⚽ 3.296
Alma. Was. Seething.
She was pacing back and forth as Maya sat on the counter of the bathroom. There was a gentle knock at the door, and Maya opened it to find Abby and Benny. She poked her head out to find any other adults watching, and ushered them inside.
“I cannot fucking believe they said that!” Alma yelled and turned around in circles, trying to expel her anger. “They just! They can’t! AGH!”
She kicked the plastic trash can in the corner, and Maya rushed in front of her.
“Hey, buddy,” she said with a smile, “how about some deep breaths?” Alma still had a wild look in her eye, but as Maya rubbed up and down her arms soothingly, she felt her anger start to fade.
Only by a little. She was pretty furious.
“Why—” she took another deep breath, “why would they say that!?”
“Because they’re dicks,” Abby said — she took Maya’s spot on the counter. “And their dads are dicks— no wonder they get everything they want. If that was my kid, I’d do anything to not have to interact with them.”
“They should look into muzzles,” Benny opened the last bottle of blue gatorade for Alma. “Or shock collars.”
Alma took three big gulps — as she calmed her breathing (watching Maya, matching her own breathing), she felt more and more at ease. Looking around, she could finally see the worry that was on their faces.
“You okay?” Maya asked — at those words, Alma could finally see the concern on her face.
“I…” Alma took a short breath. “Why would they say that?” She asked with tears starting to form in her eyes.
“They’re fucking stupid, A,” Maya wrapped her arms around her. “Don’t listen to them, okay? Nothing that they say matters.”
“Seriously,” Abby chimed in. “What do they know about anything? Whatever they have to say about your family is just bullshit fed to them from their own insecure dads.”
“They were both mistakes anyways,” Benny added, but Maya and Abby shot him a deadly look. “What?”
Alma cried harder, and Benny winced.
“That’s not— I didn’t mean it like that, Alma! You’re not—”
“Out!” Abby hopped off the counter to push her brother out the door. “Listen to her tears and think about what you’ve done.”
The door shut with conviction, but Alma still cried. It was all too fucking much— she didn’t know how to deal with this shit! Lucky for her, she has the two absolute best people in the entire world as her best friends. With each upstroke of Maya’s hands on Alma’s back, she took a breath in. With each soothing press down, she exhaled. Soon, her breathing finally returned to normal.
She still sniffled tears, though. Abby was ready with a wad of toilet paper to wipe them away.
“Th—thanks, guys.” Her shoulders dropped and she felt her sadness go with each fuss that Abby made with her hair and cheeks, wiping up the tears and making her laugh. When Alma tried to bat her hands away, Abby only tried harder, both of them breaking into squeals of laughs. “Oh my god— I’m fine!”
“You’re a mess, babe,” Abby smacked a big kiss onto her cheek. “And I love you for it.”
Maya had Alma’s duffel on her shoulder. Abby had wads of tissues in her wand with Alma’s tears on them.
Never was there a better duo to cry uncontrollably in front of.
Alma wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders, bringing them in tight of a hug. “I love you both,” she squeezed them close. “Now, let's go get some pizza.”