I held my breath and tried to smother my terrible nerves. Darien, a girl I had befriended from my first period English class, had called my phone and asked me to come over to her place. From the tone of her voice I could tell she had been crying. I had told my parents I was going to her house to work on homework, and the excuse was bought without a second thought.
Standing in the dark hallway, I finally gathered my courage, even though butterflies were still fluttering inside my stomach. After letting go of a long breath, I gave a few short raps on the door. I waited, but there was no response.
"Come in," said Darien. Her beautiful voice was still tinged with sadness. Trying to make as little noise as possible, I opened the door and entered the bedroom. I walked slowly across the soft pink carpet and reached her bedside.
All she had for light was a solitary lamp on her nightstand, but even in the half-light I marveled at her appearance. Darien was never particularly beautiful; when she was younger, I actually thought she was a little ugly. However, she'd become much prettier as she grew older, and now such bad thoughts about her appearance never crossed my mind.
Darien had thick legs and fleshy white skin. She wasn't fat, although she did pack one or two extra pounds on her belly. Her straight brown hair came only to the very top of her shoulders. She wore a very short pair of blue jean shorts, a slightly too-tight shirt, and her feet were bare.
"Thank you for coming," she said, beckoning me to sit beside her on the bed. "I'm in such a terrible mood."
"What happened?" I asked her.
Darien was quite for a moment, as if trying to figure out how to say her answer. She finally
gave up and just blurted it out. "Ryan and I broke up." She started to cry at the mention of her former boyfriend's name.
I couldn't believe it. Darien and Ryan had dated for two years; I never dreamed in a million years that they would ever separate. "Why, Darien?" I asked.
Darien pounded her fist into the mattress. "That's the stupidest part about it!" she said. "He said that he didn't like 'planning my life' around me, so we broke up. Apparently, he thought I was too 'demanding.'"