She Means Business

Two

I always see girls in the movies turn to a sad playlist when they go through heartbreak. I think what I just experienced warrants that, so I scroll through spotify searching for the perfect sad song compilation and plug in the aux cord.

The first song that comes on is 'Lost Without You' by Freya Ridings. Cue the waterworks.

I wind down the window and let the swift breeze whip my hair around.

"I think I'm lost without you. I just feel crushed without you."

My stomach is battling mixed feelings. Part of me thinks I may have to pull over to throw up and part of me thinks if I don't eat in the half an hour I may just pass out. But I know I can't bear to eat alone right now. So I call the one person I want to talk to about this.

I slow down as I approach a red light, which gives me a chance to call Natalie. With every ring, I get more anxious and start to wonder whether calling her right now is really a good idea.

"Uh hello?" I hear from the car speaker.

She sounds confused as to why I'm calling, though I can't blame her.

"Hey, Nat. I'm driving around right now and I'll be in your neighborhood in about 10 minutes. I was wondering whether I could stop by, and if you haven't already had lunch I have some food from the diner. I was hoping maybe I could talk to you about something?"

I honestly have no idea how this is gonna go. The last time we spoke, things got very ugly and I said things that no-one should say to someone who has always had their back.

"I'm guessing your life is kinda fucked up right now?" Natalie laughs bitterly. "I can't believe you have the nerve to cut me out of your life for trying to be a good friend, and then think it's okay to decide you need me again. Without so much as an apology? It's really shitty, Elle. But whatever, I'm home right now so I guess I'll see you in a bit."

She's hit the nail on the head. I am the world's worst friend, and probably the world's worst girlfriend too if my fiance who I thought loved me thought he needed a side piece to be happy.

"Yeah... I'll see you soon," I say, followed by the sound of the call ending.

About 10 minutes later, I pull up outside Natalie's apartment and switch the engine off.

I stay sitting for a few minutes, bracing myself for what I'm about to face.

Before I know it, I'm standing at Natalie's apartment door as she eyes the bag of food like it's a suspicious package.

The bag of food passes her test so she sidesteps to let me into the apartment. I walk straight into the living room and unpack the food on the table like I've done thousands of times before.

Natalie pops a fry into her mouth before starting, "So, tell me what was so important that you just had to come over. Baring in mind you stopped coming over a month ago. Also, when did you buy this? These fries are cold as fuck."

I sigh and look up at her from where I'm sitting, "I know you're gonna freak when I say this. And you have every right to so I'm just gonna spit it out." I take a deep breath, "Max cheated on me with his colleague."

Natalie slowly puts down the burger she was about to eat, "Sorry, what did you just say? Because surely you didn't just say that your beloved fiance is a cheating scumbag."

"Nat-" I try but she's definitely not done talking.

"There's no way you'd have the audacity to come here and tell me this when I warned you about this a month ago. Elle, I fucking told you. I told you that he tried to make a move on me when you were out of town. I told you that he would break your heart and I tried to spare you the pain but you shut me down like I was some jealous little school girl."

I can't bring myself to fight my corner because she has every right to be furious with me.

"You wouldn't listen when I told you that he tried to kiss me. I invited him over to plan a birthday surprise for you and he tried that shit. And you had the balls to tell me that I was trying to ruin the one good thing in your life because all my past relationships have been fuck-ups. And I was willing to sit back and let it slide, because you are the one person I can count on. But then you told me not to call you or come see you. You cut me out of your life... for him. That dirtbag. And now he's finally shown what a slimy person he is, you think you can just waltz back into my life like everything's okay? Well I'm sorry Elle but it isn't. I don't even know what I'm supposed to say or do."

Her back is facing me now; it's almost as if she can't stand the sight of me.

In such a soft tone, so soft that it speaks greater volumes than if she was yelling, she tells me to leave. So I pick up my handbag from the couch and I make my way to the door.

"Natalie, I can't believe it's taken me this long to come to my senses and I know that this is long overdue, but for what it's worth I am truly sorry. You've been more of a friend to me than you'll ever know and I am sorry for treating you like you were disposable."

I leave after having said my piece. When I get to my car, my face is slightly wet from the tears that escaped after that brutal encounter. I woke up this morning hoping to spend an amazing day with Max on our fourth anniversary. But instead, I'm spending the day alone, with nothing but today's events to dwell on.

The thought of mulling over the thoughts of my fiance being intimate with someone else and my best friend hating my guts more than before makes me desperate to curl up in my bed and sleep the rest of the day away. So when I get home, that's exactly what I do.

When a loud knocking sound travels through the apartment, my somewhat peaceful slumber is brought to a halt. I slip out of bed with a half-confused and half-angry look on my face, wondering what demon thought it was appropriate to wake me up from my sleep.

I open the door aggressively and my eyes meet a man whose head is poking out from behind a huge bouquet of flowers.

"Delivery for Miss Elle Campbell." He says, handing me the flowers with a smile before walking away.

Max must have organised these a while back.

I pull out the note as I close the door with my foot. The note reads, "On our four-year anniversary, I'd like to thank you for four years of happiness. I'm hoping these flowers bring you just a fraction of the happiness you have brought me. In two hours, I'll have a car waiting for you outside to bring you to me.  Happy Anniversary, Elle. All my love, Max."

By the time I get to the final line, I have a deep-rooted urge to drop the flowers to the floor and stomp on them. But that would be cruel. So instead I just rip up the note and toss it in the bin, and dump the flowers on the kitchen counter.

It just makes me so angry that if I hadn't gone to his office today to see him, I would have been fluttering off to my room after getting those flowers, getting ready for a romantic evening and thinking about how I loved him so much that my heart could burst. What a difference a day makes.

I think back to earlier and remember how Max had said that he really wanted to talk things over tonight, but he's not here at my feet grovelling for my forgiveness. So where is he?

I check my phone and see no texts from him, just a text from my boss asking how my day off was going. What a story I'd have for her in the morning.

I am a fool. It's obvious what I'm doing. I'm sitting here waiting, like a fool. Hoping Max will come home and tell me how sorry he is and how much he needs to make things okay. But he's not here and that speaks volumes.

So I need to stop waiting around for people to start caring about me.

The note from the flowers said that a car would be here in about two hours. Is two hours long enough to pack a bag of your essentials and book a flight to anywhere that would get me away from here? Because one thing is clear; I need to get away... and now.

Author's Note
Hello! It's currently just past 2am and after telling myself that I wasn't in the mood to write, I proceeded to write this whole chapter lol. Hope you enjoyed it! This was quite an intense chapter but it did reveal some of the backstory.

Random question: what's your most used app?