Levy tapped her foot anxiously on the tiled kitchen floor, arms crossed tightly on her chest while she stood in front of the oven, peering in. Even with the light on she couldn't see what was going on. She had spent the last hour trying to follow a simple Chicken Potpie recipe and as a result her favorite pink and white polka-dotted apron was a mess of flour and liquid egg whites and her sink was filled with bowls half filled with goop. She bit her lip, a nervous habit that she couldn't quite break, even when her lip would start to trickle blood. She sighed and straightened up, staring at the clock.

The green light beamed 5:45. She knew that Hirno would be home soon and she also knew he was a grump when he was hungry. She looked down at the thin silver band on her ring finger that had a small but delicate diamond glinting in the middle. It had a few patches of flour stuck to it but it still danced in the light. Levy smiled to herself, imaging for what she figured was the fourth time today, walking down the aisle in a beautiful white dress to the man she loved.

Their wedding hadn't been planned yet; in fact, he hadn't mentioned it since proposing to her two years ago. It was a beautiful proposal at that. He had brought her to her favorite restaurant and then outside by the waterfall they threw pennies in and made a wish. She remembered asking him what he wished for, he simply said, "that you'll say yes" and then proposed to her and suddenly she felt like she was living in a real fairy tale. Sometimes she felt upset that they had nothing planned yet but whenever she looked down at her finger she felt her heart swell with love and was on cloud nine all over again.

She hadn't been with him a lot which she figured was part of the lack of planning, either she was working or he was. Although Levy loved working at a nursing home where the highlight of her day was wiping the rears of elderly ladies and getting screamed at, she reluctantly decided take her vacation days for the first time in a year and today was the last day of that vacation time. To Levy's disappointment it hadn't been as magical as she hoped. She expected a week of love, of being wrapped in the love of her life's arms, and her ears being drowned by the sound of their giggles and sweet words. Unfortunately it hadn't been like that at all.

Hirno was either always at work, since he said he couldn't afford to take a vacation or he would seem completely out of it and Levy could almost hear the static in his mind. She would talk and he would just space out, his hazel eyes fixated on something else, blank, and lifeless. She'd ask him if he was listening and it just reply with:

"Huh? Sorry babe didn't catch you." Or "Yeah, yeah, that's really nice" when she would ask him a question.

It annoyed her and sometimes infuriated her, but she would reason with herself and came to the conclusion that she loved him so she would put up with his air-headedness. He worked constantly and was usually exhausted so she understood if he didn't want to hear her drown on about what she read in a book and how the movie adaptation didn't do it justice. Suddenly she heard a jiggle of the doorknob in the living room and was snapped out of her thoughts. She looked up at the time, 5:55.

Oh no! I was supposed to take this thing out five minutes ago Levy thought to herself and quickly flung open the oven.

"Levy, I'm home….is something burning? Never mind, listen, um, I have to talk to you about something." She heard Hirno's deep voice from the other room and groaned. He had never been impressed with her cooking skills, so hearing that it smelled like she had burnt something was like a kick in the stomach.

"No honey nothing's burning! Well….I don't think so….I'll be in there in a sec let me just take this thing out of the oven!" She said and as she pulled out her creation and set it on the stovetop she couldn't stop herself from biting deeper into her already blistering lip.

What was supposed to be a chicken potpie was looked more like a monster created in a lab of a Science Fiction movie. The top was burned in awkward places, it had sunken it in middle and puffed up on the sides, and the smell was absolutely foul; it smelt like a mixture of sour milk and rotten chicken. For a second Levy thought it would come to life and jump at her. She gave a sigh, hoping Hirno wouldn't mind another take out order. She took off her mittens and closed the oven, feeling defeated and walked into the living room.

Hirno was sitting on the light blue couch across from their rather small flat-screen, staring at it and bouncing his knee at a steady pace, as if following a rhythm only he could hear.

"I tried to cook, didn't go so well babe," Levy started "Any chance you feel like Chinese again?" she gave a weak smile. He didn't look up from her but his knee sped up. She didn't think he was going to answer her, but he did.

"I have to talk you Levy," he said and turned his head to look at her, eyes intense, she bit down on her already sore lip before speaking.

"What's wrong? Did something happen at work? Did you get fired?"

"No, Ba- Levy, I think you should sit down." He pointed to the seat beside the couch, and Levy felt an impending sense of dread fall onto her. She walked to the seat in sat down, all of her movement felt mechanical, like she went from human to tin man in seconds. She watched him pick up the remote and click off the T.V.

"Y-yes?"

"Levy, I love you, you know that right?" She nodded.

"You know how you love people right, like you have friends you love?" Another nod.

"It's love but not the same as relationship love. I love you Levy but, I don't love love you. Not anymore. Not for awhile now." "I thought I could fake it, I thought I could force myself to feel it again but I can't, not anymore. When you were always at work it was easy, I hardly had to fake it but when you were here all week I just felt miserable. I'm sorry Levy, but I think…..I think we should end this before we start a life together none of us wants to live."

Levy stared at him; she just started at his face looking for any hint of a smile, or anything that might reveal his words to be a joke. There was none. She felt her eyes begin to tear up as her mind crunched and crunched trying to process what was being said. She felt the wheels in her brain turning before she finally spoke.

