Heres a one-shot that is nothing less than sad. Please review and/or leave a one-shot request. Enjoy!
Erin was sitting on the couch watching some trashy reality show when she heard the knob turn on the apartment door. She turned around long enough to see that it was Jay, mumbled a hello, and turned her focus back to the tv. She had guessed he said hello back but didn't pay enough attention to even be able to catch exactly what he said. Jay dropped his keys in the bowl on the kitchen table and made a quick escape into the bedroom while shutting the door. She watched him go and then mentally beat herself up for letting them become what they had.
They had been dating for months and it had been great- for the most part. It was what they both thought they had always wanted, however, in these last few weeks they seemed to just be going through the motions. It was a sad reality she knew they had to face but didn't want to be the first one to bring up that something in fact had changed between them.
Meanwhile Jay was standing over the counter in their connected bedroom and bath. His hands were on either side of the sink and he was leaning over looking at himself in the mirror. Looking, searching, for what had changed. He wasn't sure if it was himself, or Erin, or both of them. He hated that he secretly wished one of his friends invited him out for a drink so he could return home later- maybe so late that she was already asleep. No forced small talk, no cringey hellos. He hated that the girl he loved was fading further and further away and he didn't know what to do about it.
Jay rinsed his face with some water, tried his hardest to put himself back together, and walked into the kitchen. He walked passed Erin as she didn't even bother to give him a second glance. He searched through the fridge trying to find something he could make them for dinner but came up short.
"You okay with pizza for dinner?" He called out from the kitchen but she didn't seem to hear him.
"Er?" He called again. "Are you okay with pizza?"
"Yeah whatever you want is fine, Jay" Erin was already annoyed with him and she didn't even know why.
He sighed as he grabbed a takeout menu off the fridge and walked back into the bedroom, once again shutting the door but maybe this time with a little more force.
Erin let a tear fall that she was holding since Jay had first spoken to her that night. She didn't know what should be done but she knew she couldn't continue living like this. It felt like she was almost living a lie. She racked her brain thinking what could have changed. What could have changed so fast and so drastically that she didn't even bother to give her a proper hello when he entered the door?
Jay sat on the bed after he reached for his phone that was laying on the night stand. He called in their usual pizza order and lied down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling knowing sure well he didn't want to walk back out to the living room. Go in there and sit with her? Ask her about he day? He thought. That's what normal couples do. He sighed. And right now we are far from normal.
He lied there thinking about what went wrong when he heard the doorbell ring. He walked out of the room, grabbed his wallet out of the bowl on the table, and opened the door to greet the delivery man. He shut the door and turned around to set the pizza on the table before going to get plates for the both of them. Erin's was still on the couch and hadn't gotten up to come eat yet.
"Er, pizzas here. Why don't you come eat with me" He said as he sat down and pulled out a slice for himself.
She finally stood up for the first time that night and she could have swore she saw a small smile from Jay. "Um you know what? Im actually not that hungry. I think ill just take a shower and go to bed" she stuttered through her sentence knowing she wasn't doing anything to make their situation any better.
Jay stayed sitting and almost had a pleading tone in his voice "Erin please. Come sit down and eat with me. I haven't seen you all day".
Erin could hear the hurt in his voice. She couldn't tell if it was hurt from how they had been lately or that he knew their relationship might be coming to an end or because he really did want to have dinner with her and she was denying him the simple request. It was probably a combination of all of the above.
"Listen. I just really want to go to bed" Erin sighed like she knew it wasn't going to be the end of the conversation but she desperately wanted it to be.
Jay watched her turn her back and walk away a few steps before he got to his feet and harshly said "Is this just not working anymore?".
Erin froze, her back still towards him. He continued "Because at this point I feel like we are on a vicious loop of being unhappy with one another and thats not going to change until we talk about it".
Erin slowly turned around realizing what he was about to say. He was about to speak out loud what they had both been feeling for weeks but neither of them had the nerve to actually say it out loud. Until now.
"Something has changed and I think you know that as well as I do and Erin, I don't know what to do anymore". After this they both went silent, neither one not knowing what to say now that the truth was finally out there and couldn't be taken back. They both knew this conversation was about to go one of two ways, one option, the bad option, being the likelier of the two.
Jay used this silence to slowly walk towards Erin. They were face to face as she began to speak.
"I just feel like...I don't know" Erin whispered trying to avoid eye contact. She didn't want to open up because she knew he didn't want to hear what she was feeling.
"Talk to me" He whispered
"Er, please look at me" He tried again as he carefully brought his finger to tilt her chin up so she would have to look at him.
"Tell me this isn't over. Tell me we can salvage this. Tell me I didn't spend years of my life loving a girl that is going to leave me because we are in a rough patch" Jay cursed himself for letting a tear fall from his eye and Erin took her thumb and slowly wiped it away.
She got her thoughts together before whispering "I think...I think some couples have an expiration date...".
Jay quickly shook his head while whispering "no" over and over because he knew what she was about to say.
She continued "And I think we are expired".
"You know that's not true. We are good together and you know it." He was starting to get angry.
"Please don't make this worse than it needs to be"
"What about our one day? What about that?" He pleaded with her trying to bring up old emotions of what could have been, of what used to be.
"Our one day has come and gone and baby, it was great while it lasted but-" She tried to reason with him.
"Please don't do this" he said in an almost inaudible tone.
"It's already done. It was done the moment we didn't even say hello when you walked in the door" Erin whispered holding back tears, trying not to let them escape but failing quite miserably.
It was like Jay knew she was holding onto it and maybe thats why he didn't want to be around her. He knew that she was going to end it soon and he thought maybe if he wasn't around then it simply couldn't happen How stupid of me he thought. Deep down he knew she wasn't happy but he wanted to be selfish and drag out what little time they had left together. He figured a few more bad weeks were better than no weeks at all.
He turned around and walked away only a few feet, just trying to get some space. She was still standing still. She didn't know what to do for him. She hated that he was hurt but knew it was best- thought it was best, anyways.
Jay turned around and looked back at her with a dead look in his eyes. His eyes were no longer blue but a sickly grey color.
"I guess Ill get my stuff then" He whispered and walked back into the bedroom.
He shut the door again for what seemed to be the seventh time that night and pulled out a duffle bag while pulling his clothes off hangers and stuffing them in. Jay was in there for about twenty minutes before he walked back into the living room with his bag in his hand. Erin was no where to be found (not that that surprised him). He was about to reach for the knob on the front door of the apartment when he saw a picture from the corner of his eye. It was laying in the bowl on the kitchen table so he took a couple steps and grabbed it to study it. It was a picture of him and Erin on their first date. It was taking by a Polaroid camera by a photographer that was going around the park taking couples' photos for free.
"Would the happy couple like their picture made?" the photographer asked them as they were sitting under a tree with a picnic for a simple first date.
They both looked at each other and smiled before Jay spoke up "Sure! Why not?"
As the photographer focused the camera, Jay and Erin scooted closer to each other and Jay slung his arm around Erin's shoulders. They were both grinning cheek to cheek, happy than they both had been for a long time.
"Say cheese!" the man called out to him.
"Cheese!" they both sung in unison.
The shutter went off and they waited for the photo to print before the guy handed to them.
Jay tipped the man and thanked him while he took the photo and shook it to bring it to life.
They both looked at the photo before he offered it to Erin to keep.
"Oh wait hang on" Jay said snatching the picture back from her. He pulled out a pen and wrote on the back of it "To our one day" and handed it to Erin.
Suddenly Jay snapped back into reality and put the picture in his jacket pocket before walking out the door of Erin's apartment, bag in hand.
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