There's pizza on the ceiling and, naturally, I'm the one who has to clean it up. I'm the shortest and therefore the easiest to get up that high. I struggle to reach the ceiling even from where I'm sitting on April's shoulders. She bounces up onto her tiptoes in an attempt to get me closer and I'm finally able to scrape the last bits off. There's a giant grease stain left behind, but April says she can clean that up later.
"All right, ladies," she says, clapping her hands together. A slow smile starts to spread across her face as she pauses for dramatic effect. "Are you ready to experience a club the April Herring Way?"
Liv is in the middle of shoving a piece of pizza into her face and she freezes, mouth full of food. Cassidy jumps up from the floor, her long hair twisted into two loose braids. She's always ready for anything and is insanely happy.
April drags down the hallway to her room, yanking open what has to be the biggest pair of closet doors I've ever seen. She holds something up to inspect it more closely and tosses it to Cassidy. "Here, try that." She returns to hand a more modest-looking outfit to Liv, who anxiously eyes it. The fashionista comes back a final time to pass me a handful of clothes, with a smile. "Those will fantastic on you, I just know it," she says.
I highly doubt it, but I don't argue, turning to strip off the clothes I have on in exchange for hers. It's a short, tight black skirt with a little slit in one side that leads up even higher. The top to match it is a rather scandalous tank top, lacy, mesh mess that my mother would not approve of. I feel kind of ridiculous as I turn around to face my friends.
"Oh my god, Kat!" Cassie exclaims, bounding over to me. "You look amazing!"
April turns from where she's expertly doing her make up, grinning. "Kat, I'm so proud," she says. "Come over here and I'll do your make up for you."
"I can do hair," Liv offers gently.
I take a seat down on the stool that April gestures me to sit on, pulling out my phone when it buzzes with an incoming call. "What's up, Ashton?" I say casually as I step out into the hallway, leaving my coworkers in the bedroom.
"Uh... you uh... you might want to check the text I just sent you," he says awkwardly, stumbling over his words.
I go to my messages and click on the picture. My world seems to stand still and the ground drops out from beneath me. "Please tell me this isn't real," I whisper, blinking rapidly forming tears out of my eyes. "Ashton!" I scream into the phone.
"I'm so sorry, Kat," he says, sounding close to tears himself. "I'm so sorry." He says something else, but I don't quite catch it. I'm too focused on the faceless girl who has my ex boyfriend pinned against a wall.
I sink to the floor, sobbing, wrapping my arms around myself tightly. The world is in blurry shapes and colors through all the tears streaming down my cheeks. When I was nine, my grandma died and it was one of the worst pains I've ever known. When I was twelve, my best friend called me all sorts of names and left me for the "cooler" girls. When I was seventeen, I caught my boyfriend cheating on me with my best friend at the time. But none of that compares to the pain I feel now.
"Kat? Hey, are you okay?" Cassie demands as she crouches beside me.
When I don't answer, she carefully pries the phone from my hands and calmly speaks to Ashton to figure out what's going on. I slowly rock myself back and forth, the image of Luke kissing that girl seared into my mind. I was a fucking idiot to ever believe him when he told me that I was the only one for him, that I'd be the only one for him for life. Which parts were real?
Why did I always have to fall for the ones that broke my heart so irrevocably?
April pulls me onto her lap and whispers soothing things into my ear. I relax against her and sob into her shoulder, getting my tears all over her shirt, but she doesn't care. "Shhh," she murmurs as she strokes my hair. "It'll be okay, everything's going to be okay."
"I want Calum," I cry, my voice muffled by her shoulder. I hate myself for acting like such a baby, but I can't seem to make myself stop. If it hurt when he dumped me, it feels like I'm being repeatedly tortured until I can't breathe. How could he move on so quickly? Just a week ago he was whispering how much he loved me into my ear.
Liv silently pulls out her phone and dials Calum's number, stepping off to the side as she speaks to him in quick, hushed tones.
Cassie hangs up with Ashton and moves to the kitchen, where April promises there to be ice cream. Liv ends her own call with Calum and drops to her knees beside me, looking me dead in the eye with that soothing calm that makes everything seem okay. "Calum's going to be here soon," she says gently, placing a hand on my shoulder.
I nod miserably, leaning heavily against April. She grips my shoulder and hauls me to my feet. "Come on, let's get you into something more comfortable," April says. "We'll take a raincheck on that night out, save it for the weekend or something."
She helps me down the hallway and wipes off my make up, stripping off my scandalous clothing to replace it with simple shorts and a baggy T-shirt. I watch my transformation in the mirror, silent tears streaking down my face. It's like I'm experiencing the world through a sheet of glass; sounds are dulled, shapes are blurred, everything distant from me. Is this what happens when your heart shatters?
xx
Sorry things are a little depressing and slow right now, I promise things will get better!
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Reality || L.H.
Fanfiction[[Sequel to Imagination]] Nothing lasts forever, nothing stays the same. ((Completed))
