AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“How do you break up with a girl nicely?” Bronson asked and I really couldn’t help it. He opened the door.
“No idea, I’ve never broken up with a girl. I can ask Aubrey when she gets back.” I grinned.
“Bitch,” he said, almost groaning as he laughed. “KC, help me out. I like Diane, I do, but it’s just not working for me.”
“Okay, tell me why it’s not working. Not sure I can help, but maybe I can give you the right words.”
“She’s—great, but she doesn’t have any passions. Most of the time she just wants to do what I want to do, or she wants to go to a movie, and that’s it. We hang out, we talk—sometimes we make out—”
“You can keep the graphic stuff to yourself. I’m still dealing with the scars of my mother’s relationships, thank you very much.”
He snickered. “Right, the point is—she’s nice, really nice and… that’s it. Maybe it’s ‘cause of all the crap with Pen or the fact that I’m getting ready for college and I think I really do want to go for law school…I need to focus on the here and the now and not…”
“Is she your friend?”
The long exhale of his breath came out in a rush. “Am I an asshole if I say no?”
“No,” I said, glancing over the wet quad. Usually there were people out here, even in the snow, but the rain tended to chase people inside. We were almost at the end of January. February was right around the corner. Then spring and… “Sometimes we want to like people and we can’t, no matter how hard we try. Sometimes we don’t want to like them at all, but we can’t stop thinking about them.”
The Douchebags Three flashed across my mind’s eye. Although, Jonas didn’t really qualify as a douchebag as much now out of the three of them. Not anymore.
“Attraction is just weird.” It was my turn to sigh. “But for what it’s worth, if she’s not someone you consider a friend and you’re not enjoying the time with her—then maybe just tell her the truth. I don’t know if there is a nice way to break up with anyone. In my experience, break-ups are usually loud and involve copious amounts of alcohol and shouting—sometimes we burn their clothes.”
Bronson sputtered. “When did you burn someone’s clothes?”
“I was seven?” I was trying to remember. “Might have been eight. It was during pilot season ‘cause the guy she was dating was up for a pilot and apparently banging his co-star on the project. I think we pretty much burned all of his clothes ‘cause Mom was pissed…”
It was such an odd memory to dredge up. Like I had the feel for the texture of the situation, but not the details.
“Oh, he was banging his co-star in our pool house.” I’d walked in on them. Damn. How did I forget that?
“You know, that’s some weird shit, right?” His droll delivery just made me smile.
“Yep, I do. But hey—love me, love my weird shit and damage.”
“Deal,” he said with a sigh. “All right, I’m gonna call Diane and see if she wants to get food. Then I’ll talk to her.”
“Good.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, breaking up over the phone or text is shitty. Granted, my experience is all second-hand, but…I think it’s shitty. So go you for being a good guy.”
“Shh,” he said, chuckling. “I have a rep to protect.”
“Pfft.”
“Shut up,” he said, still laughing. “I’ll talk to you later?”
“Yep. Good luck and give Pen a hug for me.”
“Will do. You gonna be free for a video call this weekend?”
“I’ll make time.”
“Sounds good.” Then he was gone and I sighed as I stared out at the rain. The new course of treatment had been going well… that’s what they said. Well. We couldn’t expect changes overnight and she was still spending more time in the hospital than out of it.
Everyone sent me updates, Davina, Jackie, Bronson, and even Dix. He’d gone to take her some toys for me, because her favorite sloth toy had gotten nearly ruined when she’d been sick. It took time to hunt it down, but we found one exactly like it.
