Alex’s POV:

I was doing a bit better. Of course I wasn’t just over Mickey, I was still very much heartbroken. But I had gotten past the initial shock and pain. It did help that she did agree to go to prom with me – wait, with us. My stupid brain kept imagining that I could get back with her. I wanted nothing more than to get back with her, but I also knew better than that. Mickey would never take me back. And that was a harsh reality I had to deal with.

Easier said than done.

I occasionally still caught myself wanting to call Mickey or randomly go over to her house. It happened whenever I was in a great mood, but also when I was in a bad one. She was always that one thing I could count on no matter what. But now that line had been cut, and I found myself sad. It was some horrible muscle memory mocking me.

What mainly helped was getting my mind off her and the entire situation. Not because it made me forget (even though that was my initial reason), but because it made me appreciate spending time with friends a lot more again. Not that I ever took it for granted, but I could still have fun despite having my heart broken into a million pieces.

I decided to boost my morals again and went to the mall with Rian and Zack. We weren’t really there for any reason, just fucking around really. Of course, we took a look around the music store. Nobody bought anything except for Rian, who needed some new drum sticks. I stared at some of the guitars I wanted to have one day. They were way out of my price range now, but I was going to get one once I had the budget. It was going to happen.

“Do you guys want to grab a bite to eat?” I asked them. It was around two in the afternoon, but I hadn’t had any lunch yet.

“Can’t say no to that,” Zack responded as we walked out the store.

Rian shrugged after, “yeah, sure.”

“What do you guys wanna get?” I pulled my wallet out of my back pocket to check how much money I had on me.

“Let’s see when we get there,” Rian suggested.

Both Zack and I nodded in agreement and we walked to the food court. All the options were fast food. It was either fries, burgers, tacos, burgers, or burgers. After a long discussion, we ended up getting, you guessed it, burgers. We each had our own tray and sat at a table next to some plants sectioning off the seating area from the walkway. It gave us a nice view over all the other food places and other people out with friends and family.

Zack was telling us about this new trick he had learned on his skateboard and the whole journey to mastering it when my eyes fell upon something. I wouldn’t have seen it if I wasn’t seated on my chair. If I was sitting where Zack was, across from me, I would have been facing the wrong way. If I was sitting where Rian was, to my left, Zack would have been in the way.

I happened to look in the direction of a girl and a guy. The guy looked like a real asshole. You know, somebody who thought he was hot shit. Black swooping hair, skinny jeans, leather jacket, sunglasses. The girl was wearing blue jeans and a simple white top, almost looking too friendly with her long brown hair to be with a guy like him.

At first, I didn’t even notice it, but my entire body just knew. That girl was Mickey.

I could only see her from the back, but there was no doubt about it. I knew the contours of her body. She looked so different. Usually, she felt most comfortable in brightly coloured hair and wouldn’t be caught dead in such plain clothes. Something had caused her to do a full one-eighty, and I didn’t know what. What had caused her to change? Had I been holding her back?

Seeing her with that guy shattered my heart into a million pieces again. I didn’t understand how she could move on that quickly. Sure, I had seen her jump between guys and girls before we got together. But I thought that what we had was different. All those others were just fuck buddies. We had more than a physical connection, right?

I watched as they went to our smoothie place. Well, it wasn’t our smoothie place, we only went there a few times, but still. I grit my teeth a little as they went over to the counter and placed their order. The guy pulled out his wallet, but Mickey quickly slapped it away and paid for both their drinks. He must have been special for her to pay for him as well. I was surprised to see that he returned the favour.

He looked around as if he was going to try to swipe something. Afterall, I knew who Mickey used to hang out with. But instead he pulled out a few bills from his wallet and quickly slipped it into her bag completely undetected.

“– Alex!” Rian gave me a harsh nudge so I would answer whatever they had just asked me.

“What?” I snapped back.

“Damn…” Zack shook his head at me.

“I’m sorry,” I sighed and looked back at Mickey. “Mickey just caught me off guard. She’s over there.”

“What? Where?” Rian immediately tried to spot her, looking in the same direction as I was.

“Smoothie counter.”

“That’s not Mickey!” He disagreed. But then she was given her drinks and she turned around. “Oh. That is Mickey.”

Zack turned around to take a look as well. I was about to tell him to stop, that if she caught us it would be super awkward. But she didn’t even seem to notice. She just sat at a table there with the stupid asshole of a guy she was with.

“Does she have a new boyfriend?” I pressured Rian.

“What?” He scrunched up his eyebrows, his eyes moving to me. “Why would I know?”

“You live next to her.”

“That doesn’t mean I know what she’s been doing.”

I breathed out in frustration. “Have you seen her with another guy? Maybe you’ve seen something unusual?”

He opened his mouth as if he was about to further argue with me, but then he became silent. “Well… I’ve noticed an extra car outside her house a lot…”

“What?!” My eyes doubled in size and I glared at him.

“I didn’t think anything of it!” He defended, his voice raising in pitch. “I’ve seen her dad drive it as well. So I assumed it might have been his!”

I just sat there, fully accepting my fate. She had a new boyfriend. That hope of another chance that I had been trying to suppress only made the pain worse. There really was no second chance. Was prom even worth it anymore?

“Hey, maybe they’re just friends,” Zack tried to cheer me up a little.

“Really?” I frowned at him, not falling for his stupid words.

“You never know.”

I wanted nothing more than to leave so I wouldn’t have to witness this any longer. But I had barely touched my food and I wasn’t going to waste it. Zack even offered to switch seats with me, but I felt like not knowing what was going on behind me was going to be even worse. Luckily, Mickey and that douche didn’t kiss while we were still both there. I would have broken down if I had seen that.

Notes

Random dude!!! RANDOM DUDE!!!!

Just two more chapters to go!