"I told you so."

Jasmine seemed to fill the doorway, even with her tiny frame. She was petite, short, with smallish breasts and thin arms, which were now crossed over her chest. Her hips were the biggest thing about her, adding the only real shape to her otherwise straight and narrow body. Her hair was cut short, not more than three inches long and stuck out in all directions, wild, untamable and blue at the moment. It matched the bright blue glass in her spectacles that she insisted on wearing at all times perched on her sharp nose.

Dawn looked at her friend, tears still running down her red cheeks. Her eyes were puffy and sore, her nose stuffed. She took a deep sniffing breath through her nose and shrugged, as if admitting defeat. Jasmine unfolded her arms and put one around Dawn.

“I told you so,” Jasmine said.

“Can you please not start right now?” asked Dawn imploringly.

“Alright,” said Jasmine, “But I saw this comin’, you know. I knew he wasn’t gonna be right for you, none of the guys are gonna be right for you. Just come in and wash your face, then we’ll talk some, alright?”

Dawn nodded and pushed some dark hair away from her face. She allowed Jasmine to lead her in to the bathroom and set her down on the toilet seat.

Jasmine turned on the sink and grabbed a towel from the bar beside the mirror. She ran the towel under the flow, and knelt down in front of her friend.

“Let’s have a look at you, huh?” she said softly, dabbing at Dawn’s face tenderly with the towel.

“I dunno how it happens, Jas,” she sniffed as Jasmine gently bathed her tear-stained face. “One moment it’s just so perfect…SO perfect…then the next second we’re screaming at each other for reasons I don’t even remember. One argument after another, he threatens to leave me, I threaten to leave him…we threaten to do this and that to hurt the other…and then moments later, we’re just,” she lifted her head to the ceiling, taking a deep breath and shrugging her shoulders again. “The next moment it’s like we want to pretend that none of it ever happened. A few awkward apologies during which neither of us really says we’re sorry, then sex, then sleep. And then it’s the same thing the next day. I have had enough! I just can’t live life like that, not knowing what kind of boyfriend I’m going to be facing when I get up…maybe he’s just too…like me.”

Jasmine nodded in agreement, kneeling up and embracing her friend.

“I know, sweetie, I know. It’ll work out one of these days, I promise. You’ll find the right person, be able to settle down…no more of this emotional bullshit you love so much.” Jasmine smiled in to Dawn’s face. “Now how about some popcorn, huh? Popcorn and a Mel Gibson flick. Want to see him go ‘Mad Max’ on some poor bastard’s ass?”

Dawn smiled at that.

“I’d love to. Do you have ‘Payback?’”

“Does a bear shit in the woods? Come on, let’s watch it.”

They walked arm in arm to the small living room, where Dawn plopped down in front of the movie shelf to begin searching for the video. Jasmine went to the kitchen to start the popcorn, and once it was done they sat side by side on the fluffy old couch to watch Mel Gibson kick ass.