Dash

by Shantel Tessier

I can’t hide who I really am. I am a smart-mouthed bitch who has anger issues and a right hook to prove it. If that meant I rolled around in the dirt with the ones he considered scum, then call me the fucking queen of the scum world.

That’s what best friends do when a guy dumps your ass. They make them sound like dirt to put a smile on your face.

I swallow hard, knowing that promises are made to be broken. In the end, ‘promise’ is just a word spoken to prevent the inevitable that no one wants to see coming.

“I fell in love with him because of the way he made me feel. Not my feelings toward him, but my feelings toward myself. I lit up when he walked into a room. I had a smile on my face that wouldn’t go away. My skin would tingle whenever he would look at me.” Her eyes drop to the cut on my lip, and I lick it nervously. Her eyes meet mine once again, and she continues. “I loved myself first. I fell in love with the person who I was when he was around. And in loving myself, I fell in love with him.”

“Give love a chance. It doesn’t matter if your heart breaks a hundred times. You’ll eventually open your heart to that one person who makes all that pain go away. It’ll be that one love that’s worth it.”

The way her bruised and stitched face looked. She looked so broken—so not herself. And that’s what made me so mad. That was why I yelled at her in front of everyone.

Winning that race last week made me realize that was only half of my dream. The other half was having her there with me.

People find love every day and they waste it. They tarnish it by cheating or lying. Or just because they’re scared.

Dash taught me that you’re never guaranteed tomorrow. And yesterday is never enough.