Five Minutes

Owner Of A Lonely Heart

The minute she shut the door of her home and found Ralston in the kitchen getting himself beer, Veronica collapsed into his arms and cried.

She felt him wrap his arms around her, which only made her crying worsen.

"What happened?" he asked.

He helped her take a seat by the kitchen table and lowered himself down in the vacant spot beside her.

She relayed how Mel and Alana had both acted when she'd told them about Daniel.

Ralston sat and listened, without any interruption. She was staring down at her hands, unsure why she was evading his stare. One thing she was certain of was that he wouldn't judge her. Not now or ever. But she knew looking at him would make her nervous.

"I spent my all this time worrying about what they'd say, but knowing that's how they think hurts." Veronica's hands were still tremulous and her eyes stung from crying so hard. "Alana said-" She swallowed, trying to recollect herself; her voice was wavering noticeably. "She said she'd be here for me. Why would she say that and then doubt... everything? I... I don't even know what I've got to gain from lying about it. That's what I don't get. No normal person would lie about it. They wouldn't. And knowing that they think I'm making it up..."

She stopped, raising her hands to swipe off her tears.

"I'm sorry, Nicky," Ralston said. "I really thought they'd believe you."

"One of the girls in my support group said those kind of people aren't your friends, but... I don't..." She was speechless. Shayna was right. Veronica knew that, but she didn't want to accept the notion that Alana and Mel weren't her friends. She'd known them for years.

"Fuck the two of them," Ralston said.

Despite the enraged tone he used, Veronica chuckled at the comment. "That's what I said to them before I left."

"Good. They deserved it."

He said nothing for next few moments afterward. And it was okay; she needed to regain her cool. She sniffed a few times, wiping more tears away, knowing her face probably looked like a puffy, blotchy mess.

"I think I'm kind of glad I told them," she said. "Now I know what they're really like... it makes me realize they're not worth giving a shit over."

"That's tough. You're sure you're fine with that?"

"Even if they apologize... they still doubted me."

"But you've been friends with them for years."

"I know. It's gonna be hard but I can't be friends with either of them. I don't think... I could ever forgive them." She felt too betrayed by their skepticism.

She sat, hunched over, quiet. Another stream of silence wafted through the kitchen. At least Ralston knew it was best not to say anything. She was relieved he didn't try to rationalize Alana and Mel's actions. The fake consolation would have only made her angry.

Later that night, when she was lying in bed beside Ralston, she couldn't refrain from glancing at her phone. As expected, she had countless missed calls from both Alana and Mel. They filled up her call history list.

They'd also sent her texts apologizing profusely for the doubts they had. And she wished they were in her bedroom so they could witness the eye roll she did reading them.

Their sorrys were empty of any sincerity. In her opinion, at least. This didn't warrant a second chance.

Following a few moments of hesitation, she blocked their numbers and deleted them from her contacts list. The same way she had with Daniel.

She supposed this wasn't going to get any easier for her. Many of her other friends could vacillate when it concerned taking her story seriously. But this was the price she had to pay, right? Eventually, she might count her friends or the people she trusted on only one hand. She didn't know how to interpret that.

Letting out a small sigh, she placed her phone on the night stand.

"What's wrong?" Ralston asked, looking at her. He was fiddling with his own phone.

"I blocked both of them," she replied.

"I'm glad," he said, staring back at his phone. "It sucks that they're such shit people. You deserve better."

She did deserve better. And that acknowledgement filled her with a confidence and a certainty she hadn't found in herself for months.

She gave Ralston a smile just as she switched off the lamp on her nightstand and leaned further back on the bed.

"Want me to turn the light off?" Ralston asked. He still had his own lamp on.

"No. It's okay. I can sleep with the light on," she replied.

She had weird conflicting feelings as she lay on her side, her eyes closed. She was saddened by having to drop two friends, but relieved to eliminate some of the toxicity from her life.