Page 4 of Pucking Grey

She’s not wrong. We look in the mirror side by side. Sydney is gorgeous with her overgrown fringe and pink lips. She’s sophisticated while I’m simply the girl next door. I guess Greyson is right. I look like a little girl. So, I pull my hair into a ponytail, taking out a few pieces to frame my face. This should make me look a little older. Sydney plugs in her curler and says, “Good call on the hair. It’ll show off your back. You look hot.”

“It’s not too much?” I ask, worried about what Matt will think seeing me dressed like this. “It’s like thirty degrees tonight.”

“You’re an ice girl, you got this.”

I grin because she’s right. I grew up on the ice, and I’m basically immune to the cold weather. I let Sydney curl the hair around my face and then she does my ponytail. I mutter, “Maybe my heart is made of ice. It’s fragile as hell. If ice drops, it breaks. It needs to be in the right temperature, or it’ll disappear.”

“Your boyfriend making a porn doesn’t mean your heart is fragile. Please, Maddie. He’s a fucking asshole. And you don’t deserve that.”

I shrug. “Nobody deserves that.”

“Yeah, but you’re the biggest sweetheart. Matt knows that. Did you tell him you saw the video yet?”

I shake my head, reaching for my phone that’s been on silent. Sydney snatches it from my palm.

“You didn’t break up with him yet?” she scolds me while glancing at my phone. She’s reading something. It’s probably a text. Her eyes widen. “He’s expecting to see you tonight.”

My anxiety tingles in my fingertips. “I told you I wanted to stay home and cry.”

“Maddie, you need to tell him that you know. I thought you were gonna do it before you talked to Grey? Wait,” she says, holding up her hand. “He saw you talking to Grey.”

“No,” I say, grabbing my phone back to read the text.

Matt (heart emoji): Are you meeting me at the party or do I need to pick you up?

Matt (heart emoji): Why were you talking to Grey?

Matt (heart emoji): Hello?

Tears pool into my eyes.

“No, no, no,” Sydney pleads. “No crying. Think about shopping for a candle for your great grandma, and when you gift it to her, she thinks it’s a margarita and tries to drink it.”

I laugh at her randomness. Having a friend with a sense of humor like her makes these hard times feel much lighter and easier. I’m grateful for her. My watery eyes don’t turn into falling tears.

Sydney huffs, resting her hands on her hips. “Babe, do you need to stay home?”

I lick my lips, glancing at my reflection. All dressed up with nowhere to go or go out and have fun with the girls?

“What do I do about Matt?” I ask, not knowing how to navigate this type of breakup. I’ve never been cheated on before. A breakup is given, right? No talking required?

She keeps her strong stance as she says, “Just send him the link to the video.”

I imagine Matt recognizing the link and panicking, calling me, and throwing me excuses. On the opposite spectrum, I imagine him not caring I saw the video and meeting up with Michelle later to do it again. Both scenarios make me want to cry.

I pull out my phone and stretch my neck from the stress this is giving me. “I don’t think I can do it. Can you?”

“Yeah,” she says, reaching for my phone.

“Then block him, please. I’m done with him.”

“Yeah,” she agrees. “Don’t tolerate that. It doesn’t matter what he says.”

My mind runs wild about what he would say. “Do you think he’ll want to talk?” I cringe just thinking about what he would say about making a porno. “I don’t think I can talk to him. Like ever again.”

She’s tapping away on my phone. “I know, babe. You don’t have to. I’ll be by your side all night. Okay,” she glances at me. “I only sent the link, and I blocked him. I removed the heart emoji from his name. It’s done.”

I exhale as she passes me the phone, relieved.

---