HI GUYS I'M BACK! I wrote this REALLY FAST and just wanted it posted ASAP, so I'm sorry for any typos! <3
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Alice pulled her purple blanket over her head, groaning as she ignored her vibrating cell phone. Mark had been calling her all morning, probably to grovel for forgiveness after the previous night's extravagant shit-show starring Simon.
There were a lot of awkward ways Alice envisioned that evening going...but nothing prepared her for that.
Immediately after the vibrating ended, it started up again.
"Go away," she moaned into her pillow before reaching for the phone to turn it off. It would be at least a couple days before she would feel ready to talk to Mark. Considering all the years of inconsiderate actions Mark had done to Alice, it was impressive that she finally found a winner for the worst. Inviting Simon and feeding him with inaccurate stories about her and Isaac took the cake. He really outdid himself this time.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
She shot up from her pillow and froze.
"That fucker had better not be at my house," she said before jumping off her bed to find her new favorite black sweater to cover her bralette. Before exiting her bedroom, she glanced in the mirror to grimace at the growing black circles under her eyes. She reached for her concealer to dab the makeup under her eyes but paused.
"Fuck Mark," she said and set the makeup back on her desk. "He's not worth getting prettied up for."
Knock. Knock. Knock.
She sighed and trudged to the door, every footstep weighing her down as she dreaded seeing her lovely boyfriend's idiotic face.
Much to her delight, when she opened the door it wasn't Mark. Instead, it was a glum-looking Emily, her blonde hair pulled back in a messy bun, leaning her face against the doorframe.
"Hey," she said, her bottom lip trembling as she traced a small heart on the door.
"Hello," Alice said, tilting her head and frowning at Emily's somber aura. "You alright?"
"No..." She sighed loudly and dragged herself into Alice's living room, flopping on the couch and immediately shifted her body into the fetal position. "I ate a whole pizza last night."
"Huh?" Alice followed Emily to the couch, taking a seat beside her feet.
"And then I ate a whole pint of Ben and Jerrys ice cream," she said in a slow zombie-like voice. "And then today I had waffles."
"That sounds...delicious?"
"No," Emily said. "It sounds like over 8000 calories."
"Calories are delicious."
Emily glowered at Alice. "I haven't binged like this in years, Alice! This is a travesty. I've gained thirty pounds in a night."
Alice giggled and patted Emily's ankle. "You haven't gained thirty pounds overnight. You're still looking as hot as ever."
"Lies, lies, lies," Emily moaned, shoving her face into the couch's cushion. "I'm a whale."
"Yeah, okay," Alice snorted. "If you're a whale then I'm Jupiter."
"I hate everything."
Alice cocked her neck at Emily and shifted so she could rub her back. "Okay, what's going on?"
A stream of incoherent curse words flew from Emily's mouth, muffled by the cushion.
"Come again?" Alice asked.
Emily pulled her face up from the couch and turned to Alice, wincing before she even said, "I like Blaise. A lot."
Without skipping a beat, Alice's face cracked into a beaming smile. "Emily! That's amazing!"
"No it isn't," she hissed before flopping her cheek back to the sofa. "I screwed it all up. I missed the boat. He hates me..."
"Oh, come on," Alice laughed. "There's no way Blaise hates you. I'm sure if you just told h – "
"No, he hates me," Emily said. "Didn't you see the way he looked at me when he shut me down? I've never seen him look at anyone that way before! Like I was completely dead to him."
"You're not dead to him, trust me," Alice said in the most nurturing voice possible. "Last night was just a tense mess. He was probably so hopped up on adrenaline after going all hero-mode that he wasn't thinking clearly."
"God, that was so fucking hot what he did," she said. "The way he stood up for you...and totally bitched everyone out...why did it take me so long to realize how cool Blaise is? He's so smart, and funny, and nice, and clearly, he's more of a man than I ever imagined!"
"I've been trying to tell you th - "
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it. I messed up because I'm a shallow dumb ho."
"Oh god, that is not what I was implying at all, Em, come on," Alice said, moving her whole body so she was practically spooning Emily on the couch. "You're not a shallow dumb ho. Believe me, you haven't messed up with Blaise."
