HIM by Brittney Cohen-Schlesinger

wearing four-inch designer heels today.  She towered over my five-foot-five frame.  I had to look up to see her face – puffy and red.
                  “I thought this would be easy – getting over him, you know?  But I was wrong.”
                  “It’s just going to take some time,” I informed her.  “Your feelings for him won’t go away over night.”
                  “But I want to get over him now ,” she whined.  “I’m tired of this feeling.  It feels like my heart’s been ripped out of my chest by a wilder beast,” she complained.
                  “Thanks for the visual, Tory,” I muttered.  “Adam isn’t worth your tears.”
    Yeah, because I’m the poster child for good habits when a relationship ends unexpectedly.
    I took a napkin from the counter and gently dabbed at her damp face.  She sniffled and took a deep breath.
                  “I know.”
                  “The first step is to get rid of that ,” I said, referring to the necklace while holding out my hand.  Tory held on tight staring down at the object as if it were going to speak to her.  She inhaled, kissed the seahorse, reluctantly gave me the piece of jewelry and exhaled.  I dumped it in the garbage, blocking it so she couldn’t lunge after it while it took the final plunge.
                  “That necklace was a part of me, Ava.  And now it’s gone.  Forever .”
                  “I’ll buy you a new necklace,” I offered.
                  “But it’s not the same ,” she grumbled.  I felt like I was dealing with a toddler.  I wondered if this was how she felt about me all these months.  “Adam,” she winced, “gave it to me on our one month anniversary.  I told him I’d never take it off.”  She sighed heavily.  “Maybe if I’d given him something to remind him of me he wouldn’t have …”
    And the waterworks started once more.
                  “You can’t blame yourself for what happened, Tor.  It was his fault.”
                  “I don’t care,” she griped.  “I probably could have done something to stop this from happening.  Like if I decided to go to school by him he wouldn’t have fallen in love with that boyfriend stealer .”  She said the last two words with such hate I cringed.  Tory was never the type to get angry or upset.  She was generally a bubbly, happy-go-lucky girl.  It was a shame to see her like this.
                  “Tory, listen to me.  Adam moved on.  It wasn’t meant to be.”  I knew that sounded quite blunt but what I was I supposed to tell her?  That he’d come back for her some day?  I’d be lying to her, especially because I didn’t know if that would ever come true.
                  “I know, I know,” she grumbled, attempting to calm herself down.  “I’m just so miserable .  Is this how you felt after…well…you know?”
                  “Something like that.  But after some time it got easier.”  He popped into my head – his face, his eyes.  I shook it off before I let myself get too deep in my own thoughts.  What I’d said to Tory was partly true.  It had gotten easier . . . once I met Jensen.
    “And now you’re happier?” she asked, a hopeful look in her eyes.
    Recalling my rendezvous with Jensen brought a smile to my face.  “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”
    She shrugged.  “No offense but I hope it doesn’t take me almost a year to get over Adam like it did for you with –”
                  “Let’s hope that doesn’t happen for you.”
                  “I have to be brave,” she told herself out loud, sitting up straight.  I could see the unsettling expression on her face.  Tory wiped at her eye makeup.  “I must look like a raccoon,” she giggled.  And that she did.  Her mascara was smudged