She woke up at 8 A.M. sharp.
That was pretty early for a girl who was known to sleep like a log straight into the afternoons. She was used to sleeping late at night ergo; she barely had caught any sleep. Yet she wasn’t lazy or sleepy or even irritated as she normally would be on waking up so early. Today she was excited; nervously excited. She hummed to herself tunelessly as she brushed her teeth- she brushed with extra care today, eyeing each tooth in the mirror and making sure her brush reached even the areas deep inside. Finally, a good 8 minutes later [5 minutes more than her usual], she washed her mouth.
But, she wasn’t finished yet. She skimmed through the shelves and found what she was looking for. She uncorked the brand new bottle of mouth wash. [She had it for days but was always too lazy or short on time to use it.] She washed her mouth twice with it [once is generally more than enough] she replaced it in its place and showered, still humming away to herself and dancing as the warm water poured on her. She used extra shampoo, extra body wash and extra conditioner - double of everything. She came out of the bathroom half an hour later, dancing into her room. She blow dried her hair; individually drying a handful. She had tried drying each strand actually. But she realized it would take her about a year plus that it was quite impossible. Happiness and excitement can sometimes addle your brains.
Her first date with the guy she was madly in love with for 5 whole years elevated her mood to a degree that it never reached before. Once she was done with her hair, she wore her clothes; dark blue slim fit jeans and a red tee-shirt. The girl who usually yelled at everyone and no one when she couldn’t find her things, called out for her roommate in her sweetest voice. Her roomy bustled into her room to stare at her normally irritated roommate as she asked her in the same sweet tone, “Babe, I can’t find my ear rings. Can you help me look for them?” and choked out, “What.. What is the matter with you?!” The girl just giggled’ planted a kiss on her flabbergasted friend’s cheek and whispered, “I’m going on a date. With Justin.”
Her roommate’s eyes widened in shock as she heard the name. “Justin?! Justin!! Justin Stevens??? That guy you have been head over heels in love with forever?? He asked you out? Oh, my God! I can’t believe this!” She sat on her bed, wiping her forehead as the girl insanely giggled away.
“Now will you please help me find them?”, she asked her friend. “Yes, yes. Sure.” The latter said and looked around for the jewellery, mumbling away, trying to work out how this impossible event happened. “Aha! Here they are!” Jenny said after two minutes, triumphant, holding out a pair of beautiful red ear rings and Jessica slumped onto the bean bag, watching Jenny scamper around happily.
She had never seen her so happy before. She couldn’t help smiling as she saw her. It was such a great feeling to see someone you loved so cheerful. A good 45 minutes later, Jenny was ready. And there was only one word to describe her. Beautiful - breathtakingly beautiful. Even though she wore only a casual pair of jeans and a tee, she looked amazing. Well a natural beauty she was. So that was obvious, thought Jessica. Her beautiful long hair left open, a tad of mascara and a dash of lip gloss- that was all the makeup she ever used- enhanced her beauty and just completed her look. She wore her sandals and sat on the bed, careful not to move too much for the fear of messing her hair as she so often did. She sat there waiting for his text to ask her to come down stairs as they had agreed he would. It was eleven. He should be here any time. It was a lunch date. She was already hungry. She hadn’t even had breakfast in her excitement.
After a while, she looked at her watch. Eleven fifteen. No text yet. Eleven thirty. Nothing. He said he’d be on time.. “Guys. Never on time.” pitched in Jessica, sipping her coffee. Yeah, Jenny thought and waited for another half hour. At twelve, she got anxious and texted him. “Where are you? How much longer?” No reply. She called his cell. No answer.
Panic struck in and after a while she was hyperventilating. Where was he?! Two hours and he was still not here! She called at his place. His roommate had answered and told her he was out. She asked him if he told him where he was going. His roommate said no but casually added that he might be out with Angela- his rumoured girl friend. Jenny ended the call and stared at her phone. He had asked her out and he took Angela instead? The very thought shot an electric current in her spine. “Are you sure he was going to come babe?” Jessica asked, “Because it seems like he isn’t. Even the most unpunctual guy would be here by now.”
Jenny looked up at her. She found it too hard to believe that Justin had asked her out. But.. Justin doing this to her.. Justin.. Betraying her.. The guy she loved for so long.. The guy she spent nights dreaming of betrayed her in the last minute. Even though her heart found it impossible to believe it, her eyes did. And, they poured out. Tears of agony. Tears of betrayal. Tears of pain. How could he do this to her? Break his promise? So he had fixed a date with me but was out with that B* who was supposedly her girl friend all along. That thought sent another lightening fast current seeping into her whole body and she chucked the glass of water she was holding onto the wall. It broke into thousand pieces. She slid down onto the floor, with all kinds of depressing thoughts overwhelming her.. Why? Why did he do this to her? She was much better off admiring him from a distance. At least she wasn’t in pain when she dreamt about him.. Her mascara flowed away with the tears and she sat there on the floor, her brain and body refusing to co-ordinate.
It was 5 P.M. when she received a call. Jessica, who had been sitting next to her trying to soothe her answered it as Jenny was oblivious to everything at the moment. The call ended in less than a minute. Jessica turned to look at Jenny who looked up. “Was it him?” she asked in a barely audible, strained voice. Saying his name aloud felt like torture to her. Jessica shook her head. “It was his roommate. Justin.. Met with an accident.. While coming here to pick you up. He was admitted in the hospital.. He passed away half an hour ago..”
Jenny was betrayed indeed. But not by Justin. She was betrayed by life. . .
