When she picked up the phone that day, she was expecting a nice chat with a good friend.
That's exactly what she didn't get.
Oh, things started off pleasantly enough. But once they moved on to plans for his upcoming trip, the downward spiral started.
"So, I was thinking, would you like to go out with me sometime?"
"Can you clarify that question?" There was heavy ball of dread settling in her stomach, at this sudden turn in conversation.
"Would you consider going on a date with me while I'm in town?" He was speaking slowly, clearly, and she hated it. Hated that he was doing this to them.
"Jeffrey, we've been over this."
"I know, but I didn't really like the answer, so I thought I'd try again."
"What happened to devoting yourself to your music?"
"I didn't say I wanted to become a monk! When Margot and I broke up, I took some time off to refocus on music, but that was years ago. I'm ready to start going out again, and I don't know anyone I'd rather do that with than you."
There was a long minute of silence, before he spoke again.
"Are you still there?"
"Yeah."
"Can I have an answer?"
"Why do you keep doing this?!" She was trying to control the anger in her voice, but it wasn't working.
"Doing what!?"
"Trying to ruin our friendship!"
He sighed, and she could practically hear him rolling his eyes. "I'm not! Look, Skye, I know this is hard for you to understand, but I really like you, and I can't see that there's anything wrong with that. I enjoying being around you, I want to spend time with you, is that a crime?!"
"When it breaks up a perfectly good friendship, yes!"
"Who said anything about breaking up our friendship?! I'm just trying to become closer to you."
"And yet all it's doing is pushing us further apart!"
"No, Skye, you're the one who's pushing us apart! Good God."
"And what's that supposed to mean? I'm not the one who decided to turn our relationship upside down!"
"But you're the one who was too stubborn to accept that this might be the next stage for us. I didn't ask you to marry me! For Pete's sake, I didn't even ask you to be my girlfriend! All I asked is if you would consider going out with me one time to see if we might be better off as more than friends, and you couldn't find it in yourself to even think about it!"
Now they were both angry, and she knew that she should back off, but pulling back had never been her way, and so dove back in, knowing all the time that she was in dangerous territory.
"Because I know it wouldn't work out, and then we'd never be able to get back to where we once were!"
"How could you possibly know that it wouldn't work out?!"
"It just wouldn't!"
"How do you know that?!"
"Because I would break your heart." The anger was gone, and left was nothing more than a horrible sadness, the weight of knowing that she had already sealed her own fate.
"You don't know that, Skye . . ."
"Yes, yes, I do."
"How? How could you possibly-"
"Because I don't love you, and I never will!"
She wished she could take the words back the moment they left her mouth, but the dead silence on the other end of the line told her it was too late. They had already ruined what might have been, and she was to blame.
"Alright, Skye."
"Jeffrey?"
"It's okay, Skye. I get it."
"Jeffrey, I'm -"
"I know . . . Look, Skye, about this weekend . . ."
"Yeah, I know. I think for everyone's sake it might be better if we waited a bit before you visited again. Who knows what other damage I'm liable to do . . . Jeffrey, I'm so-"
"Goodnight, Skye."
"Night . . ."
She shut her eyes tightly as he hung up, trying her hardest to pretend that the click didn't mean more than just the end of a phone call.
But deep down she knew the truth: she had just severed a connection that could never truly be repaired.