Prompt: 79. Acquiesce
Character(s): Lydia
Word Count: 1,521
Rating: T
Warning(s): None
She wasn't going to be someone's rebound, or their punching bag, or their clown.
His spare house key was on her key ring and in a wild moment a pride and fury she almost ripped it off and flung it at him, she hope it detached his cornea. Almost, meaning she hadn't done it, but she'd thought about it with violent glee.
Calling her mother and telling her to pick her up in the vintage mustang reserved only for use in special occasions during third period with a quick text she knew she was on her way to nurturing her fury into something useful, something that would keep her from debasing herself or acting like a dumb female who couldn't move beyond a boy no longer wanting her.
The blaring of a horn outside in the parking lot stopped the whole class' chattering, her mother had arrived. Rising from her seat like a queen, she informed her English teacher that it was for her. The classroom's wall phone rang to inform her teacher that she was being picked-up as she strode to the door all heels and swagger, the door shutting swiftly behind her with everyone's eyes on her back, including his.
She knew his desk had a clear view of the parked Mustang and as her mother stepped from the driver's side leaning on the open door in sunglasses and a winning smile, Lydia caught the keys tossed at her with a swift hand, her mother moving to the other side of the car and she took the driver's seat.
With a rev of the engine and a quick whip of the wheel she peeled out of the parking lot while setting her sunglasses in place, she didn't have to look at the window to know he had watched her not watching him.
She had smiled in true joy at the notion.
Her mother didn't ask what had spurred the impromptu girls' day, she knew her daughter knew when it was alright to take a day for herself and in truth Lydia had already collected her assignments for the day and had handed all the ones due in with an apology that she would be missing class.
It was done in a state of half-awareness, like she had been on autopilot after Jackson had rubbed her pride raw.
She bought a new set of workout clothes and sneakers, five new sets of laced and ruffled undergarments and a book on war tactics.
Her mother seemed amused but went along with it all, happy to see her daughter suddenly so sparked by something.
It was time to reevaluate what exactly she wanted from herself, Lydia decided, and what she wanted was to become a fitness queen with enhanced flexibility, an alluring temptress who wore her best frills to bed even when there was no one to see them and an expert in the art of attrition.
It certainly didn't hurt to work out more and she hated to think she'd ever wear a single piece of lingerie she had bought especially for the purpose of it being for Jackson for someone else and of course she felt the urge to educate herself further on the tactics needed to utterly decimate an enemy.
She would never go after Allison or whoever else it could be he had thought to trade her in for, she didn't work that way. Sabotage was a grade school ambition. All she wanted was retribution. Not revenge but an even balance of the scales, an even balance of which she always ended up with more and him less, because she was worth more than what he had done, what he was going to do.
When she got home she pulled her closet open and surveyed its contents, every so often she took a piece of clothing out and let it drop at her feet. She had never let him buy her anything like clothing but that didn't mean certain garments didn't have his presence surrounding them.
Things he had always said she looked good in piled on the floor, bras and panties and silk slips slipped over her fingers as she let them dropped haphazardly from her loose grip, when she finished she separated them into how they would be washed.
It took her the rest of the afternoon to wash and dry and fold everything and place them in neat piles.
She left Allison a message saying she had some things she was going to donate to the good will bin and if she wanted to come by and look through to see if she liked something she was welcome to whatever she wanted.
She hoped Allison took it all and wore it all. She hoped Jackson noticed, she hoped it made him burn in resentment.
Changing, she did a yoga workout from the DVD collection her mother had that had her sweaty and mumbling down at the floor at how the instructor was a sadistic bitch every few moves.
Collapsing to the floor when it was finished she showered and savored the heat of the water for twice the time she usually would.
She got dressed, redid her make-up and smiled to her reflection the workout making her muscles deliciously tight.
She mused on the idea of getting a pull up bar for her doorway but wondered if it would ruin the doorframe, she'd have to ask someone, maybe Danny or even Scott. Danny would mention it to Jackson who would probably be confused as to why she would ask and think she was buying it as a gift for someone since obviously he wouldn't think she'd actually bought it for herself, and asking Scott was simply a means to an end that was made of make-outs and heavy groping in a school hallway.
Lydia figured to let Allison decide which one she wanted before she made a move, it was only gracious after all, if Allison choose Scott then she got him and Jackson would be alone and Lydia would smile at his misfortune and knock him down when he was already in the metaphorical dirt her foot on his head burying his face in it.
And if Allison chose Jackson that left her to at least toy with Scott, she wasn't sure he would ever be over Allison and Lydia was not about to let herself stumble into that sort of situation where she wasn't the one being pined for.
She spent the rest of the day restructuring, she changed her relationship status on her online profile, packed all of the things of his she had in a box, put his key in a plain white envelope and sealed the box without any note or added flourish besides making everything fit tidily and neatly inside.
The plan had been to leave it on his step while he was at the game and she would have had his father not come to the door to say hello.
He had not gone to the game due to a work meeting that he was just on his way to, when he asked what she was doing there she handed him the box and asked him to return it to Jackson.
Beyond a simple goodbye she had not thought to continue the chat but when his father asked what was in the box she informed him it was just a few of his son's things that she had had at her house or in her locker that she was returning.
His father seemed to understand at once.
"He'll realize his mistake and apologize within the week; he probably deserves you telling him what's what for whatever it is he's done."
With a soft smile Lydia raised her eyebrows and took off her sunglasses with her smile growing.
"Actually I think it's going to take him a lot longer than week to realize his mistake since he seemed so sure about making it when he told me he was dropping some dead weight in his life this morning."
She replaced her glasses and opened her car door as her now ex-boyfriend's father stood dumbly at the top of the driveway unsure of what to say in response.
"Tell your wife I said hello," she called out the open window as she left with one smooth curve from the driveway, grinning to herself.
It felt good to just let things happen sometimes, like freedom, or a release.
Let someone else make the decisions, she thought to herself as she drove around passing the school once and not giving the field more than a cursory glance.
She turned on the radio and chose an upbeat country song to drive the long way home too.
She wasn't going to cut her hair or dye it, or dress differently, or cry.
She was beyond it. She'd skipped all the way to the end of the grief process to acceptance within the past hour.
She was going to be fine; she was going to look fine, plenty of men not enough time, but enough options to make it worth her while in the end.