The Other Half of the Story

The Failed Breakup

At the end of the day, I text Guinevere to meet me by my car. She gets into the passenger seat and sighs.

"Where are we going Jone?"

I hate her nicknames for me.

"Well, that depends. Are you hungry? Or do you want to hike?"

"Hello? Hike and mess up this hair? Hell no. Let's go eat."

"Bet. Where?"

"Boka, obviously"

I hate Boka, but her family runs it. That's going to make it hard for me to break her the news.

"Boka it is."

I start to drive, and I put on some of my father's tunes. He writes music. He lives far away, and I rarely get to see him. I use his music as a way to cope with our separation. He's my favorite person in the world.

"Ew Jonah, what is this shitty music? I'm changing it." She takes the tape out of my car and then she hooks the AUX cord up and she blasts some mediocre artist without my permission.

"You know this is my car right?"

"Jonah, I'm not dumb. I don't like whoever you were just listening to."

"Yea, but Gwenny, you can't just do that. That was what I wanted to listen to."

"Yea but I didn't. Ladies first Jonah."

"Yes, ladies first, but me never?"

"Oh my God, will you stop? Do you really want to do this right now?"

I, out of anger, take her phone and unplug it from the AUX and pop my tape back into the car.

"Jonah! What the hell! Pull over."

"No. Gwenny I need to take you to dinner tonight it's really important."

"Well, you should have thought about that before you hit me."

"What the fuck Guinevere! I didn't. You are so unbelievable."

"No Jonah, you are."

She takes my tape out and snaps it in half. I have never felt so mad and disappointed in my life.

"That was my fucking dad's! Are you fucking serious Gwen? That was my only copy. That was the only way I got to feel comfort from him besides calling him. Do you understand the weight of what you just did? I'm taking you home. Fuck this."

Gwen laughs at me and says, "Jonah, are you twelve? Holy shit. I didn't know that your dad was more important to you than my happiness is."

"Well Gwen, if your head wasn't so far up your own ass, you would understand why he is. He's my dad. He will always come before you. Family always comes first."

Guinevere starts to cry. She hasn't ever been told that before. She's never not been top priority.

"Fuck you, Jonah."

"Gwen I can't do this anymore. I really can't. I haven't been able to for a long time and quite honestly, you don't love me. You love the idea of me. We are done. I hope you the best and I hope you find someone that'll put up with your bullshit."

I pull up to her house and park in her driveway.

"Get out."

She gets out and flips me the bird. She does this as she cries her way back inside.

This is obviously not what I had planned. I really hurt her. But she really hurt me. For too long. It was weighing me down. I didn't know what to do when she broke my tape. I'm so pissed. I drove all the way back home with tears in my eyes. I went in my house and laid on my bed. I cried for my dad's tape. Not for Gwen.

I fell asleep for about an hour before I woke up again. It was 5:30. Shit. I left Sammy with the test baby.

I called her.

"Hey Jonah. How'd the break up go?"

"Not as planned."

"So, are you still together?"

"No. We aren't. It just ended really really wrong."

"I'm really sorry about that Jonah. Why'd you call?"

"Oh uh, I called because I'm done with what I needed to do with Gwen, and I can take the baby. Or we could figure out something to do together with the baby."

"You just went through something really hard, don't you just want to rest? You can just take her tomorrow."

"It's a she?"

"Yea, she is."

"Oh." I laugh.

"I can just come by and get her now, I'm totally fine."

"No, I just think you should take a break from life for a bit. I'll see you tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. at the hiking trails for you to take her."

"Why that early?"

"I want to hike tomorrow and it's the most peaceful in the morning."

She is cool. Who just hikes? Literally. Who?

"Nice. How about I hike with you?"

"It's a date!"

A DATE?! A DATE?!

I hang up the phone and rush to my closet for my nicest workout clothes. I need to be prepared for the best day of my life. I'm so happy I broke up with Guinevere.