Aimee
Love sucks.
The way they portray it in movies and books the make it sound magical, when really, it's a load of bull. The hugs, the kisses, the promises, every single one of them are lies, because we all know that nothing lasts forever. Love is a lie that's to good to be true.
Thank God I got out while I could.
Love is the reason I'm pregnant, love is the reason I trusted Peyton, love is the reason I trusted Josh, love is the reason I gave myself to Josh. And I mean everything.
Even though I truly was feeling better, I limited my crying to once a week, I was still in a dump, depressed that on a day where you celebrate love, I was alone.
You know this was actually starting to sound like the movies.
So this Valentine's evening, after enduring another day of PDA: Josh and Peyton edition and listening to Chastity and Sadie croon about love and all it's miracles, I'm spending my time slowly ripping every picture that Josh was in.
Josh and me at a party, kissing on a couch. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip. Josh and me snuggling by a campfire. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip. And finally, Josh and me sharing an ice cream cone outside of Coldstone. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip.
Finished. Now on to Peyton.
The Peyton pictures I studied more closely, remembering each and every moment in them. Peyton and me at the movies, Peyton and me on the swings at the old park around the corner, Peyton and me laughing.
I looked at the one of me and Peyton laughing, trying to remember what was so funny. Maybe she had said, "Hey, a year from now, you're boyfriend's gonna cheat on you with me." At the time I probably thought she was joking.
No, I remembered now. Megan was eating ice cream while talking, and a goopy drop of ice cream fell out of her mouth and ran down her shirt just as a couple of cute college guys were passing by. Morgan had snapped the pick just as we had begun to squeal with laughter.
It all seemed so real then.
There was so many pictures, I couldn't rip all of them. Instead I grabbed them and took them downstairs, placed them in the fireplace and flicked on the switch, watching them burn until they were just ashy remains of what once was.
* * *
I sat on my bed. It was late, but I wanted someone to talk to. Sadie would be asleep, and Chastity would be on her late night rendevous with Erik. I scrowled down through the contacts on my phone, until I came to Morgan. Hell, what's left to loose? I dialed the number. It only took two rings for her to pick up.
"Aimee?" She says, and she doesn't sound tired.
"Um, hi, Morgan." She's silent. "Look, I know that I'm not a really good friend of yours and I didn't treat you as well as I should've . . . but I'm going through a really rough time . . . and I want someone to talk to."
"What happened?" I realized the school probably didn't know yet, if Peyton dared tell anyone she would look like the b*tch, and I haven't talked to anyone about it since it happened.
"Josh was cheating on me. With Peyton." I said finally. Morgan was silent, and for a second I was worried she had hung up, until she spoke.
"You know, I never liked her. But Megan worships the ground both of you walk on so I kind of just tagged along. I had a feeling you were more than some alpha girl." I laughed, and I could almost see Morgan smiling, the small gap in her teeth only noticable if you were close enough.
"What's up with you and Megan, by the way? A while ago I asked her what was up with you, but she ran away."
There was a pause. "What day was it?"
"Um . . . sometime in November."
"November sixteenth?"
"Yeah I think so, what's up with that?"
"You have to swear you won't tell anyone."
What could be so bad? "I swear."
"Megan forced me to get a boob job." My eyes widened. Megan forced Morgan to get a boob job? Like the one that she had gotten?
"How could she do that? Why didn't you say no?"
"She had already booked the appointment, and she told me that no guy would even want to do me with B cups."
"But you guys . . . you always seem so close?"
"Yeah right. She was probably only keep me around so she could get closer to you. Not to be too forward or anything, but she always thought that you liked me more than her."
"She got that one right."
"Really?" Morgan sounded surprised. "You like me more than Megan?"
"I like everyone more than I like Megan." I chuckled, then realized how that sounded. "But right now, I like you more than anyone in our whole school."
"Agreed." Morgan giggled.
"Anyway, how's the boy front for you? Cause' mine sucks ass."
Morgan laughed. "No wonder. I always thought he was a jerk too. You could do way better. As for me, unlike Megan thought, my boob job has made no difference. I am still an ant on Planet Boy."
"Who needs em', right?"
"Totally."
We spent the rest of the hour talking, about love and how much it sucked and how we could grow old and lonely together, giggling the whole time. It was like how it used to be with Peyton, except this time, I didn't have the pressure to be perfect, to say just the right things. It was how I felt with Chastity and Sadie, and I loved every second of it.