trying to read the loopy, uneven scrawl.