CUTE GIRL COMPLEX - Identity

Chapter 5 - Eliza

I wade my way out of the dressing area to find that the pool is already jam packed with people who are all here because they have been invited to my birthday party at one point or another. I never realized just how many people I invited, but considering there are two grills on either side of the pool, I guess I may have invited way too many people here. I am surprised that they even decided to show up to begin with, but considering that they all brought some kind of contribution, I am shocked to know this many people know and care about me.

In the distance, I can make out Alice and Dan standing near the water despite all the people crowding the pool. I can only pick her out because of her long white hair, but even then, I have to squint to be extra sure. I try to speed up and catch up to the two of them as they casually walk along the edge of the pool as if they were on a leisurely stroll at the beach. At least the two of them are walking towards the entrance to the pool rather than having Dan just throw her in.

However, as I try to inch myself closer, I struggle making it through the crowd as easily as Dan and Alice do, for I have to somewhat interact with the masses due to the fact that it is my birthday party. It's somewhat overwhelming to see so many swarm me at once, especially when it is the last thing I want to deal with right now. Instead, I want to catch up to Dan and Alice because they are the two people I actually want to hang around with for my birthday; but I'm sure it would have been weird if I only invited the two of them.

Another reason I want to catch up to the two of them is so I can show Alice my swimsuit whilst I stare at her own. The white haired beauty has always had a superior sense of style compared to me, and considering I have only seen her bikini line in a crowded girl's dressing room, I am quite excited to see the bikini she decided to wear despite the fact that she didn't want to show me to begin with. Nevertheless, I am going to pry the sight out of her whether she likes it or not.

"It's kind of hard to hide, I'm embarrassed," I hear Alice whine in the distance, somewhat pushing her thighs together.

I reach my arm out to them, but I stop my advancement as I notice the two of them holding hands. Some part of me wants to smile at them showing their affection towards each other, but another part of me completely shatters as it all settles in on what is about to happen as a result of this. Alice finally got it together to tell him how she felt, but she never confronted me about it.

A lump forms in my throat as I look at the girl I have grown up with, fallen in love with, and somewhat even raised as my own as she walks into the sunlight with her fingers laced with the boy of her dreams. With her red bikini and his faded yellow trunks, the two of them glow quite vibrantly in the afternoon sun as if they are going to melt off the face of the Earth. Even though the sight of my best friend is so pretty, I am left standing there behind her feeling quite sad.

Nevertheless, I follow the two of them despite the deepening feelings I continue to hold. The two of them make their way to the steps, and I watch rather pitifully as Dan very kindly guides Alice into the water so she can rest and hang out a little. The two of them are so comfortable and used to each other that it somewhat pisses me off. Dan sits next to the white haired female and continues to pleasantly chat with her, but the more I stare at the two of them hitting it off, the more it starts to enrage me.

I don't exactly hate Dan, but I don't accept him whatsoever as the future lover of my best friend. It's not like he's a bad person, but I still have a lingering feeling of distrust and bottled up anger towards what had happened to Alice and I in middle school. It doesn't exactly concern Dan considering he had nothing to do with it, nor did he know of our existences at the time, but I am reminded of it constantly. Him being a man and what other men have done to the two of us, it isn't too far-fetched to hold such a grudge.