Break Up

Ashley looks around the house for a scarf - she can't find one.  She scampers all over the place, but one cannot be found.  She looks out the window where a car waits - it's her boyfriend Jack and she feels a bump inside of her chest.  She knows that he must be sitting on his temper, and so she races around once more before running out the door.

Jack looks at Ashley as she enters the car - she has a jacket on, and it feels too heavy and she just put it on.  He scowls - he hates jackets, they are big and take up room.  He grows red in the face and his eyes widen, and he feels as though he wants to snap.

"Take the coat off and throw it in the back;"  he says as he feels his mood drop.

"No way, ice cold;"  tells Ashley as she rubs her lips together.

"Now;"  tells Jack as he feels his fingers tighten the steering wheel.  "There's air conditioning - you don't need it;"

Ashley nods and she takes off the coat, and then she fling it to the back of the car.  She looks to Jack who has a flushed face - he wipes a cheek with his hand, and then he rolls his eyes.

"Swept past a little too close;"  he mutters before he guns the engine;

Ashley laughs and then she closes the door and like a rocket the car speeds off.


Jack glares at Ashley as she eats her burger - he has just told her he wants them to separate and she is sitting there like the news has not upset her.  He nibbles on his words - college, a new car, the need to grow up; but he stuffs the words inside of his throat since Ashley just does not seem to mind.  She has an appetite like a horse and she munches away as his own belly grows sour.   What is it about the silence that itches his ear?

"I wish you wouldn't be so calm;"  he mutters as he grabs a chip and bites into its cooled potato.

"Why?"  asks Ashley with a vacant stare;

"Well it's like it doesn't matter to you;"  tells Jack as he grows hard.  "We've spent a whole year together, and here you are... feeling nothing;"

Ashley smiles.

"Well we've had our time, maybe it's fine to move on;"  she tells him.

Jack knots his brows - another bump in his chest, and this time it hurts.  He wishes it hadn't hurt, but it had.  A little bump that grows into an ache.  He feels sore - like he has been punched.  Misery makes his eyes moisten and then he begins to sob.

"So you've found someone else?"  he asks.

"No, it's you who has broken up with me;"  tells Ashley before she continues to eat.  "No need to be upset - I bet you'll find all your new friends at college;"  she adds.

Jack nods.

"I knew it would happen - three of my girlfriends have broken up with their boyfriends because they are going different ways; so I am not shocked;"

"I see;"  mutters Jack as he narrows his eyes.

Suddenly he feels sparks hit his brain - school tests float up in his head and behind his back he hears gossip.  It is so clear, the world has expanded around him and many people have done what he has done - they have broken up.  Jack looks to Ashley and smiles before he leans back in his chair.

"I'm glad we've talked about this;"  he tells her.  "It has cheered me up;"


Ashley walks about into her house -  she has a belly full of burgers and ice cream, and she knows she will not be able to do anything but go to bed.  She has become pregnant with a whole takeaway store, and she wants nothing more then sleep.

Ashley ambles up the stairs to her room, and then she slips inside.  She in exhausted, and she feels so weak and she doesn't bother to undress.  She flops onto her bed and she covers herself with a blanket - she wants to sing herself to sleep, but Jack enters her mind.  She suddenly wishes he hadn't wanted to break up, they had had fun together in the past year; he even looks better now that he has filled out more.  Ashley looks to the ceiling -  she feels cold.

"Maybe I should have begged him to stay;"  she winces as she feels a soft fuzzy feeling in her gut.  "I think I let him off too easy;"  she adds as she recalls the burger she had eaten.  "I wish he had just proposed - I might have said yes;"  she adds before she closes her eyes to sleep.