Oh My Disney

❝oh my disney❞ » chapter ten

"But if you walk the footsteps of the stranger, you'll learn things you never knew, you never knew." - Pocahontas

"ALICE? ALICE, HONEY, you have to get up. You can't stay in bed forever, you know. Believe me - I've tried."

I sniffed and pulled the covers further over my head, wincing as Rachel opened the curtains and daylight came flooding into my bedroom. I knew that she was right - and even though I didn't have to be at work for another two hours, Rachel always knew when something was up with me, and had made it her mission to get me out of my funk. This was usually the kind of thing I did for her - after a really bad day, I'd go to her house and comfort her and bring her back to her normal cheery self. She always told me that she'd return the favour someday, and I'd been grateful to hear that, at the time.

(But now? Now all I wanted was to be alone to sulk.)

"Come on, Alice," Rachel persisted, pulling the covers off of my bed before I could protest against it. Still half asleep, I barely noticed the surprised expression on her face when she noticed my ensemble - I'd almost forgotten about it myself. "Oh my God. This Max kid has accomplished in one week what I've been trying to do for ten years!" she exclaimed, and even though I wasn't looking, I knew that she was probably jumping up and down in excitement right about now.

I winced at the thought of him, covering my face with my hair. "Can we not talk about him? Please?"

Rachel stopped. "What? Why? I thought you two were getting along."

(We were. And then I was myself, and ruined it.) "I don't want to talk about it," I mumbled sadly, rolling myself up in the covers again and facing away from her. I loved Rachel more than anyone, but all I wanted right now was for her to forget about Max and help me to forget about him, too.

She came around the other side of the bed to sit next to me. "I had a feeling that was what this was about..." she informed me quietly, and my eyes shot open.

I sat up to face her, giving her a warning look. "Max is not the reason why I'm still in bed - I couldn't care less about him and he couldn't care less about me. Got it?" I snapped, and as usual, Rachel arched a suspicious brow at me despite my words. I caught a glimpse of myself in the reflection of the mirror across the room, wincing at my messy hair, puffy red eyes and tear-streaked face - it was obvious the Max was exactly the reason why I was in such a state.

"Alice..." Rachel started in a tone that told me a lecture was in my near future, and that I wasn't going to get out of it. "You should know by now that you can't fool me - I sure as hell know that when I'm down in the dumps, you never let me conceal why, and this time, I'm going to return the favour and help you. Now would you stop being so stubborn and tell me what happened so that I can make you some hot cocoa and make you feel better?" she reasoned, and I pouted, knowing that there was no other way out of it - and, hearing Rachel's words, feeling slightly thankful for it anyway.

I gave in. "Hot cocoa with cinnamon?" I asked with a small smile.

Rachel smiled. "Well, if this is about Max then the situation is dire - I'm thinking cinnamon, marshmallows, and one of those fancy swirly straws," she replied in a calculated tone, getting up and grabbing a mug from her purse (she'd brought supplies in preparation for this, apparently?).

I rolled my eyes. "I never said that this was about-"

"Alice, I'm your best friend. I know you. This is about Max," Rachel concluded, cutting me off. I felt slightly stupid for thinking that I could hide it from her - she was almost as stubborn as I was, when she wanted to be. A few minutes later, the kettle was boiling, and Rachel had climbed in bed beside me and wrapped me up tight in the covers, brushing my hair out of my face. "Are you ready to tell me, yet?" she asked soothingly, and I let out a sigh.