Fairytale Love? Kiss My Ass!

Episode 5

Five

I entered the coffee shop and heard the tiny bells ring. It was seven in the evening and there weren’t much people around, just a few occupied two-seat tables. Why Tammi chose to be in Starbucks at such a time, I don't know.

After a few more seconds, I spotted Tammi, with her honey blonde hair tied up into a messy bun (which was weird, since she always swept them to one side) and her characterised blouse and knee-length skirt. She caught my gaze with her striking grey eyes and beckoned me over. I approached her in utter assent and slid in the seat opposite her.

The table was devoid of anything but its tablecloth, a simple flower vase with a white rose in it and Tammi’s bag on the side. There weren’t any orders.

As if sensing my confusion, Tammi asked me, “Do you want to get anything?”

I shook my head. “No, thanks.” After a few seconds of seeing her unresponsive, I cleared my throat and said, “So, what do you want to talk about?”

She placed her hands suddenly on the table–surprising me–and beheld me dead in the eye. “Who are you, again?”

Creasing my eyebrows, I frowned. “What do you mean? I’m Rachel Falls. You didn’t get a sudden amnesia, now, did you?”

Leaning back, her eyes tapering, spelling I am not impressed on her forehead, she stared at me.

It was disconcerting. “What?!”

“And you walked out from cheer practise, why?”

I began to grouse inwardly. I was seeing where this was going. I decided to go straight to the basis of argument. “Ollie called me pathetic and suffocating and said that those were the reasons as to why Rylance left me for a blonde.”

Something about the way I’ve enunciated the last word must have gotten on Tammi’s nerves. “Hey, I know what I said about the blonde Autumn looking like a bitch to me but that’s only because it’s you we’re talking about here. But being blonde doesn’t necessarily make you–”

“Yeah, I know. That wasn’t what I meant.” I glanced pointedly at her blonde hair.

Now, she seemed disconcerted. But she covered it quickly anyway. “And what did you text me a while ago? You not being able to take it anymore? Explain yourself.”

And at that moment I felt more strings in my heart break (though they were already damaged ever since its player left it for another girl’s heart). It was almost excruciating. But when I took a deep breath, something happened. Somewhere inside my heart, something snapped, something seemed to ignite. And I felt that touch of strength I’ve wanted to behold, that colour in the painting that went missing. “Let’s say you had a crush on someone for several years already, he went away, came back two years later, and you felt overjoyed because you thought he liked you lots. But then you realised one day in his bedroom that he has a girlfriend and they both go to the same school as you do. Now, do you think you could take it?”

I caught a flicker of sympathy cross Tammi’s eyes, but scepticism washed it away like a strong current. “How did you find out, Rachel? How did you know the truth in his bedroom? You haven’t told me everything yet. I think now’s the time.”

No, my mind abruptly screeched. I couldn’t fathom as to why, but there was something holding me back from telling everything to Tammi, from that morning when I still felt euphoric and then in just two hours everything seemed to fall apart. I was almost determined to keep that covert.

“You’re not going to tell me? Okay. Okay, then.”

I stared into her as if she grew alienated. “Okay? It’s okay?”