*A month later*
It's been a month since I've broken up with Kevin. After I had left him at the gala, he tried calling and texting me, but I ignored him. After two weeks he finally stopped. He must have gotten the hint that I do not want to talk to him.
When I did that photo shoot with him, I tried my best to avoid him by busying myself with my camera or pretending I'm on the phone. It's kind of childish of me, but I don't think I can look at his face for five seconds without feeling a pang in my chest
I know I'm being too harsh on Kevin, but I'm still hurt about him kissing Ariel at his father's dinner gala. Just thinking about that night makes me cringe.
Right now, I am giving Charlie a bath, because he decided that he wanted to run in the mud when I took him for a walk in Central Park. When I pulled him away from the dirt, all of his legs were a dark brown. Not his usual tan color.
I turn the water off in the tub and pick up Charlie. I place him on the bathroom mat and reach for his towel and brush. I can hear his chain as he shakes himself off. I laugh at him as I start drying his fur off.
When I finish brushing him and drying him off, I get off the floor and watch him run out of the bathroom. I don't chase him, because know that he's going to run to his bed and bury himself in it so he can get warm.
I head to the bathroom mirror and look at myself. My face looks like it's usual pale color. It hasn't been sunny that much in New York, instead it's been rainy and gloomy. Perfect weather for my mood.
I play with my newly dyed hair. Last week, Amber and I went to the salon to get our hair done since we were too lazy to do it ourselves. I wanted to do something new to my hair so I got my hair dyed a darker brown with a honey blonde color for the tips. I like the new look that I tried out. It makes me feel like a new person.
I head into my room and pull out my laptop. I lay down on my bed and type in my password. I pull up photoshop and reach for my camera.
Since I have nothing to do, I might as well do something that will entertain me. I have some pictures that I took of the city and I wanted to do some editing to them so that I can put them in a scrapbook that I just started doing.
I put the USB cord in my camera, and plug it into my computer. I open my files and scroll through all the pictures. After looking through my pictures three times, I decide to choose a picture of New York City at night. The image of the bright lights that light up the city pops up on my screen. The sight of the beautiful scenery brings a smile to my face. Looking at beautiful photos like this always makes me happy.
I spend about an hour editing pictures. I am looking for another picture, but one catches me off guard. It's a picture of Kevin having ice cream on his nose.
The memory hits me hard. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was two days before the dinner gala and we had went on a ice cream date.
~
I stop in front of the place that Kevin told me to meet him at. He just texted me and told me that he was finished with his shift at the pet shop and asked me out to an ice cream date. I had nothing to do today so I accepted.
I look up at the sign and see that it reads, 'Pinky's Ice Cream'. Kevin claims that this place has the best ice cream in New York, and since I haven't been here before, I want to see for myself.
I see Kevin wave at me from one of the patio tables. At the sight of him, my stomach flutters with a familiar feeling. I push it away though. I smile at him and hurry over. I watch as he stands up with his arms out. I run into them and wrap my arms around his waist.
"Hi. I missed you." I mumble into his chest.
"Someone's glad to see me. And I missed you too." Kevin laughs above me. I lift my head up and give him a quick peck on the lips. I'm not the type to do PDA, but ever since I found out that I love Kevin, I've been more affectionate with him than usual.
We head into the small shop, and we are met with a long line of people that wraps around the place.
"Wow, the ice cream must be good if this many people are waiting to have some." I laugh.
Kevin hums in acknowledgement as he takes my hand. I watch as he interlocks our fingers together. Whoa, this is new. I look at his face and see that he has no emotion whatsoever.
Maybe it's just me. I shrug my shoulders and wait patiently for the line to move up.
It feels like forever until we reach the counter. My legs ache a little from standing too long. I think I would have fallen over if it wasn't for Kevin holding my hand.
"Hi welcome to 'Pinky's Ice Cream' How may I help you today?" An older woman with a pink shirt that has polka dots on it and the shop's name printed in cursive.
Kevin looks at me as if asking what I want. I shrug my shoulders. "Surprise me."
Kevin grins at me and turns to the lady, who is looking at us with adoration. "Can I have two servings of your Strawberry Delight on waffle cones please." Kevin tells her, giving her his signature smile that can make a girl go weak in the knees.
The lady nods with a smile and starts making our ice cream. When she hands us our ice cream cones, I'm about to take out my wallet to pay for my ice cream, but Kevin stops me.
"I'll pay for both." I'm about to argue with him, but he shushes me. He hands the lady the money and thanks her.
We walk out of the shop and head towards Central Park. On our way there, I take a lick of my ice cream.
I hum in delight at the sweet deliciousness. He wasn't kidding when he said this ice cream was the best. Compared to all the ice cream shops I've been to, Pinky's is number one. Kevin turns to me and grins.
"It's good, huh?" He asks.
I nod my head enthusiastically as I continue eating. We head into Central park and sit on one of the benches. I lean on Kevin and watch people walk their dogs.
"We should've brought Charlie." I speak softly in the calm afternoon air.
Kevin hums as he licks his ice cream. I look up at him and see that he has a dollop of strawberry ice cream on the tip of his nose.
I try to pretend that I don't see it, but I can't help the giggles that escape me. He looks like a little kid. Which is adorable on so many levels. Kevin looks down at me with a confused look on his face.
"What's so funny?" He asks, furrowing his eyebrows. Making him look even more adorable.
I'm laughing so hard that I can't get to words out. "Y-You have ice c-cream on your nose." I point towards his nose. I laugh even harder as he hurriedly wipes it off with a napkin the lady gave us.
Before I can apologize to him for laughing, Kevin scoops a bit of strawberry ice cream on his finger. I'm about to ask him what is he doing, but he places the cold treat on the tip of my nose.
