Forever In Your Arms

Complications

"So you just broke up with him!" Gloria shouts in my face as I take a long sip of my strawberry banana smoothie. I look away from her and glance over at the giant picture of the watermelon that's hanging behind the cashier.

I met Gloria in my freshmen year of high school and now four years later here we are still the best of friends.

"You don't understand," I say between sips. "I just...wasn't feeling to anymore," I say sighing.

"But why? You guys were like the cutest couple ever. Did he hurt you?" She said in a demanding tone.

I roll my eyes as I look down at my napkin. "No, there just wasn't a spark...like anywhere," I say. "I'm starting to believe that we should've just been friends this entire time; it would've been a lot better that way."

"I don't know man, you guys looked pretty happy together and everyone thought y'all were the cutest couple."

I sigh as I twirl my straw around my now empty drink. "Yeah Well, I don't know I thought we were cute too but then when it came yo affection and sex...I didn't really like it that much."

"What do you mean?" Gloria asks staring at me intensely.

"I mean like I didn't feel a spark when we kissed and I wasn't that turned on when we did things in bed together.." I say shifting my legs from the uncomfortable conversation. I'm not really one to talk about my sex life in detail, not even with my best friend.

"Sex is...complicated sometimes for women. Not all of us get off the same way and we can prefer certain methods or acts more than others. Maybe Justin just did things you didn't like or weren't really into," she tries to reason.

I shake my head while staring down at my empty cup. "Nah it's deeper than that like what he was doing felt good I just wasn't enjoying it," I say.

"What? That makes no sense," Gloria replies frowning.

"Okay like...it felt good on my body but mentally I wasn't really turned on by it and part of me feels that it wasn't that he was bad in bed or anything but...even if he did other things and did them really really well I still probably...wouldn't have enjoyed them if that makes sense."

Gloria looks at me strangely for s couple of minutes before actually replying. "Welp guess you were right you guys were probably supposed to be just friends then," she says bluntly.

"Yeah well I guess now I kind of screwed that up too so..."

She grabs my hand on the table and looks up at me sympathetically. "He's going to be upset and heartbroken for now but soon he'll realize that you two can still be really great friends," she says smiling up at me, her perfect white teeth flashing under her plump lips.

"Yeah well I hope he realizes it soon," I mumble.

"He will!" Gloria says enthusiastically, reaching for my hand again. "He has too. You're a great person Mackenzie."

I smile back at her, thankful to have such a great best friend at my side.

"But when you get over this we have to find you a new boy toy," she says winking in a playful flirty way.

"Yeah I don't think so," I say.

"Oh come on Mackenzie don't be such a prude. You're going to get over Justin soon and then you'll be ready to put yourself out there," she states confidently.

"If you say so," I reply rolling my eyes.

"Girl I know so," Gloria replies, waving her hand in reassurance.

She then gets up and walks toward the trash can in the corner of the smoothie shop to throw out our empty cups. I watch her thin but full legs stride towards the garbage, her caramel skin glowing under the sun's rays. Gloria has always made me a bit jealous of her beauty.

Her chirpy voice interrupts my thoughts as she returns to our table smiling.

"Want to do some shopping love?" she asks.

I shrug. I already had a really crappy day and feel guilty about how I treated Justin so why not try to fill the void with useless materialistic things.

Gloria and I hop on the bus and we make our way to the Atlantic Terminal Mall.

Upon arrival, Gloria spots her favorite store, Pretty Girl, and drags me inside against my will.

"Okay which one do you like better?" she asks holding up two striped crop tops. One is white with blue stripes and the other is white with pink stripes.

"The pink striped one is cute," I say. "Plus you already own a lot of blue tops."

Gloria rolls her eyes. "Not for me stupid; I'm talking about for you," she says smiling.

I scoff. "You know I don't wear crop tops," I laugh.

"Yeah which is why it's about time you should," she says searching the racks for other ones.

"Wait, are you trying to give me a after break up glow up? Because if you are please don't I already made Justin feel bad enough."

"Oh come on Mackenzie that's not my intentions I just thought you'd want to change up your style a bit for the summer," she snorted.

I rolls my eyes. "I think I'm good for right now Glor," I reply gloomily.

And noticed this and wraps a thin arm around my shoulder. "Hey girl listen if it was meant to be it would've been."

"Yeah But that doesn't mean that I didn't hurt Justin," I protested.

"Of course you did but he's going to realize that it was the right call and he'll eventually move on and find someone who is right for him," she says sophisticatedly.

I sigh as I stare at the foral dressed mannequins in the window of the store. Why do I have to be so complicated?