After the two girls had finished venting out their feelings and eating in awkward silence, they walked out of IHOP. It had gotten brighter and hotter than when they first went into the restaurant. They had ended up spending four hours in the restaurant, just talking. Roxy shuffled next to Jane while they walked back to the car.
"Hey Janey?" she murmured, as they got into the car.
"Yes, Lalonde?" the other replied.
"Can we just… hang out the rest of the day? I really don't feel like going home." She slumped into the seat. "I mean… we don't have to if you don't wanna, but I mean… I just… yeah…"
Jane smiled. She started the car, but didn't back out of the lot. "That sounds nice. We really haven't had a Roxy and Jane day in a while. We can do that. Where do you want to go first?"
Roxy sighed. "I want ice cream."
Jane gaped at her. "Lalonde, you just ate four chocolate chip pancakes, topped with maple syrup and whipped cream. Do you seriously expect me to buy ice cream when you had sugar topped with sugar? Besides, aren't you full?"
Roxy just stared at her. "I want to eat away my sorrows," she mumbled. "I want vanilla ice cream in a waffle cone."
Jane frowned. "Roxy…"
"Please? Please Janey?"
The baker sighed and backed out. "Let's go to the ice cream parlor, then," she mumbled.
Roxy faintly smiled, and looked out the car window, her forehead pressed against the glass. She watched the different buildings and trees pass by. At a stop light, she saw a pack of hipsters walk into Starbucks. She sighed and looked down at her lap. Out of the corner of her eye, Roxy could see Jane's eyes shifting over to her. A look of sadness and pity was in her eyes.
Roxy didn't want her pity.
Actually, she wanted it. She needed it. She craved it.
Jane parked in front of the ice cream parlor, which was bustling with small children and parents who were trying to calm the booger nosed brats down. Roxy bounded out of the car, and skipped toward the building, her mood having an abrupt turn. The way she giggled and bounced on the balls of her feet made her seem more… childish.
Roxy quickly opened the door when Jane caught up to her. The usually-drunken teen was hit with the scent of sugar and milk. It was, of course, cold inside, but it was refreshing from the summer heat. The inside looked like a burger joint from the fifties, just without the burgers. There were spinning stools in front of the counter, where there were over 50 choices of ice cream. Along the walls, were booths, which were red and white. The floor was checkered tiled, and an unused jukebox was in the corner. The entire place had a fifties façade.
Just as she had claimed, Roxy ordered vanilla ice cream in a waffle cone. She and Jane sat in a booth next to the jukebox. Jane watched Roxy devour her ice cream with an amused expression. Roxy was acting like such a child, that it was amusing. Adorable, even.
When they left the parlor, Jane sighed. "So where do you want to go next?" she asked, checking her phone.
Roxy hummed. "I dunno." Then she grinned. "The liquor store?"
Jane glared at her. "Roxy, no. I'm not going to have you illegally buy alcohol. If you get caught, I'll be taken in too. So no."
Roxy pouted. "Hmph. Fine." She opened the passenger car door, and slid in. "Then how about we just… um…" She was interrupted when Jane's phone started ringing.
"Oh! Hold on, Lalonde," she said, answering the phone. "Hello?"
There was a murmuring sound from the other end, and from the way that Jane's eyes lit up, and the way she blushed, Roxy guessed it was Jake. "Oh, um yeah!" Jane replied. "W-well I'm kind of with Lalonde right now … O-oh. Okay! Great!" Her face lit up. "Yeah! See you!" She shut the phone, and then looked at Roxy. Then she gasped and gave a sorrowed look. "Shit."
Roxy raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
Jane face palmed herself. "I… shit. I forgot that I promised you the whole day. I-I kind of forgot that I made plans with Jake today…"
Roxy frowned, and her shoulders slumped. "Oh… okay… I guess I can just go home, then."
"I'll drive you home then…" she said.
"No."
Jane gave her a confused expression. "Huh?"
Roxy smiled. "Drop me off at the liquor store. I need more."
