Gone

Amelia
"There's just no way. Madison P will get the final rose." Wiping sweat from my forehead, I look over to my best friend Anna and wonder why we decided to torture ourselves every single week on a treadmill just to fry what's left of our brains by staring at the big screen the entire time. Disagreeing with her, I chuckle and go off on some tangent about how if I were in the final two, fighting for Peter's heart, I wouldn't let any small town girl get in my way. The irony is, we're small town girls. If there's anywhere in North Carolina that could be considered small, it's Candler. Candler is the kind of place where you can't walk into your local grocery store without seeing an ex, a relative, a girl from highschool who tried to con you into a pyramid scheme, and at least a dozen other familiar faces. But we didn't mind, all it did was give us more reason to want to get the hell out of town.
    Hopping off the treadmill and letting down my thick, brown hair, I grab my coat from the locker room and join Anna in her car.
"So, you'll be there tomorrow, right?"
I knew this was coming. For the past week, Anna has been begging me to go to her fiance's speed dating function. It's an annual event his company throws to boost morale. There's free food, drinks, music, games, and oh right-a couple dozen 'nice guys' just waiting to charm you with their maturity, only to leave you pissed off when they start whining about not winning in life. Unfortunately, I'd become all too familiar with the results of speed dating. Before Anna had met her fiance, her and I both attended a few functions, mostly for shits and giggles. Now that we're 24 and I'm still the single one, she's constantly trying to set me up with guys or get me to go out and have a little fun.
"Amelia!" she shouts. I must've been in my head longer than planned, because I still hadn't given her an answer.
"Sorry, but I don't think I can make it. I uh...don't want to." Being blunt was never an issue for either one of us.
"You promised me you'd start saying yes more. I think now is a great time to start."
She was right. It's not that I had some sappy heartbreak story that scared me for life. It's not that I couldn't open up to men or that I wasn't the relationship type, in fact I envied women like that. No, my issue was that I fall too quick and too hard. When the inevitable happened and the man in question left my life, I would pout for a month or so, swearing off the entire gender, just to find myself stuck in the pattern of hope and damnation all over again. I was sick of getting hurt, sick of staying stagnant, and I wanted to just not care.
"You know what, fine. I'll be there," I breathe out. After a giddy smile and a few quick claps, Anna stops in front of my apartment complex and let's me out.
"I'll pick you up at 7", she belts out just before the car door slams shut.
What better place to practice my deadpan than a dating function?