Free Broken Fairytales by Monica Alexander

our haste to leave the party after everything had essentially turned to shit .
    Rachel insisted on coming home with me and staying the night, so the next morning, w hile I’d finished making sure I had everything packed for the beach and the car was loaded , Chase had offered to drive her to get her car , which I thought w as completely thoughtful and completely out of character for him. Of course the night before had been full of surprises, including some where Chase had actually been friendly toward me, so I figured I wouldn’t question his offer.
    I was exhausted from what seemed like an endless night that included me thinking I was crazy for ever thinking B en was not t he right guy for me, then getting angry at Ben and breakin g up with him out of the blue after having too much to drink , and then shedding more tears than I had in a long time over said break-up . Oh yeah, and I’d gotten into a fist fight. It had not been a good night.
    In the bright light of the morning, I knelt in front of my s uitcase, packing the last of my clothes and hoping my stomach would settle down . I’d thrown up countless times the night before and was pressed down by that awesome hangover feeling that made my head ac he and my stomach beg for greasy food . I’d only experienced it two other times, and I was pretty sure I’d blocked out the pain since I hadn’t remembered it being this intense. Of cou rse, I was also sporting red, puffy eyes since I’d spent the better part of the night bawling my eyes out , so I knew that couldn’t be helping matters at all.
    On top of everything else, I was still slightly emotional from the events of night before, fighting the tears that still threatened to fall, as I wondered if I’d made the right decision in breaking up with Ben . It had been so rash and unexpected, but in the moment, it was exactly what I’d wanted.
    I picked up a pair of jeans and a filmy white top that were draped across th e back of my desk chair. I’d worn both of them to the part y the night before and had lai d them across the chair when I ’d stumbled into my room at midnight , flanked by Rachel and my brother, each of them supporting me since I couldn’t stand on my own . 
    Those two items were the last things I had to pack. They needed to be washed , as the top was half-soaked in beer and my favorite pair of jeans had a mud on the back f rom when I’d fallen down at the party and lande d in a beer/dirt concoction on the floor . That had been at the peak of the worst part of the night.
    The night had actually started out perfect. Ben had taken me to dinner before and we had plans to leave the party early so we could spend some time alone , so he’d been in a spectacularly good mood. Thinking that I needed to let loose and not be so rigid, as Chase and Ben had both told me I was , I’d decided to make the most of the night.
    That included getting drunk – really drunk – which might have been a mistake since I wasn’t a big drinker . The last time I could remember being drunk was the night sophomore year that led to me thinking I might be pregnant. I usually drank socially , no more than a beer or two a night. But f or the first time in a while, I’d let go of all of my inhibitions and let loose , which turned out to be error number one .
    At first, I f ound myself having fun, laughing , and smiling na turally for the first time in months . I felt so relaxed , but then as is the way it works with alcohol, I hit a point where the more I drank, the more things started to go from good to bad to worse . I honestly blame Ashleigh Ballast, as looking back it was all her fault that I was now boyfriendless and probably the topic of ma n y post-party conversations that would be taking place. I’d take the blame for the hangover, but everything else was Ashleigh’s fault.
    She had been in rarer form than usual. Over the years, I’d come to realize that she had a thing for Ben and had never really gotten over the