Marie
"Ugh, I can't wait until we're twenty-one and we can just buy whatever alcohol we want instead of having to rely on what our parents have."
"At least we have some. Cheap wine is better than nothing."
"It's not fruity or sweet enough though."
"You're just saying that because your ex made good drinks."
"Yeah, and he taught me how to do that, so I want to be able to do it myself. Especially since Lexi doesn't really care about that too much."
"Let's just go get the snacks and get home so we can have some fun and relax."
"OK, but we're not sharing. If you want Cheetos, you have to get your own bag."
"You're so stingy."
"Would you share French fries with me?"
"Fair enough."
Marie snickered at her friend as they walked down the snack aisle. She picked out a bag of Cheetos and a bag of salt and vinegar kettle chips, while Emily picked out some Cheeze-its, sour cream and onion lays, and then insisted that they needed to go to the cookie aisle too, which Marie didn't protest. She got some chocolate-chip cookies, as well as some peanut butter ones, while Emily got little fancy cookies with a little bit of chocolate and a little bit of Graham cracker, or the little biscuit cookies that she liked.
They were laughing and not caring about their figures or how much they ate for a night. Marie was starting to get excited about calling Lexi at midnight, because even if she couldn't physically be with her girlfriend, she wanted to at least talk to her tonight. When they turned the corner out into the main space between the aisles and the checkout lines, and Marie stopped dead.
Standing before her was a tall boy with dark hair, and a face that didn't really fit his physique anymore. It honestly hadn't even before they had broken up.
Before he dumped you, you mean.
Dan still looked good, if a little off. His face and his smile for some reason just never really fit the broad muscular physique he'd attained in their last year of high school and first year of college.
Annoyingly, while she was trying to decide between shriveling up and just running away without a word, Dan grinned at her.
Marie supposed it was a good thing that she no longer found his grin charming, or found her blood pumping a bit faster when he looked at her that way. Instead, she just found it annoying, and even a little painful.
"Hey, Marie. Wow, you still look great. You still single?"
Marie blinked, speechless, while Emily moved in front of her and for some reason put her hand into the cart.
"She's not." Emily said, the bile in her voice surprising and satisfying Marie.
"And even if she was," Emily continued, "it wouldn't matter. She would have to be very desperate to sleep with you again."
Though that probably would have worked really well on other guys, Dan wasn't phased. He gave Emily a flat look, then rolled his eyes and turned back to Marie with a smile.
"It is New Years," he said, "Unless you two are going to be a bit more than friends this year, I am assuming you don't have anyone to spend the night with, or kiss on midnight."
Marie felt her nails digging into the palms of her hand.
How the fuck did I ever date a guy like this? How did I ever even let him touch me?
Marie knew why. Dan hadn't been like this in high school. At least not before he'd started working out and packing on muscle faster than anyone else she'd ever seen.
Weirdly, remembering that made her miss Liam. Liam had remained the same despite putting on a nice amount of muscle over the summer. Even when she invited other girls for threesomes, he hadn't let that go to his head somehow. Instead, she had.
Dan, on the other hand had gone from a sweet romantic boyfriend who always did wonderful things for her, to someone who seemed distracted all the time and kept pulling away. And, being head over heels and hormonal and in high school and very attracted to her boyfriends new very muscular physique, she'd started putting out. Miraculously, their relationship had improved. Or so she thought. They had a lot of sex, and she tried really hard to make sure he was interested in her, even going down on him a few times.
And then in college he cheated on you, then managed to somehow excuse it in your brain, had sex with you over winter break and then broke up with you a little bit later in the year.
Marie took a deep breath. He'd just used her for sex and to have someone to look pretty to be with him. And now he wanted to do it again.
Blood hot and heart pounding, Marie took another deep breath, ready to go off on Dan, when Emily grabbed a two liter out of the shopping cart, shook it, and before either Marie or Dan could react, twisted the cap and pointed at him.
"Ah! What the fuck!" Dan yelled, holding his hands up before him and backing away from Marie and her friend. Emily just took another step forward, holding out the soda bottle, and Dan frowned and shook his head before turning down the next aisle.
Before Marie could even ask Emily what had prompted that, her friend turned around and squeezed her hand, then met her eyes.
"Take the keys. I'll meet you in the car."
***
Marie had mostly calmed it down by the time Emily came back to the car, groceries in hand.
"You all right?" She asked once she loaded the groceries in the back and climbed into the driver seat. It was Marie's car, but they'd driven each other's cars you know if that they didn't care. Marie also didn't trust herself to drive at the moment, so she'd taken the passenger seat.
"I guess."
"That fuck."
Marie blinked at her friend, and Emily arched an eyebrow when she met her gaze.
"What? He was a fucking shithead to you. I don't care how good he was at first."
She shook her head, letting out a frustrated breath, "Can't believe he was actually hitting on you after all that."
Marie didn't respond. The worst part was that she could believe it of him. He had shown her exactly what type of person he was near the end.
She shivered when other, more positive memories of him trying to float to the surface.
The silence held in the car for a bit. Marie didn't feel like talking, and thankfully, Emily knew her well enough not to try and prompt her.
She hadn't started driving yet either, though.
At some point, Emily gathered Marie into a hug, and Marie choked back a sob as she leaned into her friend's embrace.
"Thank you, Em," she said trying her best to keep her voice from wavering, "shooting the soda at him was a nice touch."
Emily laughed, "It was the first thing I could think of to get him out of there as soon as possible. And it was funny."
"Did you pay for the sodas?"
"Yeah. And I gave the girl a little bit extra in cash since she or one of her coworkers has to clean it up."
Emily pulled back and met her eyes, holding her gaze for a second before speaking.
"You ready to go?"
Marie looked away, taking a deep breath. Her phone chose that moment to buzz, and she looked down to see that Lexi had texted her something.
For some reason that made her throat tight.
"Can we maybe get some ice cream?" she asked, looking to her friend.
Emily smiled at her and pulled her into another hug, "I'll buy the whole fucking store out."
Maria laughed at that.
As her friend started up the car and made her way out of the parking lot, Marie looked at what Lexi had sent her.
A few videos took up the screen, reminding Marie of the other ones she and Lexi had exchanged with one another. Looking at them left a strange feeling inside her. She didn't look at them, even though part of her wanted to. Partially because she was in the car with Emily, but partially because she felt almost jealous of Lexi at that moment, and a little depressed.
Why can't I be strong like her?
Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Marie decided she would call her later. They were going to talk anyway, but now she had more of a reason than just to hear her girlfriend's voice.
Maybe a little of her will rub off on me and stuff like Dan won't make me feel so small.
Hearing Lexi's voice, at the very least, would make things a bit better.
Especially if she also had some ice cream.
A/N: Marie has a past, too. Not all boys are the good ones I write about in these stories.