Trial and Error

Heartbreak

Connie was having a pretty mediocre day, which meant for her it was a stellar day. The sun was shining so hard she had to close the blinds a bit so the sun wouldn't blind her by glinting off the floor. Her cereal was pretty much mush by the time she'd stopped staring into the distance, but she promised herself she'd make something protein rich for lunch and dinner.

She was now 23 years old going on 24, living a life she'd thought she wanted but quickly realized was ultimately useless.

Finishing her bachelors had been monumentally rewarding, but it had come with a massive and irreplaceable cost. She'd made new friends, she'd grown closer with her parents after moving out, she was widely liked or at least respected. Life had been good.

She sighed, dumping her food into the garbage disposal. "No use in trying, Connie. Maybe tomorrow."

Her phone buzzed and she filled with a recently familiar dread. She always got off work at three in the afternoon, and he would call when he had the freedom. It was around that time, and he was still her very best friend despite everything.

Staring at his picture lit up with his gorgeous wife kissing his cheek made her stomach fill with bile, but she swallowed it and put on the cheerful voice she was accustomed to using for Steven. "Hey, Steven! What's up?"

There was silence for a moment, a very long moment. It stretched so long she worried maybe the call hadn't connected all the way, but as she moved the phone back he sniffled. "Hey, Connie. I-I don't know if you're busy or anything–,"

"No, I'm not busy," She said quickly, berating herself for being so lenient. He was someone else's husband and not hers. She needed to get over it completely instead of circling back to high functioning depression as her therapist called it with a shake of her head. "Are you okay?"

Those three words were often the breaking point for her in therapy, but she hadn't ever expected to hear the heartbroken sobs on the other line. "N-no. I need s-s-someone with me here r-right now, Connie! I-I'm going to– to lose it!"

Connie forced herself to grab her keys like a normal person. "Where's Audra?"

"Out."

The sharpness in his tone startled her enough to kick her into full sprint mode. Now she was wrestling on her shoes and putting on a top without so much cleavage to be respectful. "Uhm, if she can't be there, I can be there in five."

There was a bit of shuffling on his end and another shaky breath as he tried to compose himself. "You live t-ten minutes away."

"I can be there in five minutes, Steven," She promised, sliding into her car and revving her engine so it wouldn't die on her. "This scholar speeds."

He chuckled, but it died out quickly. "Connie... I..."

He sounded like he was nervous suddenly, but her mind went to the darkest places possible for no apparent reason she wanted to digest outside of journaling. "Hey, whatever happened we can figure it out toge– I mean, we can figure it out as long as we're best friends, yeah?" She furrowed her brow in frustration at herself and the red light, then realizing no cars were coming or going, sped through it. "Sorry, got distracted by a red light."

Steven sighed heavily. "Right. I get it."

The sadness in his voice hurt her to no end, so she accelerated a bit more until she was crusing 60 in a 30. "Shiva, please don't let the cops be on patrol today. I'm gonna do something a little naughty," She murmured, pushing on the accelerator. The car chugged, staying at 60 as she slammed her hand on the dash and pumped with her foot. "Come on, Montessa, work with me dammit!"