Love Simmers

Chapter 9

"I'm sorry I didn't come to the hospital," Maddie said, grabbing another tissue to dab her red, puffy eyes with. We sat on her couch in her beautifully decorated living room. The house that she had created for her and Charlie appeared empty now that he was gone. I looked around and noticed pieces of furniture were missing. I guess he'd taken them with him. It all seemed so abrupt. Six years packed away in two days.

"Don't worry about it. I wasn't there long." I didn't really know how to comfort her. I had never gone through what she was going through mostly because I steered clear of long-term relationships. The only man who had ever brought me to tears or fits of rage or bursts of love I hadn't stayed with long enough to allow him to hurt me. I had thought I was being smart and brave. On hindsight, maybe I was just being...dull. I was doing what was safe thinking I was being adventurous. But it took courage to start something that could ultimately end in so much heartbreak.

"I thought we were happy. Were we happy?" She looked to me for an answer. I didn't have the answers to my own life problems let alone hers but I wanted to help.

"You were so happy that he freaked out and began to question it, and doubt it." I believed what I said. Charlie was so happy with Maddie he'd decided it was boring. That he needed to add some color into his life by destroying it and starting a fresh one. Some people found happiness boring.

"Six years together. I don't know what life is like as an adult without him," she cried, and I moved closer to wrap my arm around her sobbing frame.

"You'll find out and you'll thrive and you'll realise that you can do great on your own." And then you'll realise that you'd rather be thriving with him than thriving on your own, I thought to myself but refrained from saying it aloud. Maybe, Nate and I would be where Maddie and Charlie were if we'd started dating in High School. Wondering whether we were missing out on the single, wild life experiences because we were in a steady relationship so young. The differences between Charlie and Nate formed in my mind and I knew that it was unlikely.

"I love him and he just walked out the door," she hiccupped, "he said he'd met someone that made him feel things he'd never felt with me! What does that even mean? You shouldn't say something like that to someone without an explanation!"

She tried to control her tears, my own eyes starting to water. Maddie didn't deserve to be hurt like this, no one did.

"There's nothing I can say to make you feel better." The words sounded lame even to me. "Is there?"

"You can't but I know what can," she wiped her eyes and stood up, running upstairs before I could even process what she'd said.

She came back down three minutes later wearing a cute sundress and enough makeup that her face was no longer red. She picked up her car keys.

"Where are we going?" I said, ready to follow her anywhere.

"Get a drink, down it and repeat." She locked the door behind us, a determination on her face I found unnerving. Maddie rarely drank. She wasn't a party girl. She was a homebody ready to have a house filled with kids. I wasn't sure what to think about the path she was about to take.

"Sure." I didn't point out I couldn't drink with her thanks to my painkillers. No one liked that person who sat sober staring while you got smashed. Either neither of you remembered the night or you both did. It was the proper lush etiquette.

The local bar was surprisingly busy for a weeknight, the pool tables were full and the TV was on loud as people watched some hockey game or another. Maddie went straight for the bartender. Before I had even reached her, she had a Vodka raspberry cocktail in her hand and was seated on one of the stools. I took a seat beside her.