Ann was just about to walk out the door when she heard a familiar voice calling her.
“Annie! Annie! Wait!”
She turned around and saw Nick running after her. She didn’t respond but stood her ground waiting for him to catch up to her. When he finally did he was red and breathless. Ann was starting to get impatient as she waited for him to catch his breath.
“How can I help you, Nick?” her voice didn’t seem to agree with the kind words coming from her lips.
“Annie, you still mad at me?”
“Define mad.”
“Come on, A, no games.”
“I’m not playing any. I wouldn’t say mad, just slightly perturbed.”
“What exactly did I do to make you ‘slightly perturbed?’”
“Do I really have to do a play by play of our last conversation?”
“Is it just me or do we always answer each other in questions or riddles?”
“I don’t know, do we?”
They both laughed at their flippancy. “Honestly, Annie, I have no idea what I did to upset you and I want to make things right between us.”
Ann sighed before continuing, “Nick, look, I just got upset because you weren’t trying to understand me. It felt to me like you were on this mission to mend my relationship instead of trying to see if I needed mending. To you, it sounded like I didn’t care about Brian, but it was just that I couldn’t stand to hear you talk about him hurting because I cared so much and that hurt me even more.”
“Okay, now I’m confused. If you care about Brian, why’d you break up with him?”
“That’s really hard to explain.”
“Try, please. You gotta understand, Brian’s my best friend, too. I’m trying as hard as I can to just be neutral and support each of you, but it’s not helping that he’s the only one giving me info. I need to hear your side, too, Annie.”
Another sigh. “To be honest, I couldn’t take it anymore. Everything. I’m a human being just like any other. Why couldn’t I go to the mall with my boyfriend in broad daylight? Why couldn’t I call and ask him to spend the night with me just because I felt a little lonely? Why couldn’t I tell all my friends what my boyfriend did for a living? Why did I have to wonder where on the planet he was every night? Why couldn’t I wish that he didn’t have to be taken so far away from me without feeling guilty? Why did the calls stop? Why couldn’t I get mad that he was too busy to e-mail me? Why couldn’t I be jealous of every girl between the ages of 9 and 19 with money in her pocket? I couldn’t handle the stress, the hiding, the secrets or the telephone bill, for that matter, anymore. I may have been in love, but I’m no Juliet, I won’t kill myself for it.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much how I feel – wow.”
“A?”
“Yeah?”
“Are we cool?”
“Are we?”
“Are you trying to answer me in questions again?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Damn! Fine! You win!”
“I am the champion!”
Nick suddenly grew serious, “Look, I’m sorry – about everything. I didn’t realize how stressed you were and I made it worse. For that, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, Blondie, you’re forgiven”
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