Free When Girlfriends Break Hearts by Savannah Page

evening with Brandon, the huge mistake I made, the truth coming out, all the way to my confronting Robin about the entire thing. Claire was the amazing friend that I knew she would be. She held me while I cried, comforted me through the rehashing of the horrible events, and assured me that she’d help me through it all. When Conner briefly knocked on the door and inquired if everything was alright she told him she had it all under control. Claire was my rock.
    “We’ll get through this, Sophie,” she encouraged, wiping some tears from my cheeks. “It’s not going to be easy, but you’re going to come out stronger from all of this. You’re going to get through it and come out braver, and even happier. It’s a real low point right now, but we’re going to get you through it. Okay?”  
    I nodded and gave her a weak smile. “I cannot believe Robin would do this to me.”  
    “I can’t either.”
    “I don’t understand how someone can do this. I guess you hear about crap like this happening, but you never imagine it really happening to you, you know?” Claire nodded in agreement. “I’m beside myself about the whole thing. I would never do this to her.”
    “Maybe give it some time and you can talk to her again. Try to sort things out? I can come with you, if you like?”
    “Talk to her ? To Robin? That slut? Hell no!” How could Claire suggest such an appalling prospect? Robin and I were through. Adios. Kaputt. Goodbye. “I told her I don’t want to talk to her or ever see her again. She’s as good as dead to me, Claire. I can’t even look at that lying bitch.”
    Claire rested her hand on my shoulder. “It was only a suggestion. A thought. We don’t have to do anything about it right now.”  
    “Or ever!”
    “Or ever…. I think you just need some time to yourself and time to calm down. And of course, I’ll be here if you need anything. If you need anything. ”
    I embraced Claire in a warm hug and thanked her. Claire’s kindness and strength and friendship were the epitome of what a woman should expect in a real and true friend. Why couldn’t Robin have those qualities? She always said she’d have your back. She just failed to mention there could be a knife in it.
    Claire was always there for me, though, and I for her. It was the basic dynamic of our relationship. A sort of “to have and to hold” deal. When Claire had random squabbles with Conner or the times Conner flirted too much with some sorority girl and they almost called it quits, I was Claire’s shoulder to cry on. When she had a really nasty bout of the flu our sophomore year I made her countless bowls of homemade chicken noodle soup, gathered her class notes, and made sure she had plenty of Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts films at her fingertips. When her parents decided to split up and file for divorce that first year we were in college, I was Claire’s middle-of-the-night comforter when she found herself sporadically crying. Her go-to-girl to escape to the mall for some mindless shopping, to walk to the gas station down the road to answer a Slurpee craving, to join in the bathroom to hand her the tissue as she sat on the edge of the bathtub, crying and swearing. I was there for Claire—always was and always would be.
    And she was always, without a shadow of a doubt, there for me. When I got a ‘D’ on two exams in a row in our General Mathematics course we took together one semester, on the brink of failing the class, Claire was right there with a calculator in one hand and a cafe mocha in the other. When Brandon and I had gotten into a huge fight over something so insignificant I can’t recall (although I vaguely remember a bag of frozen French fries playing a part somehow), Claire opened up her front door and let me become her roomie just like old times…just like now. When I was extremely stressed trying to juggle my part-time job at Katie’s Kitchen and the insurmountable homework that was backing up, Claire