AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Because! You’ve been making so much progress—”
“I can get him back if I justtalkto him—”
“Did you not see that he’s with Off-Brand? Come on, be smart. What do you think’s gonna happen if you march up to them and say... saywhat,exactly?”
I fidgeted with my ring finger. “…I don’t know, I didn’t think that far ahead.”
She leaned back and put her hands on her hips, regarding me with heavily-lidded eyes. “That’s how you know you’re not making a good decision. The GraceIknowalwayshas a plan.”
I looked down at my nails with shame. “But… but what if he just sees me. If we just talk—”
“Talking isn’t going to do anything,” Effie exasperated.
I glanced over my shoulder to see if I could catch a glimpse of them; to prick myself on that needle one more time.
Effie put her warm hands on my bare shoulders. “Grace. Listen to me, because you need to hear this. You. Cannot. Go. Back.”
I looked into her catlike eyes; mirrors of mine.
Tears sparkled at the corners.
I felt hot pressure build behind the bridge of my nose. Suddenly, it was all real. The truth had solidified in cement; it was written in stone.
Effie was right. I couldn’t go back.
I scrambled for gilded straws of hope. “But… but what about what you said about him leaving her? You said he’d come back!”
My sister shifted her stance and crossed her arms. “As much as I hate to admit it, I’m not always right.”
I wanted to yell at her, call her pretentious, shame her for acting like she was better than me. But I knew that white-hot frustration was just that—a feeling cultivated by seeinghim,again. Having to see a warped, wrong version of him; a version of him I didn’t know. He looked the same, but the man with his arm around that woman’s waist was someone I’d never seen before:
Happy Grayson.
I think that was the saddest part.
I began to sob—ugly Kim Kardashian crying this time, as I felt a wave of despair crash over my heart.
Effie pulled me into an embrace and whispered “shhh.”
My nose touched her soft hair and I breathed in her familiar sunshine scent.
She pitied me. I pitied myself. The liquid pity glued us together.
After I cried myself out, I felt exhausted. But Effie was there, supporting me. Holding me up like the trellis held up these drooping flowers; keeping them away from the ground they so longed to touch with their long purple fingers.
She pulled out of the embrace and looked me in the eye. Despite her tears, Effie’s makeup was flawless as always.
That’s something I always envied about my sister—she could feel things and own them instead of the other way around.
“Can we go home?” I asked in a voice almost as small as I felt. I conjured an image of my fluffy, perfectly-made bed in my mind and held it there as firmly as I wanted someone to hold me.
Effie gently took my hands and the warm sensation of comfort raced up my arms. “Of course. I just need to go say bye to the sponsors.”
I frowned. “I can’t handle more people right now—”
“That’s fine. I do have to say goodbye, though.”
I waved her off. “I’ll be fine here.”
