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************************************************************************** 'How can you expect me to keep doing this? Honestly, you take everything for granted and I can't handle it anymore. I'm going away for a few weeks, please don't call me because I won't answer. -Mandi ' He read the note again, before crumpling it up and tossing it in the garbage can across the room. He knew that later on he'd go and pick it out, smoothing the wrinkles, as he had many times before, trying to preserve the only thing he had left of her. How 'a few weeks' had turned into two years, he didn't know. He had tried to call her, as she had told him not to, only to be greeted by her answering machine. A dozen messages hadn't helped. She hadn't called him back, and he was beginning to lose hope that they would ever work things out. In the beginning, he had lied to himself. He told himself every day that she just needed a little time, and soon enough she would realise that he loved her. And that she loved him. With each passing day, his hope faded just a little. But still, it was there. He did love her. He always would. He had known he did for most of his life. He sighed, remembering the day they had met in the school office, both of them crying about skinned knees. They couldn't have been older than six. Inseperable since then, they began dating off and on when he was only fifteen. When they were twenty-one, they found themselves together again, in love. But it had all gone horribly wrong the day he returned from Europe. He had been gone for three weeks, and had come home to find only a note. He glanced at the clock and noticed that he was ten minutes late. He turned off the light and left the cold hotel room, meeting his bandmates in the lobby. He ignored their comments and questions to his whereabouts and walked briskly to the waiting van. It took them to a tall grey building in which they would participate in yet another interview and yet another photo shoot. He would smile, pretending to be thrilled to be there. He had practiced making his smile look real. He had become quite good at it, too and he knew no one could tell it was hiding a heart full of pain and lost hope. When they were waiting to begin the interview, he sat quietly, staring at the wall. He heard voices behind him and a woman was arguing with a co- worker. "Look Cynthia, I told you to have this prepared before the interview, and you didn't. This has been happening too often and I'm sorry but we're going to have to let you go." The voice said calmly. "But Mandi!" The other woman exclaimed. He didn't hear the rest of her sentence. He was already on his feet, walking towards the two. He knew immediately it was her and he placed a hand gently on her shoulder. A tall brunette woman turned around and gasped. "Ashley...." she whispered. He stood for a moment, frozen, lost in her eyes. Before he could stop it, he had broken down. Tears filled his eyes and immediately spilled over his cheeks as he took in her features. "You... you cut your hair." He said quietly. "Yes," she replied, apprehensively. "Mandi... I..." he began, ready to profess his love to her, but he stopped when he saw it. Small and silver, the diamond caught the light and danced on the walls. She saw that he had noticed and she took a step backward. "I'm sorry, Ashley." She breathed. He looked more closely, and his fear was confirmed. On her ring finger rested a small, but elegant, silver engagement ring. Without another thought, he turned and ran in the opposite direction. He ran down the stairs and out of the building onto the street. He couldn't hear the people around him, he couldn't feel the pain as he collapsed on the pavement, hitting his head. All he could see was black, and that was how he wanted it to stay. 
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