Caleb leaned over the bathroom sink, gripping the edges tightly as he stared into the mirror with red-rimmed eyes. The thumping party music felt muted and distant despite the throbbing walls. His vision blurred with tears of anger and hurt. How could his best friend of 10 years suddenly turn on him like this?

Ever since middle school, Caleb and Jake had been inseparable. Outsiders even jokingly called them an old married couple with how they bickered and supported each other. They shared everything from dreams of backpacking across Japan to lamenting their dating woes. Caleb had always turned to his friend in tough times, trusting Jake implicitly to lift him up when things got dark.

Until tonight. Right as Caleb was psyching himself up to ask Cindy to dance, Jake swooped in to chat her up instead. When Caleb came over confused, his friend callously dismissed him in front of others as 'pathetic', 'a loser', and 'incapable of getting a real date.' As laughter erupted, Jake declared their decade of friendship officially over, saying he was tired of dealing with Cal's 'loser problems.'

Now here Caleb was, sobbing alone with his world shattered. He kept replaying the shocked faces and pointing fingers in his mind. Jake's cruel words echoed unrelentingly. Useless, stupid, waste of space...maybe he was right after all. Caleb had lost the one person who accepted him. If his best friend since elementary school now declared him a lost cause, what hope did he have?

Overwhelmed by the gut-wrenching betrayal, his knees gave out. Caleb slid slowly to the tiled floor in a miserable, defeated heap. How could he show his face again after this humiliation? Maybe he should just lie down here until the party ended, then drag his pathetic shell of an existence home. Some best friend... Caleb wrapped arms tight around himself, feeling more devastatingly alone than ever in his life.