"W-what?" She squeaked, suddenly feeling old and as though she was pushed into a dream as her fairy tale began to unravel. Hirno looked old suddenly too, as if by saying the words they caused him to age significantly, his hazel eyes looked dark and sad, his face sunken in and it reminded her of the burnt pie on the stove top. The one she made for the both of them.

"Levy, I'm sorry."

The wheels in her head stopped turning.

"W-we can work this out! We haven't seen each other for awhile so of course seeing each other this much feels weird but….but we can't just give up!" Levy said, rising from her seat, she felt frantic and suddenly she felt like the diamond ring of her finger was burning into her skin and her head was pounding to the beat of each passing second. "We love each other, I love you, please, I'm sure we can make change Hirno! I'm su-"

"There's someone else Levy! I love someone else dammit, are you happy now?" He replied rising from his seat, pointing a finger in Levy's face, he seemed furious suddenly. "I've been seeing her for a year, I love her and I'm not leaving her to mend something that can't be fixed! I don't love you Levy, I did once, not anymore, not for a year! A year! So leave me be, let me go, I'd do anything for you but I won't throw my happiness away for your love."

Levy recoiled, someone else? She felt tears stream down her face as she fell back into her chair, covering her quivering mouth with both hands as she sobbed. A year? A full year of...pretending? She covered her eyes and began to quake with her sobs. The room felt like it was spinning. She couldn't believe how miserable he was, she was so happy and he was acting like being with her was torture, as if it was the worst thing he'd ever experienced when she was in a state of bliss, in pure happiness, how didn't she see this?

"I-I'm sorry Levy, listen we don't need to never talk again right? We love each other, it can be a friend love, listen I didn't mean to blow up on-"

"Get out!" She felt rage, she felt hatred stirring in her, she wanted him out, out of her life, she never wanted to see him again she wanted to push him out and burn his clothes.

"Get out of this apartment Hirno! I don't want to be your friend," she began getting up and pushed him on his chest, he towered over her and had decently built frame and her tiny shove hardly moved him. He recoiled in shock and nervously ran his hand through his sandy hair.

"Levy listen-"

"Get out! Get out right now Hirno! Get out! Get out! Get out!" Her face felt warm, she didn't know what to think, her mind was on fire, her heart was beating and her small frame was quivering, trying to hold in the emotions and failing miserably. Hirno looked down at her with a mixture of pity and guilt, nodded, and walked out in to the cool night. Not looking back at the wreckage he left behind him.

Two hours later and Levy was on her bedroom floor, surrounded by ripped up photos and male clothing. She didn't know what she was feeling right now, nothing perhaps. Before she had felt rage and threw Hirno's clothes everywhere followed by ripping up every photo in the albums they constructed together. Then she felt sadness, which she let out by sobbing for an hour and listening to awful break up songs from her teenage years. She felt lost, she felt heartbroken, and she felt horrible about herself, she had thought Hirno felt what she felt, undeniable love and affection, which….he claimed he did but not with her, not anymore, not for a year.

She gave a sniffle and got up from her floor. She didn't have anyone to lean on, she hadn't made many friends in her adult years, she focused all of her time on Hirno or work, she didn't even know who she was at the moment, she didn't know anything. She knew she was alone, for the first time in her life she was 100% alone.

So what do lonely people do? She thought to herself. Get drunk and drown in their sorrows? She sighed, wiping her crusty eyes. It sounded nice to her, to get drunk enough that maybe the next morning she would have a hangover and a new case of amnesia. To forget about the nights events seemed like bliss. She looked at the clock on her nightstand, 8:04; it was right by her kind sized bed, a bed fit for two.

She didn't want to sleep in that bed tonight and feel the emptiness; she wanted to forget, just for one night. She figured she wasn't the type to go to a bar and get blackout drunk, but as someone who didn't know who she was anymore she decided that maybe she was the type. She took a deep breath, she was going to the bar tonight, she decided it suppressing the feelings in her chest, she decided it yes but she wasn't sure if she wanted it.

After taking a shower to clear the snot that accumulated in her nose, throwing on light makeup and decent attire, a black long sleeved shirt, skinny jeans, and ankle high black velvet boots, Levy headed out into the night. It was around 9:30 and a feeling of unease waltzed inside of her stomach. Hopefully alcohol will burn away these nerves she thought. She was never a big drinker but she figured everyone had his or her moments. She would allow this; she would allow herself to have a break down. She deserved to be human even if she felt like nothing.

She finally got to the local bar, she had only been here once with Hirno, he wanted a drink after work, that was two years ago and she found herself wondering if during that night he loved her still or if he was beginning to fall out of love with her. She shook the thought out of her head and stared. The bar was run down, it looked more like a shack constructed by a group of high teenage boys. It seemed lopsided in a way and the wood it was build out of seemed to be rotting over and Levy figured one day it would just collapse. The sign on top of it was only half lit up and one of the letters, an I, was falling out of place.

She read it to herself Tiger's. She didn't understand the name, she didn't need to, she only needed a bar. She loosened her grip on her steering wheel and felt shooting pains fire in her hands from gripping it too tightly and she opened her door, allowing cool air to slap her in her face, her body gave a shiver.

Here goes nothing I guess she thought to herself as she got out, closing her door and locking it and began walking towards the entrance.