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A while later, I was laying naked in his arms across my bed. I stared up at the ceiling and smiled, feeling more convinced than ever that everything would be fine. Jobs were easy enough to replace, but things like Henry and how good he was in bed were not. I was grateful to have that much left at least.
“What did you want to talk to me about?” I asked after a while, remembering our phone conversation earlier that day. “I’m sorry. I was so wrapped in trying not to get bummed out that I nearly forgot.”
“Oh. Right. That,” he replied in a grim tone. He gently rolled out from under me and started putting his clothes on, which sent me shooting up in alarm. “I think we should get dressed and go into the living room to talk.”
“Oh,” I frowned. “Okay. Is everything alright?”
He finished getting dressed without answering me. I was getting more nervous by the second. I slipped into my pink silk robe and followed him back into the living room, taking a seat next to him on the couch.
“What’s going on?”
He let out a heavy sigh and nervously rubbed his palm across the nape of his neck. “Look, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to come right out with it. I don’t think we should see each other anymore.”
The blow of the words seemed to make the whole world turn crooked for a minute, making me dizzy. My body wavered as I stared off into space with a dazed look on my face.
“What did you just say?” I whispered in shock.
He kept his eyes glued to his hands which he wrung together in his lap. “I’m sorry, Jo.”
“I…I don’t understand,” I managed to squeak, my voice cracking. “We just had dinner…and then we had sex…And now you’rebreaking up with me?”
“Well, I figured after having such a bad day, it wouldn’t be right for me just to spring it on you as soon as I walked in. You worked so hard on dinner, and you know…I was just trying to be a good friend.”
“So you thought it’d be a good idea tosleep with me!?” I shouted, flying to my feet. “Even though you knew you were going to break up with me tonight!? While you were being a good friend, I thought you were myboyfriend! If I had known you were thinking this, I would have never…” I shook my head in disbelief. “What brought this on anyway!? Why are you doing this!?”
His lips parted for his explanation, but before he could say a word the loud sound of revving bike engines tore through the room.
“That’s just great. Perfect timing,” I huffed.
My neighbor was at it again. For as much as I loved people, I really struggled thinking anything nice about that jerk. He had been a constant pain from the moment I moved in with all of his loud biker parties that went on into the early hours of the morning.
The sound of the engines was followed by their usual laughing and obnoxious voices, chattering away on his lawn as they littered the whole thing with empty beer cans and bike parts. I peeked through the blinds to confirm the sight, even though I really didn’t need to because I had seen it dozens of times before.
“How many times do I have to report this guy for noise violations before he gets the hint!?” I growled before spinning back around to Henry. “You stay right there. I’m going to go take care of this, and then you owe me an explanation.”
“Actually, I don’t think that’s such a good idea!” he yelled over the noisy motorcycles. “I’m just going to go, okay? And give you some space. Maybe we can talk later, after you’ve had some time to…”
He trailed off because he probably had zero interest in ever actually talking to me again, which was mind blowing. And also because it was too hard to shout over the ridiculously loud noise coming from next door.
I couldn’t force him to stay and do the decent thing of telling me his reasons if he didn’t want to, just like I couldn’t force my boss to let me keep my job earlier that day. Staying positive about getting laid off was one thing. Being dumped on the same day? I didn’t think I could keep smiling through that too. Especially not with my jerk of a neighbor ruining anything good that might have been left to the worst day ever.
I ignored Henry’s impatience to escape and stormed out my front door. I was still wearing nothing but my hot pink silk robe, and my curls were a mess - flying in every which direction. I also knew from experience that I usually had smudges of makeup under my eyes after having sex, so I had that look going for me too.
But I didn’t care what I looked like. This guy had been driving me nuts for weeks, and this was the last straw.
“Hey! You!” I screamed out to them.
Six or seven of them were scattered around the yard, some leaning against the porch while others sat on their bikes and revved the engines. They finally turned them off when they saw me standing there. My eyes scanned across them, landing on the culprit behind it all. My awful neighbor with his greasy looking long sandy blonde hair, big scruffy beard, and torn black t-shirt. He looked just as cocky and insufferable as always.
“Do you have any idea what time it is!? Can you please keep it down!?”
“Oh, I guess we lost track. Sorry about that,” he offered half-heartedly. His friends snickered among themselves.
I heard a car start up in my driveway and turned to see Henry getting in and taking off. What could I do about it with all of those biker guys staring at me? I already looked crazy enough in my robe and disheveled hair and face. I couldn’t add chasing down a car to the list of reasons why I was obviously insane.
I had worked so hard not to cry, but I was officially losing the fight. My throat tightened and I could feel the sting of hot tears welling up in the corners of my eyes.
“Just keep it down, please,” I added, my voice cracking with emotion.
I whipped around and ran back into my house as quickly as I could, but it was too late. They had to know I was crying. Just the cherry on top of the absolute worst day of my life.
