"I met a guy, he has a girlfriend", she tells her friends
She says it as she puts on her makeup, looking in the mirror, waiting for judgment and concealing the worry lines that beg for advice
"How did you guys meet?" they ask
"Paths just crossed," she tells them, knowing her heart was searching for a part of it that was lost.
"What are you guys?" her friends ask.
"I don't know," she tells them, "it's complicated," knowing she's the only one complicating it.
"But how can you be anything? He has a girlfriend."
She stays silent; she heard the words out loud her mind had been whispering and she had ignored.
"How does he treat you?" they ask.
"He's like a switch," she says softly, "he's on and then he's off, and his behavior says we're gonna be something but his tongue tells me he's in love with her."
"How do you feel about him? Do you love him?" they ask.
"I feel what I feel," she tells them, looking away from the mirror to not see what she was thinking, and to avoid the shame in what she was feeling, loving him.
"Has he ever said he likes you?" they ask.
She pretends not to hear, knowing he only acts like it, and may have said it once at the start but made it clear she has his heart.
They see the look on her face.
"He's using you and you know it," they say....