Breakup Story
Matthew Ryan Fischer
The hot afternoon sun was shining down. Nancy sat in the cabin of
the rental truck, eating a fast food hamburger. She took a long sip from her
soda and grabbed a handful of French fries. It was greasy and messy, but that
was in part what made it taste so good. Fast food in general, but hamburgers
especially, worked that way – if it tasted good, it was bad for you and it was
sure to make a mess.
Brooklynn yelped at her. Nancy looked over at her dog, a brown and
black Yorkshire Terrier. Perhaps Brooklynn was hungry. Perhaps she just smelled
the food and was reacting. Or perhaps she was tired of being cooped up inside
the truck. Nancy had been driving for three days and probably had at least another
three to go. She was moving cross-country, looking for a fresh start after a
messy breakup. Maybe Brooklynn was
starting to miss Brooklyn, and was realizing she was never going back.
Brooklynn would have to get used to it, because Nancy was not going back.
Nancy was hot and sweating. Her back hurt from driving too much.
Her clothes smelled and were covered in dust and dog hair. Her left arm was
beginning to glow red as she was getting too much sun hanging it out the window
as she drove. She could use a break from the road and was looking forward to
getting to sleep in her own bed again someday. She didn’t know when exactly
that would be. She had a friend with a couch waiting for her in Los Angeles,
but not her own room and not her own bed. Her bed would go into storage, with
no set time for it to come out again. She would be living out of boxes for the
foreseeable future. But she had needed a fresh start and she was going to get
it.
Nancy looked at her finger tips – her nails were bright red, but
two were already ruined. She had just spent a lot of money on herself – a day
at the spa, getting her nails and hair done. After the breakup she felt like
spoiling herself, as if that would make her forget, as if it would make the
past the past and lock it there. She had spent the money without thinking that
she was going to have to pack her things and load a truck less than twenty-four
hours later. The cracked nail stood out as a painful reminder of the entire
breakup ordeal. She didn’t regret spending the money; she just wished she had
planned things out a little bit better. The last thing she needed right now was
one more symbol of her failed existence.
Nancy fed Brooklynn a taste of the hamburger. Probably a mistake,
as the grease would probably run right through her, but for the moment
Brooklynn seemed appeased.
Nancy sat back and smiled. She was done – done with the past, done
with the bullshit, done with the lazy miserable boyfriend that had made her
move across the country in the first place. Kirk was gone. That chapter was
over, closed, finished, done. She was going to get to see her friends again.
She was going to get to be herself again. She was going to get to all the do-overs
and second chances she had always wanted. That was the hope anyway. She had no
job, no immediate plans, and no bed. But she had her hopes. And she had
Brooklynn. She had left her boyfriend, but she had kept her best friend.
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