The Choice (a Painful Past)

109

"Fine. But don't say a word." I said, sternly.

"I won't." She replied. "Cross my heart." I stared at her for a moment, then set my phone in her palm. "Oh, wow!" She exclaimed, as she saw the pictures. "These are really good, Cal! Oh, you're definitely posting these."

"No!" I yelled. "Don't do it, Denise. I changed my mind! I don't like them. I'm fat and ugly. Do NOT post them."

She shook her head and glared at me. "You are not fat and ugly and if you say that again, then I'm going to have you admitted, because you're fucking crazy."

"You're the crazy one to be able to say that to those ugly ass pics. No offense, but you're lying because you're my friend, and you don't want to hurt my feelings." I replied, as I reached around her, trying to get my phone back.

"Nope, shut the fuck up, Callie! I mean it!" She exclaimed, holding my phone out of my reach. "There, all done!" She smiled and handed me my phone.

"You didn't." I breathed out, slowly.

"I did and you look great. So, don't delete them! At least give it a little while, okay? Besides, if Will sees those, he's gonna be drooling." She laughed.

I sighed and flipped through the pics that she had just posted on my Instagram. I hated them.

"Do not delete them, Callie."She insisted, as she watched me hover my finger over my phone. "Give it 24 hours, okay? If you still want to delete them, then fine."

I held her gaze for a moment, then groaned. "Fiiiiine! You're so fucking annoying, sometimes."

She just grinned. "You love me...and you'll thank me for this later. Trust me."

"Whatever." I muttered. "Finish getting ready so we can go, please. I'm about to change out of this and put a hoodie on, I swear."

"Don't you dare." She glared at me.

"Then, hurry up." I insisted, glaring right back.

I was pissed that she had posted those photos of me. I didn't want them on there. I knew that I could just delete them, and she'd get over it, but what she had said about Will being jealous, really got to me.

Would he be jealous? I wanted to think so. I hated that he was still inside my head so much, after all this time.

I sighed and started to scroll through my account. I had followed Sam and Colby, plus their individual accounts, a few more people that I knew from school, so my feed had a little more on it to see.

I looked up and saw Denise sitting at my makeup desk, expertly applying eyeliner.

How in the fuck did people do that? I always had a shaky mess on my hands. Liquid eyeliner would never be one of my makeup staples, for that reason.

I would stick to my roll out pencil, thanks.

She looked hot though. She always did, but she was really going for it tonight. We were both a little emo in our high school days, her a little more than me.

I was always too scared to actually show it. Denise was a couple of years younger than me, and had moved from New Orleans, so she didn't really give a shit. I so wished that I could be like that.

She was wearing a short black skirt, with silver chains hanging down the side, matched with a white halter, and her famous black leather jacket. She was wearing her 3 inch black thick strappy heels to finish the outfit off.

"Bryon is gonna have to reattach his jaw, after he sees you, because it's just going to fall off and hit the floor." I told her, with a smile.

She caught my gaze in the mirror and laughed.

"I don't know. He might leave me for you. Have you seen yourself?" She replied.

I rolled my eyes, laughed, and went back to my phone. There were a few notifications, which was weird, because I rarely got any notifications. My mouth fell open in shock, when I saw who had liked my photos.

"Oh, shit!" I exclaimed, a little too loudly.

"OW! Shit, what are you yelling about?" Denise asked, slightly annoyed.

I looked up and saw a thin, scraggly black line on her face, from the corner of her eye to, reaching almost to right above her ear.

"Oops." I replied, trying not to laugh.

She grabbed a makeup wipe and started dabbing at the line.

"You know this is gonna take extra time to fix, right? So, it's your fault if we stay later, because we showed up later." She said, then winked at me. "So, what are we yelling about?"

"Oh, um.." I stammered.

I still hadn't told her, or anyone, that I was talking to Colby again.

So, how was I going to explain that I got excited because an old friend had liked my photo?

I guess now was as good a time as any.

"Well, an old friend, that I started talking to a few months ago, just liked those photos and it surprised me. That's all."

She turned to look me dead in the eyes. "An old friend? You just basically screamed because 'an old friend' liked your pics? Nah, it's more than that. Who is this old friend and why haven't I heard about him before now?" She asked.

"I never said it was a him." I replied, looking back down at my phone.

A few other people had liked them, just a couple of people from school, and then there was Will. He had liked them, too. From a new account.

"You're not screaming like that because a girl liked your pics. Not unless there is something you haven't told me in all these years. I mean, I'm cool with it, if you like girls. Girls are beautiful...but I'm pretty sure that you're straight, so the old friend is definitely a guy. So, who is he?" She asked, as she went back to fixing her makeup.

"Just this guy that I used to hang out with. He was a really good friend. My best friend back then. We just reconnected a few months ago. It's not a big deal." I replied, keeping my eyes locked on my phone.

I wasn't lying. Really. There was never anything going on between Colby and I.

Not then, and not now. Yes, he may have had a crush on me back then, and he might be a little flirty now.

Now, it was just messing around though. Just jokes. There was no way that a man who looked like he did would ever like me.

Things were different when we were kids. Now, he lived in LA, around a million model type girls, who were constantly hanging around him.