Break-Up Club ⓄⓃⒸ ②⓪②① ✅

5

After school, Sean ordered me to sit at a booth in a pizzeria in town and wait for the 'signal.' By signal, he meant his girlfriend walking in. Although it would have been helpful to know who this chick was, as soon as she walked through the door, I knew it had to be her. 

She was dressed in a cute, floral dress with strappy sandals. I almost felt bad for her until I remembered that Grant's face was waiting for me on a crisp bill. 

I flagged her down, and she gave me a confused look as she came over to the table, searching for Sean. 

"Where's my boyfriend?" she asked me. Sean was waiting in the clothing store two storefronts down to pay me. 

"He won't be coming. Listen, Sophia, there's something he wanted me to tell you. Please, sit," I requested. The girl still eyed me as if I was mad, but she sank down on the bench. 

I licked my lips and folded my hands before taking a deep breath. "I'm sure that you're a very lovely girl, and I really do love that purse. It's absolutely gorgeous, but... Sean asked me to tell you that he isn't interested in dating you anymore," I said, bracing myself for the girl to start crying, but instead, her nostrils flared like a balloon. 

"He... he asked someone else to break up with me? That's so cowardly... Where is he right now?" she demanded, her head swiveling, and her eyes scanning the entire room. 

"I'm so sorry, Sophia. He just feels like he can't communicate his feelings to you properly, and he wanted to make sure that you knew exactly why he wants to end things. He said that he thinks you're really, amazingly supportive, but he wants to break up with you because he's going to college soon, and he doesn't want to do long-distance," I said. 

The girl's eyes welled with tears as she registered my words, and she swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. Prepared for this, I pulled out a box of tissues I had packed, along with various other comforts, like chocolates and a punching pillow (or a shield, for me). I offered one to her, and she took it, sniffling and cleaning herself up. 

"I'm truly sorry, but I know there are better people than Sean that can make you happy," I tried to console her. She gave a half-smile but said nothing more as she stood and walked out of the pizzeria. 

I sat back in the booth, placing my hand over my heart. As I saw her emotions, it was almost like I was being broken up with too. This was a mistake. I couldn't do this again and see another girl's heart broken. 

A few moments after Sophia left, the bell above the door of the pizzeria jingled again, and Sean's blonde head popped into view as he strode into view. 

"How did it go? Did she take it well?" he asked. I ran my hands through my hair, and Sean wriggled the fifty onto the table. 

"I don't know, man. She seemed pretty torn up about it," I said, her tear-stained face haunting my memory. We were silent for the next few moments before Sean spoke again. 

"Thank you for this. I should get home now," he murmured, giving a grim expression as he left as well. I steeled myself against the table for a few moments, letting my eyelids close, the shock of what I had just done rippling through me. 

"You sure look like a million dollars."

I raised my head, giving a half-hearted smile at Indy, who sat with a half-eaten pizza. "What are you doing here?" I asked her. She squinted at me before taking a slice of pizza and munching on it. 

"I was with my mom having dinner when I saw you by yourself. When I was about to get up, apologize about the prank, and ask you if you wanted to sit with us, that girl who just left crying walked in. Who was that, and why was she crying better than me acting out King Lear's part?" she asked, lifting her brow and staring at me with a no-nonsense face.