I squeal at the coldness. I reach for one of the napkins to wipe the ice cream off, but Kevin beats me to it. By licking it off my nose.
I feel my cheeks heat up from the erotic action. Kevin laughs at me and wraps his arm around my shoulder.
"You're so easy. Just one inappropriate word or action and you're as red as a tomato." Kevin says amused as he continues licking his ice cream.
I nudge him in the stomach with my elbow, hard. The yelp he makes brings a grin to my face. I can feel Kevin glaring at me, but I just continue eating my ice cream like nothing happened.
~
My eyes start burning as I reminisce the memory. It was one of our fun dates that we have had. I wipe my eyes and look at my hand to see that it is wet. Great, and I'm crying.
I take a deep, shaky breath and quickly log off my computer. I don't feel like editing anymore pictures today. I put my laptop under the bed and get up. I can hear Charlie's chain in the living room as it rings loudly. He must be still trying to dry off.
I pick up my phone to check my emails, but instead I see a whole list of text messages. Most of them are from Kevin, but I ignore those and focus on the one that Amber sent me. It says:
Hey girlie. I know you're heartbroken right now, but how about we have a little girls night? I got a new bottle of wine and the Magic Mike movie. Sadly I don't have the second one, but I think one is okay for now. It might be too much sexiness for us ;)
Some nights the girls and I would hang out at each other's places. We would drink wine and watch movies. If we don't feel like leaving after watching movies, which is all the time, then we would talk about what's going on in our lives and plan our next girls night. It's a routine that we do and keep.
I roll my eyes at her message and reply back.
That's okay. Wine and Magic Mike sounds perfect. Come right on over.
Great, it's just going to be us tonight because the other girls our busy. But I should be enough since we're best friends and best friends help each other when we are down.
Her message brightens my mood a little. When I'm upset about something, Amber is always there. I remember, when we were in high school, that I had had my first break up and I was pretty upset for about a week and a half. Luckily Amber was there to cheer me up with her silliness. If it wasn't for her, I would have never recovered from my break up.
After I get the wine glasses, popcorn, and pillows set up in front of the television, the doorbell rings. Charlie starts barking as I hurry over to the door. I look through the peephole and see Amber standing on the other side with a big bottle of wine.
I open the door and pull her in a hug. "I've set everything up already. Wine glasses, popcorn, and cushions for our bottoms." I tell her as we sit down on the pillows.
"Perfect. And I got the wine." She says in a victorious voice as she pours the wine into each of the glasses. We each pick up our glasses. "To Magic Mike and getting over break ups. Cheers!" Amber says. I say my cheers and clink my glass with hers. The sound of the glass touching rings through the room.
Amber puts Magic Mike in the DVD player and we watch the whole movie. While we watch it, we drink a couple glasses of wine and eat the whole bowl popcorn.
When the movie is over, I'm a little tipsy from the wine. I look over at Amber, who has her head laid on my shoulder, and by the redness of her face I assume that she's tipsy too.
The feeling of being lonely hits me hard. Which makes me kind of scared. I lay my head on Amber's and whisper into the quiet room, "Can you stay here? I don't want to be alone tonight."
Amber hums and gives me a small nod. I sigh in relief and close my eyes. I'm about to doze off, until Amber starts talking.
"Brooke, do you still love Kevin?"
My heart stops for a moment and starts beating fast. I should have expected her to ask this question. She is my best friend so she deserves to know how I am feeling.
Amber doesn't push me to answer. She just waits patiently. It's now or never Brooke. She's going to find out sooner or later. Might as well tell her while I have a chance. I take a deep breath and nod my head. "Yeah, I still love him."
She doesn't say anything. Her long silence makes me think that she's asleep, but the sound of her breathing fast tells me she's still up. She's obviously waiting for me to say something else, because she knows I want to say more.
"I don't know why I do after what he did to me, but I just....do. I feel like I'm addicted to him. Like if I try to let him go, I know I'm going to crawl right back to him, and he's going to break my heart. It has already happened twice. I know I'm going to do it again, but I don't want to, because what if he decides to do it again?" I pause because I start to feel the waterworks coming. I feel so vulnerable and weak right now. And it's all over one guy named Kevin Anderson. I build up the strength and continue. "S-Sometimes I wish I n-never met him, Amber, so I wouldn't be suffering like I a-am right now, but no, he just happens to live next door. I'm so confused about my feelings that I don't k-know what to do a-a-anymore." I stutter through my tears.
I lift my head off of Amber's and close my eyes tightly. My heart hurts from all the pain and confusion I'm feeling. I feel Amber wrap her arms around me. I lean into her as she pulls me into a hug.
"B, maybe you should talk to him. It might be hard for you to do that after what he did to you, but it could also make you feel better by telling him how you feel. Holding back your feelings will never fix anything. Instead it's going to make the situation even worse." Amber says to me.
I think about her words. As always, she's right. If I hold back my feelings it's going to make me feel in even more pain than I'm already in. But the thought of talking to Kevin scares me. I don't think I can work up the courage to talk to him and admit to him that I love him. That will probably make things even more awkward between us.
I'm about to say something else, but Amber's light snoring stops me. The wine must have knocked her out. I sigh and get out of her arms. I scoot down and lay my head on her lap. The dull sound of the Magic Mike selection screen, and Amber's snores helps me fall asleep.
~
A/N: I feel bad for making Brooke feel this way, but thank god for Amber for being a good friend. I apologize if I took a while to upload this chapter. You know with me being in school, I have to focus on my grades. As much as I enjoy being on my computer, school is important right now.
But I promise the next update will be up faster. I already started half of it, so that's a good start.
Hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and if you see any mistakes, ignore them and I will edit them soon :)
-Lisa