story prompts --

june 11th, 2020; romance

-- inspired by heather by conan grey; the girlfriend of the love interest watches as the love of her life falls in love with the main character.

life was perfect. i used to love waking up every day, just happy to be alive. that ended as soon as she showed up. heather. she was truly a sight for sore eyes, although i'd never admit it.

but let's backtrack to before. back when life was good, i was a princess in dayton's eyes. i could do no wrong. he seemed forever entranced by my eyes, my hair, my walk, and my talk. i loved it. and i loved him.

"opal!" dayton's lunch tray dropped loudly onto the lunch table and he swung his long legs over the bench to sit next to me. his lips attached to my temple and i turned towards his smiling face. god, he made me unbelievably happy. my lunch table was packed, as usual, filled with my friends, a couple cheerleaders, dayton's baseball buddies, and the stragglers that happened to fit onto the bench.

"how was woodshop?" woodshop was dayton's favorite class and i loved the twinkle in his eyes whenever i would bring it up. i could tell he had been working hard because of the soft red lines that the plastic goggles had left across his freckled face. he took a bite of his grilled cheese and spoke like a madman about this new project he'd started that he couldn't wait to show me.

i watched him with a smile on my face. the smile was ever-present when i was with dayton, when i was talking about dayton, or when i thought about dayton.

our conversation was cut short when sonali, one of my closest friends, brought up the new girl. i hadn't even realized that there was a new girl in our grade. it was odd, especially since it was so late in the school year.

"dude, she's so pretty," sonali stated with wide eyes, "like super curly blonde hair, cute butt-"

"your gay is showing, nali." i cut in, stopping her from speaking anymore. i didn't want to hear about some new girl that i didn't care one bit about. even though that makes me sound awful. the conversation returned to frivolous banter between the different social groups and i was able to happily spend the rest of the time talking to dayton. the bell rang for fourth period, the last class of the day, my crowded lunch table dispersed and dayton left me with a kiss before rushing off.

when it was time to go home, it was pouring down raining. it hadn't rained that hard in forever and i wasn't dressed for the occasion. dayton ran up to me as soon as i was abt to make a run for the bus stop. he shot me a boyish smile and handed me his hoodie. "on three, we run." i pulled on the hoodie, that i practically disappeared in, and placed the hood on my head, before smiling at the love of my life.

"it looks better on you." i blushed.

he held the door open and started to countdown. as soon as he reached three, we were both out the door, running to his car in the heavy rain. we were soaked head to toe and i couldn't stop laughing. i climbed into his car and watched him push back his now soaking wet ginger curls. he was beautiful, she was beautiful; i guess they were meant for each other.

dayton drove me home afterwards, told me he loved me and gave me his familiar goodnight kiss, although something felt off. his lips tasted different. like cherry balm. it was weird but i didn't mention anything at the time. i should've.

school the next day was filled with talk about the end-of-the-year bonfire. sonali had ended up convincing me to cone with her, even though my mind was initially set on watching movies alone.

i hadn't heard from dayton all day, not even a text. i didn't see him at lunch either and i ended up walking home alone. it was unusual and i was worried but i didn't want to seem overbearing so i left it alone. as i was walking home, i passed the smoothie shop, Juicy Jay's and through the windows, i caught a glimpse of a messy mop of red curls.

watching from the street, i watched as my boyfriend smiled and laughed with probably the prettiest girl I've ever seen in this town. i watched as she touched his arm. i watched him lean in from across the table. and i watched as their lips connected. i shed a tear, of course, but i tried to forget about the whole thing. i went home, and buried my thoughts under a pile of homework.

the bonfire was the next day and i had made my mind up to skip it but i should've known sonali wouldn't allow me to do that. she came to my front door that afternoon with the biggest smile on her face and duffel bag in her hands.

"sleepover?" i let her in, unable to contain a smile but i knew why she was really there. it was hard to be around anyone then, especially after what i'd just seen. that's why i couldn't bring myself to go to the bonfire. i wouldn't have gone if sonali didn't beg me. i should've just said no, but i know better now.

the bonfire was held at the beach, near our school and it was a bring-your-own-beer event. i didn't drink that night. sonali and i met up with a couple friends and i looked around to see if i spotted dayton. my eyes landed on heather, her wild mess of blonde curls tied up with a bow. a frown spread across my face as soon as i saw dayton standing beside her. as i began to walk towards them, dayton slyly placed his hand on heather's back and whispered something in her ear. whatever it was, made heather blush like a cherry and before i knew it, they were out of my sight. i watched with teary eyes and turned on my heels to walk back to my friends. i knew they say it. sonali looked at me with concern and didn't do much to stop me when i took the red solo cup out of her hand and downed it.

the rest of the night was a blur. i got drunk as hell. it was late and most of my classmates had left for home. it had to be 12 when dayton and heather returned from wherever they went. dayton was flushed and red, his neat curls were messy and his sweater was now on heather. i felt my blood boil and tears rushed to my eyes. drunk me stormed over to them and i threw myself around him. i wrapped my arms around him and pursed my lips for a kiss.

i was trying to claim my territory. or at least attempt to get heather to back off. he didn't kiss me. i looked up at him with glossy eyes and i looked at heather. looking at both of their guilty faces mad me so mad. i was seeing red.

"why won't you kiss me?" i backed away from dayton and looked up at him, my teary hazel eyes staring into his sheepish dark brown ones.

"youre drunk, opal. let me take you home." he reached from arm. i pulled my arm back so quickly, you'd think he burnt me. my eyes moved from his to heather's. as soon as i looked at her, a tear dropped.

she was so beautiful. she was perfect in all the ways that i wasn't and i knew it.

"i'm not even half as pretty .." my sentence trailed off when i looked at what she was wearing. his sweater. the fucking sweater.

"you gave her your sweater?" my voice level raised and by this time, tears were everywhere. i opened my mouth to speak more but no words came out. my tears were flowing and there was no stopping them.

"its just polyester-" dayton tried to put his hand on my face and heather looked at me with apologetic eyes.

"but you like her better?" i saw the tears swell up in his eyes and i looked away before i hugged him on instinct. he knew what he did was wrong and he knew how badly he hurt me. god, he hurt me so bad.

"i wish i were heather."

i don't know who i am anymore without him.

-- 1446 words, completed june 12, 2020 at10:53 pm.