Chad and the Incel

7th Post: I wonder what a woman's love feels like

Becky rang the doorbell. She waited a minute before knocking on the door.

'Okay, okay, I'm coming!'

When Stacy opened the door, Becky noticed her dishevelled hair, tracksuit pants, wrinkled shirt and missing earring. She looked down and found the earring in Stacy's hand.

Gesturing to the snowy white sofa in the living room, Stacy asked, 'I'm sorry, can you wait a little? I'm almost ready.' Becky nodded and sat down.

She looked around the living room and saw photos of Stacy and two adults, presumably her parents, on the walls. There were no siblings in the photos. The wallpaper was as white and patternless as the sofa and the ceiling was the colour of smoke. The glass coffee table held up several heavy books, half of them about orthodontics and the other half about sports science. In front of the table stood a curved TV that stretched to both ends of the wall. The house was so clean that Becky couldn't smell a thing.

When Stacy came out in a low-cut strapless dress and a pair of pumps with heels as high as a giraffe's neck, Becky grinned.

'That's a change from before,' she said with a chuckle.

Stacy looked down at her outfit. 'Does it look bad?'

'No, you're pretty as always. It's just, well, we're just going shopping. You don't need to wear something that formal.'

Stacy shifted her gaze to Becky's jeans and t-shirt. She tensed up and started to walk back to her room, but Becky grabbed her arm.

'It's okay. Let's not waste time that could be spent hanging out. How does that sound?'

Stacy nodded. She took Becky to her white beetle and drove the two of them to the nearest mall. She automatically entered her favourite clothing store and took out a blue dress, holding it up against Becky.

'This would look cute,' she said.

Becky looked at the tag and pursed her lips. 'This is pretty expensive for a dress.' She showed Stacy the tag.

'Really? That's pretty cheap for this store.'

Becky frowned. 'You do realise I'm just an honour student, right? I can't afford stuff like this.'

Stacy's cheeks looked like someone had lit a candle underneath them. 'I'm sorry! I didn't know.'

Becky put her smile back on. 'I'm surprised I can see you blushing underneath that tan.' Stacy covered her face but Becky took one of her hands off it. 'It's cute.'

Stacy tore her hand away from Becky and put it back on her face. 'Do you always say everything you're thinking?'

Becky stroked her chin. 'Have I changed? I distinctly remember holding secrets at my old school. How strange.'

Stacy brought her hands down and raised an eyebrow. 'You kept secrets?' she asked, trying to ignore the loud rumbling from her stomach.

Becky nodded, her fingers still on her chin. 'I also distinctly remember being quite the intellectual snob.' Before Stacy could ask what had changed (not that she would dare), Becky told her a little story. She spoke as they walked towards the food court.

There was a crowd of people gathered around a phone by the lockers, all laughing and making comments about a video. No one seemed to notice Becky White glaring at them from across the hallway.

The girl was sitting on the ground with her back against her bottom locker, reading a thick book about the history of video games. Well, she would be reading if the sound of chatter and the stench of men's body spray wasn't a distraction. One girl's laughter sounded like she was squeezing her last remaining brain cells through her nose. One boy's speaking voice made him sound like he was doing a mocking impression of a stupid person, which would be hilarious had that been not his natural voice. When he turned his head towards Becky, she pushed her frown up until she wore her 'role model smile', a technique she had perfected over multiple nights of practising in the mirror.