If you haven't listened to Drivers License by Olivia Rodrigo (I'm sure you have), do it. DANG. I don't own Jimmy. Happy Valentine's Day? Sorry, this is so short it wouldn't leave me alone!
She drives through the streets of Retroville in Libby's car. Familiar buildings pass by in a blur. The Candy Bar, The RetroBean, where the gang always met for coffee. Even Lindbergh Elementary with its eerily familiar playground. Every corner, every street, is filled with memories. Their first kiss in an alleyway that smelled like garbage. Sitting in the park, stealing subtle glances over an English book. The warmth of his hands on her waist and his lips like soft velvet on her neck in a janitor's closet. She quickly banishes them all to the horizon in front of her.
For so long, she'd hoped that their jagged edges would somehow align. She should've known that two people as different as Cindy Vortex and Jimmy Neutron wouldn't make it in real life. He was gone, and she's driving a borrowed car listening to sad songs and trying not to fall apart. The most painful thing is that he seems fine. At least, judging by his social media.
"Girl, that's the highlights. You can't pay attention to it," Libby's voice reprimands her in her mind.
But there's no denying the face of the pretty girl that graced several of his latest posts. The one that Cindy always clicks away from before she sees a name. A name made it real. It picked at a wound inside of her that hadn't healed right.
"Girl, don't waste your time on him. If he doesn't realize what he lost, he's the one missing out," Libby's imaginary voice says in her mind again.
Cindy knows that she's capable and ambitious. She has a path ahead of her that led to her future success, and she knew that it was achievable. She's already taken the first steps, and she wouldn't stop because he wasn't here. That didn't erase the knowledge that he liked his coffee black. He snored and chewed the eraser of his pencil when he was thinking. He was woven permanently into her heart. She loved him, and she always would.
She tastes salt on her tongue, and she realizes she's crying. What else was there to do?