Why We Ended Things

Billie Joe Armstrong

Yes, you dumped Eren. About a month ago, to be exact. It was fresh, the sort of wound you wanted to poke your fingers in to see if it still hurt.

It did. Just a bit.

The only thing that made it better was that Jean had kept it in his pants for the last month and hadn't tried to hit on you. Yet.

Anyway, it was the ugly kind of breakup. The one you would see in the movies but didn't think could possibly happen in real life. The sort of breakup that's filled with screaming at each other through snot-filled voices. Smearing away the tears that coated your cheeks and spilled past your jaw. Yeah, all of that. Lots of groveling, too, on Eren's part. You remembered trying to leave the room to catch your breath, only for him to follow just behind you, somehow still having more to say. He always had something more to say.

Hitch helped piece you back together when it was all said and done. The three-hour-long breakup.

Hitch was your downstairs neighbor in your duplex. That was a fact, but it didn't seem to do your relationship justice. Over the last two years, she had become your best friend. At first, it was nothing more than a built-in friendship, the kind you foster only out of necessity because being alone is, frankly, terrifying. But it didn't take long for it to blossom into sisterhood.

That day, you clung to her and cried for what felt like an eternity. You would sniffle and start to dry your eyes just to sob all over again at even the slightest reminder.

Eren's things were all around your apartment. His jacket laid across the back of your dining chair because you had forgotten to bring it along for the breakup. But handing it over then would have probably been too direct. Hitch shoved it under your couch when she noticed you were staring at it.

You thought of him when you saw his emergency pack of cigarettes, still sitting in the back corner of your freezer. Even when you looked at your phone, every missed call and every text was from Eren just over the last few hours. You only turned off your phone after you listened to the pissed-off voice message Ymir sent you. She wanted to know why there was a hole in their apartment wall. It wasn't like you had an answer, anyway. It must have happened after you left.

The snarl in her voice was enough to set you off. You threw your phone across the room, watching it skip along the scratched wooden floor. Hitch didn't move. Not a flinch, not a blink. She was a good friend like that, never reacting to your emotional outbursts. Maybe she had gotten used to it; your frustration was starting to become chronic.

"Fuck Ymir. She's a bitch," Hitch said. She turned to you, still sitting cross-legged on the rug. "You don't owe her an explanation."

"That won't stop her from trying," you said. You ran your hands over your swollen face, wiping away the tears and the tension that resided behind your eyes.

Ymir was Eren's roommate and yet another asshole in your life. She was nothing you couldn't handle, but man, did she scare the shit out of you sometimes. It only made matters worse that she was now super into your other best friend and previous roommate, Historia. Weird. And not to mention absolutely horrible timing, but let's save that story for another day.

"Then that's Eren's job. It's his fault he ended up here in the first place," Hitch firmly said.

You only nodded because your throat was tightening like you might cry again at the mention of his name. It was the last thing you wanted to hear, at least at that moment. Hitch noticed how you winced and apologized.

You couldn't say it enough: Hitch was a good friend. Before you moved in, you had driven yourself crazy wondering what nightmare of a person could possibly live below you. You imagined a bitter, old lady who would knock her cane against the ceiling when you walked around.