"You don't get it, Alice," Emily said. "I don't deserve to be with Blaise. I've treated him like dirt since the minute I met him, I completely ignored his existence after I slept with him, and I was arrogant enough to think he would still be interested in me after I went off and flirted with that guy right in front of him! Like, I wouldn't want to be with me, either. I suck."
"Hey, remember when you said self-deprecation is an unattractive trait?" Alice said, nudging her ribs.
Emily scoffed. "Does it look like I'm trying to be attractive right now?"
Alice shrugged.
"What is happening to me?" Emily cried, turning her body so she was now facing Alice on the small couch. "First Isaac totally shuts me down, then I gave my number to this hot bartender and he never called me, and now Blaise has also completely shut me down!" She looked at the ceiling and rested her arm on her forehead, staring solemnly. "My poor, fragile ego..."
"Welcome to the rest of humanity," Alice giggled. "Trust me, Em, you're still the same, beautiful and amazing person you've always been."
"Yeah, more like beautiful, selfish, narcissistic, slu – "
"Stop being so mean to yourself, girl!" Alice slapped Emily's shoulder. "This isn't going to help you at all!"
"I'm not being mean. I'm being honest."
"Kay, listen," Alice said and stood up from the couch to loom over Emily with her hands on her hips. "What are your intentions with Blaise?"
"Didn't realize you were Blaise's late father..."
"I'm serious. What do you want to gain from this?" Alice asked as her face grew more authoritarian. "Do you just want to sleep with him a few more times? Do you just want the attention? Or do you actually want to like...be in a committed monogamous relationship with him?"
She stayed silent for a minute, staring blankly at the air in front of her.
Finally, she let out a large breath she had been holding.
"Don't freak out," she said. "But...I think I want to give the whole monogamy thing a go."
"Holy shit!" Alice squealed and hopped up and down three times. She ran to the calendar hanging on the wall and scribbled on today's date. "This is a monumental day!"
"What are you writing over there?" Emily called from the couch.
"Sunday, December 16th, is officially 'National Emily Wants A Boyfriend Day'."
"Oh fuck off, erase that, please," Emily groaned. "I do not need a constant reminder of how I ruined the one chance I've had with a genuinely nice boy."
"No, Emily, I have a plan," Alice said, rushing back to the couch. "Next Saturday, December 22, is our staff Christmas Party. It's a big extravagant thing where we dress up and get all pretty. You're obviously invited and Blaise is going to be there. Just apologize and ask him to dance or something, I promise you he will be all over you."
"Don't make promises over things you can't control."
"I can't control it, but I'm positive you haven't ruined things as much as you think you have."
Emily let out a loud moan, broken up by various curse words.
"Fine," she finally said. "I'll go and I'll try to fix things. I think you're being a little optimistic, though."
"Well, I think you're being a little pessimistic, so I guess we balance out."
"Blah blah blah I'm Alice and I always know what I'm talking about, blah blah blah," Emily mocked in a high-pitched voice and Alice rolled her eyes and giggled. "Can we talk about the bigger issue at hand now?"
"And what's that?"
"The fact that Isaac is completely fucking in love with you."
Alice's face paled. Emily's turmoil had been a nice distraction from her own problems.
"He's not in love with me," she mumbled under breath.
"Yeah, okay," Emily said. "I could hear the stuff he was saying. You all were very loud. And I can safely say that guys don't defend girls like that, in front of their model girlfriend, if they're completely platonic."
"Yeah, well, Isaac's a weird guy..."
"Still! Did you see Mark defending you?"
"Ha!" Alice let out a cold laugh. "Mark defending me? That's rich."
"Regardless, get your head out of the mud and look at the damn signs," she said. "He. Wants. You."
"No he doesn't," Alice said, this time a little harsher. "You want to know how I know that?"
"Lay it on me, girl."
"Because I basically asked him after everything went down if he liked me."
"Did he say no?"
"Well, no..." she said. "He gave some stupid vague answer about needing to go back to Fiona. But he sure as hell didn't say yes!"
"So Fiona was waiting for him?"
"Yeah, she was just around the corner."
