Time And I

Fifty-One

"Alright, alright, just go inside," Buddy demanded as he pushed his parents inside my house. I stayed on the front steps, crying my eyes out. Buddy sat next to me and said nothing for a while. I could hear his parents talking with Jeanie inside, able to make out a few words about how Devon and I just broke up. It made me cry harder.

For an hour, Buddy sat with me on the front steps. He said nothing to me, and he didn't hold me or comfort me. He stared forward and waited for me to say the first word. Jeanie popped out to hand me some tissues, and I finally calmed down. We continued to stare at the driveway.

"Want to play some video games?" he finally asked me.

^^^

"I fucking hate you!" I screamed as I slapped Buddy with a pillow, knocking him off the couch. Everyone, who was still planning at the kitchen table, laughed hysterically at us. "Why are you trying to piss me off?"

"Because it's a lot of fun," Buddy said, and stuck his tongue out at me as he plopped back onto the couch. "If I could beat it, you can, too."

"Not according to the title 'The Level That Will Make Mel Want to Slap Me with a Pillow.'"

"It's a very accurate title, but it doesn't say it's going to be impossible for you to beat," he sang, smiling cheekily at the end.

It took me ten more tries before I took a break and play some easier levels that were made by other people online. Buddy didn't mention anything about the breakup, and the more heavily invested I got in the levels, the more I forgot about the breakup as well. But it didn't take long for the depression to sink in, and I handed the controller off to Buddy.

As he played, he said, "Am I allowed to ask how bad it went?"

"It went really well, actually."

"You were a mess."

"I love him a lot."

"Did you think he was your soulmate?"

"Soulmates are fake. You know that."

"You know what I mean, though."

"Well, I didn't want to think like that during our relationship. It was always in the back of my head that we were going to eventually break up, because he was going to go to Med School, and I was going to become a rock star. That meant we'd either have to do long distance or break up."

"Why didn't you choose long distance?"

"It wasn't worth it," I admitted.

He pressed pause so he could stare at me incredulously.

"I'm not kidding. We just graduated from high school. We'd been together for eight months. We're going in two completely different directions. Going long distance would not be worth it. There would be so many problems, and it would cause, what I can only imagine as, an even worse break up.

"But this one was nice. This was one where we could admit that we loved each other and that we were doing the right thing. As much as we love each other, we were just meant to be each other's first loves and first relationships. He's prepared me for what comes next in life."

"But it still sucks right now," he stated.

"It hurts so bad," I whined. "I want to listen to Billy Joel and eat ice cream all day."

"I've got some chocolate in the freezer," Jeanie called out.

Buddy and I rolled our eyes at each other before laughing.

"I'm really happy I got to be with him while I could."

Placing his hand on my knee, he said, "I don't know much about what's going to be the best thing to say to you right now, but just know that if you ever don't want to be alone, call me, and I'll be here for you."