“Wow! You left home without makeup knowing that you might not come back tonight? You really do love me!” I joked, distracted by the idea of my fashion-plate bestie hanging out all weekend with me in casual clothes and no makeup, especially since her eyes were still puffy from crying last night.
“I do, Alexa. And I don’t know what happened with Drake, but I would have sworn that he loves you too,” she said in a gentle tone. “We don’t have to talk about it now. We can cuddle in bed and watch chick flicks and cry all weekend. Nobody knows where we are right now, so you don’t need to think about it yet. Now go change into your jammies and wash your face. I’ll pull up the movies and make the first pick, okay?”
I nodded, trying to stem back more tears. I flipped on the light in the bathroom and shut the door behind me. As I turned towards the sink, I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror. I was a total mess with my hair all over the place, pale skin, and dark smudges under red-rimmed eyes. How I felt inside was even worse. My hands were shaking and my stomach was turning. My mouth felt like I had swallowed a bunch of cotton, so I poured myself a glass of water. I gulped a little down and my stomach rolled in protest.
I sank to my knees and crawled to the toilet, glad that I hadn’t eaten any breakfast this morning. I spat the water into the bowl and prayed that I wouldn’t start to dry heave. I sat there on the floor, trembling for a few minutes until Aubrey knocked on the door.
“Did you fall in or something?” she asked.
“Or something,” I answered weakly. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
After flushing the toilet, I stood on shaky legs and changed into the pajamas Aubrey had brought for me. I opened the door and found her sitting cross-legged right outside waiting for me.
She jumped up and pulled me into a tight hug. “I’m so sorry I can’t make it all better for you, Lex. I really wish I could fix this.”
I gave her a quick squeeze before pulling away. “You’re helping, Aubrey. I don’t know what I would’ve done today without you. I don’t know that anyone can fix this mess, but you being here for me makes a difference. Don’t think for a second that it doesn’t.”
She smiled and steered me over to the closest bed and pulled the covers down. “In you go, get comfortable ‘cause there a ton of Spankovision movies we can watch.”
I surprised myself by giggling in response. We’d called the movie rentals at hotels Spankovision ever since we’d discovered that they had porn during a road trip with her parents in middle school. Of course we’d rented one and were stunned by what we’d seen. We were even more surprised the next morning when we were asked about the movie we’d watched the night before. Our blushes must have given us away, and her brothers had teased us mercilessly the rest of the trip about the whole thing. The easiest way to stop the guys when they were on a roll was to join in and make fun of ourselves too. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Or something like that.
Aubrey beamed at me, enjoying my reaction to the memory. “Since I get first pick, we’re doing a girlie movie. I’m sure I’ll end up watching enough of your action flicks later to make up for it. Maybe we’ll get lucky and my movie will even put you to sleep.”
I nodded tiredly and hugged one of the pillows to my body as the movie started. I tried my best to stop thinking about what had happened with Drake and enjoy the movie, but it was so hard to do. A love story was a really bad idea. As I watched the couple on screen fall in love, I couldn’t stop myself from wishing life were as easy as it seemed in the movie. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. Would our story have a happy ending too? I just didn’t see how it was possible without any trust. And thinking that those awful lies about me were true showed that Drake didn’t really trust me, let alone really know me at all.
Thoughts swirling round and round in my head, I closed my eyes in an effort to block everything out. It must have worked better than I’d planned since I woke up several hours later when the hotel door slammed shut, pulling me from a deep sleep. The sound startled me and I jumped out of bed.
“Oops, sorry!” Aubrey apologized. She was standing there with her hands full of grocery store bags and a drink carrier from Dairy Queen. “I thought I could catch the door with my foot, but I missed.”
I pulled the drinks from her hands. “You brought me my favorite?” I asked.
“Yeah. I figured you wouldn’t really be hungry, and Dairy Queen banana milkshakes always worked for your dad when you were sick.”