"Well, what do you expect, Alice?" Emily asked. "Do you really think Isaac is going to confess his feelings for you when Fiona is right there? No! Isaac is a bit of an idiot, yes, but he's pretty respectful...most of the time. He wouldn't do that to her."
"Maybe you're right..." She bit her fingernails as she contemplated Emily's logic. "But even so, he's dating Fiona Banks. She's a total babe and honestly, even though she's not my favourite person in the world, she handled that ginormous shit show pretty elegantly...maybe she's not so bad."
"Yeah, but Isaac genuinely cares about you," Emily said matter-of-factly. "Fiona is just a distraction from the fact that he can't be with you."
"I doubt it," Alice said and Emily glared furiously at her, causing her to throw her hands in the air in defence. "But sure, sure, maybe you're right."
"I am," she said smugly. "So...what about you and Mark?"
"Fuck that guy."
"Things are going well, then, I see."
"Ugh."
"Are you two still dating?"
"I have nooo idea," Alice said, slumping onto the couch. "I mean, I'm pretty sure he wants to keep dating. But..."
"But?"
"I am so mad at him on so many levels I don't think we can ever come back from this," she said. "Like, just thinking about him repulses me right now. But the idiot keeps calling me."
"I feel like if you're repulsed by your boyfriend that's usually a good indicator that you should break up..."
"I know, I know," she said. "It's just...if we break up now, we are done. Forever. Like, a decade worth of history down the drain in an instant. I...I really need to think it through before I do it."
"Well, while you're debating on whether you want to stay with him or not, please just remember how even though you might not believe it, Isaac likes you. Really keep that in mind."
"Yeah, I guess so..." Alice sighed and looked at the clock. "I'm starving. Wanna get some lunch?"
"Please! While I'm currently in eat-everything-in-sight mode, let's go to that burger place down the road that puts nine pieces of bacon on everything," she said excitedly, practically vibrating with excitement. "And then let's get milkshakes!"
"You read my mind."
The following week was uneventful. Alice had barely seen Isaac since the night with Simon and she wasn't even avoiding him on purpose anymore. She couldn't quite figure out if he was ignoring her, though. Anytime she would enter the same room, he would conveniently get an important phone call and have to leave. A part of her wondered if he was faking calls, but overall, it was a nice break from all the drama that happened.
It was a relaxing Friday night and Alice had just nestled on her couch with a bowl of ice cream, ready to search Netflix for a cheesy romantic comedy. Mark had insisted on going over that night but she still wasn't ready to see him. She knew she should just dump him. There's no way things would improve. Their relationship was already on the rocks even before the Simon Incident, but now she could barely trust him. He fed Simon the ammo to completely lose it on Isaac when he was supposed to be helping Alice. How do you come back from that?
You probably shouldn't.
Over the week, Alice found herself living in a foreign dream world. Whenever she had a few minutes to herself she found herself imagining her life if she were to date Isaac. He was one of her best friends, they had so much fun together...life with Isaac would be unpredictable, but it excited her. She didn't realize how quickly she and Mark fell into the Netflix-Rut when they started dating again. Although it was comfortable and pleasant, it was... boring. There were no butterflies. No passion. When she envisioned her future with Mark, it was exactly how it is now. No more surprises.
Just the thought of Isaac was enough to send goosebumps down her spine.
However, she had to continuously remind herself that Isaac was in a relationship. It wasn't the matter of her choosing which boy to be with. She would have to dump Mark then wait for Isaac to be single and hope he never marries Fiona. The perfect Fiona...Alice wouldn't be surprised if they did get married. Why would anyone choose Alice over Fiona?
She finally settled on a movie when -
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Jesus Christ, do I live in a sitcom?" She grumbled to herself, begrudgingly pulling herself off the couch. "Doesn't anyone call before coming over?"
She opened the door and her heart jumped into her throat and goosebumps scattered over every inch of her body.
"Hey," Isaac said, his platinum hair blowing in the wind as he casually leaned against the doorframe. "I was in the neighborhood and was wondering if you wanted to hang out."
Alice couldn't contain the ginormous smile overtaking her face.
He fuckin' loves you, Alice.
With Mark and Fiona suddenly the last thing on her mind, she nodded her head.
"Sure."
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