I’m fine.
I’m good enough just as I am.
Noise suddenly fills the room as the restroom door is pushed open.
My eyes open and I watch through the mirror as a couple of girls in their 20’s walk in, chatting as they head towards the stalls. I’m about to look away when another form walks in. The same mean-faced woman from the bar.
My heart rate spikes to a new high.
She’s staring right at me.
This woman has come in here for one reason, and it’s not to pee.
I pull my eyes away and turn the water off, making sure to keep my movements calm even though I feel anything but.
Picking up one of the soft cotton hand towels, I turn to face her.
I don’t want to. I want to crawl under the sink and die. But by facing her I’m also forcing myself to confront one of my greatest fears. On my own. To prove that I can.
The fact that I’m also facing the door is simply a happy coincidence.
“Look, I’m not trying to be harsh,” she starts.
But I already know that what’s coming next is going to be worse than harsh. Worse than I’d imagined.
The other voices in the restroom even cut off at her words, quieting so they can hear the humiliation I’m sure is about to come.
She scoffs, “But it’s not like you’re doing anything to hide your weight.”
She gives my chest a pointed look and I twist my hands into the towel, trembling at her directness.
Are people really like this? Are they really this cruel to strangers? At a wedding?
When she just continues to stare at me, I work to form words, “Have- Have I done something to offend you?”
I think I hear a small gasp from one of the stalls, and I feel my dread build even more.
The Bitch takes a step towards me and I automatically back up, my butt bumping into the counter.
“Youoffended me,” she sneers, “by having the fucking audacity to come here tonight. Withhim.”
“Are you and he…?” I whisper, thinkingscorned loveris the only reason for someone acting this ugly.
The look she gives me is pitying while also sayingyou’re an idiot. “Axel is my nephew, not my boyfriend, which just goes to show how little you know.”
My throat feels like it’s closing and I tighten my hold of the towel, “Then why-”
“He’s too good for the likes of you.” She cuts me off, pointing her finger like a dagger. “I know your type. Gold digging whores. Leeches with daddy issues, looking for a soft target you can suck dry.”
I flinch when she says the worddaddyand her eyes narrow even further.
“That’s it, isn’t it?” She hisses. “You’re trying to get back at your own old man, see his reaction when you bring Axel to dinner.”
“I’m not-”
“So what did they say? Your parents? When you told them you were fucking someone old enough to be your father.”
My lips are trembling just as bad as my hands now.