Gemotions

The party was a disaster. Balloons, streamers, well-wishes plastered on the walls, and the honoree was grinning like an idiot. Alex, surrounded by a throng of well-wishers, was practically glowing with excitement about his move to the coast. The whole thing made her stomach churn.

She clutched a glass of cheap wine, feeling the cool glass against her clammy hand. Every forced smile, every congratulatory handshake, felt like a personal insult. She had to remind herself to breathe.

She kept her distance, observing the scene like an outsider. The music was too loud, the laughter too high-pitched, the entire atmosphere a suffocating display of what felt to her like pure, unadulterated selfishness.