"Lalonde…"
"I'll walk home. Just, fuck… please, Jane?" She gave Jane a puppy-eyed look, and jutted out her bottom lip. "For me?"
Jane sighed. She shook her head, and turned on the car. "Just this once," she grumbled, backing out. "But never again." She yelped when Roxy hugged her. "I'm driving, Roxy!"
Roxy giggled. "Sorry."
When she had the booze, she got into the car. Jane was kind enough to not make her walk home. "Thank you, Janey."
Jane sighed. "I just wish you wouldn't drink," she murmured. "I just wish you would stop."
Roxy looked down at the brown paper bag in her lap, and sighed. "I can't. I will never be able to stop. Does that make me pathetic? That I drink all the time, especially when I'm sad? Does that make me stupid and selfish by throwing my life away? Does it make me a terrible person?"
Jane smiled sadly and shook her head. "It makes you a person."
The rest of the ride was silent.
When Roxy was inside her house, she stood in the foyer for a minute, before sliding down, and crying. Tears flowed from her eyes, and she ripped open the brown bag, taking the Vodka from its comfort. She used her teeth to open the top, and spit it out of her mouth. Without thinking, she chugged down a majority of the liquor. The tears escalated, and she was blubbering sobs while drinking.
When Roxy finally realized what she was doing, she spit out the liquor in her mouth, and coughed. She had finished half of the bottle, and she felt loose and funny, the way she usually is.
Her lip trembled, and she coughed, going into another sobbing fit. "Pathetic!" she cried. "I'm so fuckin' pafetic!" She kicked away the bottle, making the contents spill on the floor.
She sat there for a minute, before standing up, and wobbling upstairs to her room. She slid into her computer chair with some difficulty and logged onto Pesterchum. She had a fuck ton of messages from none other than Dirk Strider himself.
timaeusTestified began pestering tipsyGnostalgic
TT: Rox
TT: Come on, Rox, answer me.
TT: Fuck, what's wrong?
TT: And don't tell me nothing, because I know that something is wrong.
TT: Look, I feel like it's my fault.
TT: And if it is, then I'm sorry for whatever I did.
TT: Please answer when you get this.
She could have just easily closed her laptop, but Dirk was still on. Roxy bit her lip, and sighed. She slowly typed a reply.
TG: nohtning is rong, dirk
TG: srsyl im fine
TT: Bullshit.
TG: ouch
TG: srlsly im jus going throuhg hormone shit
TT: I don't believe that for one second, Rox.
TG: yuo shud
TG: bc everthin is fien
TG: *everything
TG: i dunno why u thin sumthin is rong
TT: Oh, let's see…you abruptly left the restaurant when I told you that me and Jake were dating.
TG: i hadta feed frig
TT: Yeah, that's a lie. Oh, not to mention, you also hung up on me this morning, like a douche bag.
Roxy winced. Okay, so maybe Dirk was catching on.
TG: look its not u
'But it is you…'
TG: its just im gion thru stuff
'Going through heartbreak…'
TG: you dint do anyting
'You broke my heart…'
TT: … Do you still like me?
Roxy's eyes widened, and her heart starting beating faster. She clumsily typed a reply.
TG: WHAT
TG: lmoa
TG: no
TG: n
TG: no
TG: not ta al
TG: lolololol
TG: y would u tinhk that lmfao
TG: were just frends
TG: srsly wht made you think tht
TT: … I guess…
TT: I don't know. I was just… assumed.
TG: well you asumned rong lmap
TG: *lmoa
TG: were just gret firedns
TG: buddies
TG: pails
TG: *pals
TG: amgos
TG: oh look
TG: i need to fede frig
TG: lolwell see you laterz stridr
TG: byeeeee
tipsyGnostalgic ceased pestering timaeusTestified
TT: What.
TT: Rox?
Roxy quickly shut her laptop, and shakily got up. She didn't waste a second to stumble over to her bed, crawl in, and cuddle with Paws. She couldn't contain the tears, and began crying, hugging with the stuffed animal.
'Why me? Why? Why did I have to fall for him?'
'Why do I have to be in love?'