She sat on her bed reading, trying to concentrate on the words on the page. After few minutes of struggling, she threw the book down, and looked around her room. Her eyes rested on the mirror, and her long list of phone numbers written on the right side. She smiled at small handwriting in eyeliner and remembered the day she wrote each individual number down. Her eyes moved slowly to the right side of the mirror, where another phone number was written, not in the middle, but not off to the side either. It was written in red lip liner rather then the usual black eyeliner like the rest of the numbers. As she read the name again, like she did every other time she looked at the mirror, she glared, and remembered where that number came from.
~*~
"You’ve never seen it? You’ve got to be kidding me!"
"No, I haven’t even heard of it." she said, giving him half a smile.
He grinned back, and grabbed her hand.
"Fine then." He said, pulling out a pen. He began to write on the back of her hand. "Here’s my phone number. Call me. We’ll watch it this weekend. We have to watch it this weekend."
She grinned and nodded, glancing at the number, memorizing it, just in case.
The instant she arrived home, she searched out her never been used red lip liner, and re-wrote the number out on the mirror, his name above it. She smiled at it, and swore she’d never take it off.
~*~
"It’s been two months now!" she muttered to herself, as she walked over to her desk. She grabbed the roll of toilet paper she kept there for when she took off nail polish, and pulled some off, wadding it up. She walked over to her dresser, to the mirror, and stood there, staring at the number. She put her hand up to wipe it away, and paused, tears threatening to spill over her eyes.
~*~
"I can’t keep it there anymore. It’s driving me crazy because I know I can never call that number again!" she said, throwing her hands to her side in defeat.
"Don’t worry then." A friend said quickly. "I’ll come over next week, promise, and if you can’t do it, I’ll wipe it off for you."
"I need it gone now."
"I know, but I promise, by next week it will be gone. No matter what, nothing will stop me from getting to your house." The friend said with a smile.
She smiled back. "Thanks. You’re a real friend."
~*~
She pulled her hand back from the mirror completely, and felt numb. Maybe she was making a mistake. Maybe there was still a chance.
"That’s crazy!" she exclaimed, but backed away from her mirror. She sat on her bed, and stared at the mirror, at the phone number, that was giving her so many problems. "This sucks." She said resentfully, continuing to glare.
~*~
"I can’t believe this. You’re crazy." She said, giving her best friend a look while they walked down the hall.
"I’m sorry. But I mean, you liked him, how hard is it for you to understand that I like him?" her best friend said back.
"It’s not that I don’t understand, it’s why that I don’t understand. You don’t seem like the type to like him."
"Well I am."
"Alright, alright. Fine." She said slowly, a hate, an anger, slowly growing for her best friend.
As they walked in an almost awkward silence, he passed by them.
"He shaved his head!" she said quickly to her best friend.
"I know. He said he doesn’t like, so he was shaving it off." Her best friend replied with a shrug.
"He-he did?" she said, almost confused.
"Yeah. But I’ve gotta get to class before I’m late. See ya at lunch!" her best friend headed up the stairs.
"He lied." She said softly then headed to her own class.
~*~
She suddenly felt that anger that she had felt the morning that her best friend had told her that she liked him. She closed her eyes a breathed a few times, trying to calm herself down, but it didn’t work. She stood up suddenly and walked over to her mirror quickly, and ran the piece of toilet paper over his phone number.
"Just like toilet paper, wiping up the shit." She said as she dropped the toilet paper into her garbage can then walked out of her room.
~*~
A few days later, she entered the room with a smile on her face, and went directly to her mirror. She gazed at the now empty spot with a smile on her face, and then picked up her red lip liner once again. Taking a quick glance at her hand, she wrote down a number in that place, a new number and a new name. She smiled, than giggled. There was nothing serious between her and the new guy, but there could be. She put the cap back on the lip liner, then put it back on her dresser and left the room.
~*~
A few days later, she stood in the hall. Things did become serious with the guy, like she had hoped, and there they were, standing in the hall holding hands talking to friends. She smiled as they talked until she saw him walking down the hall towards them. She wanted to make eye contact, but couldn’t bring herself to bring her eyes up. As he past, she finally looked at him. She saw him glance, and saw the look on his face when he saw them holding hands. ‘Serves him right.’ She thought to herself. ‘He broke up with me. That’s what he gets.’
~*~
She stood against the wall of the stairs waiting for her boyfriend. She watched as he walked past her, not passing a second glance at her. She felt guilty about the morning, how he had seen her and her new boyfriend together. ‘He shouldn’t care’ she thought to herself. ‘He broke up with me.’ She looked down the hall and saw her boyfriend coming and smiled. She looked up quickly, and saw him. She got caught in his gaze as he looked down at her, watching her. Their eyes met for a moment, a moment that seemed suspended in time for her before they both broke the gaze at the same time. He headed down the upstairs hallway, disappearing from her sight. She wanted to call out his name, ask him to wait, but her voice was caught in her throat. Without a second glance to her approaching boyfriend, she bounded up the stairs.
~*~
At home late that night, she sat typing away at her computer in her bedroom. She soon paused, staring off into space. She wished now, more then ever, that she had called up to him. Or in the least, stopped at his locker and talked to him, walked with him. She wanted nothing more then to hear his soft voice say her name again. See a smile on his face, the light in his eyes once more. She hated herself for it, but she missed it. Without thinking, she tore herself from her computer, and threw herself onto her bed sobbing, crying herself to sleep.
