By Victory Thru Tears
Guy's POV
I take a deep breath and knock on Connie's door. This is it. Now or never.
It's been two weeks since our fight after Thanksgiving vacation. Two weeks of Connie-hell. We made up quickly, but it didn't ease my disgust with her. After a few sleepless nights and a lot of battling myself, I'm finally here to break up with her.
Julie opens the door. Looks like life is feeling contrary today.
I try to give her a small smile. She sees through it, and holds up her shoes.
"I was just leaving." She quickly escapes from the room, her feet clad only in socks.
I turn to Connie, who is sitting on the bed. She's not smiling, either.
"You know why I'm here," I say quietly, closing the door behind me.
She nods.
"Are we going to draw it out?"
"Let me just ask you. What happened?" This is not the reaction I'm expecting from her.
"I don't know. Things changed. You changed." I sit down on the bed next to her.
"I did?"
I nod. "You aren't the Connie I fell in love with anymore. I'm sure that I'm not the same Guy, either. And maybe the new Guy and the new Connie just don't belong together."
She nods, agreeing. I can still see the tears behind her eyes. I pull her over to me, and she slides her arms around my waist. This is a familiar position.
"Is it because of the Queer- I mean, because of Charlie and Adam?" She whispers.
"Yeah." I'm not going to lie to her. "Ever since then I just haven't felt the same."
She draws in a deep breath, and I know that she is smelling me. She always used to comment on how good I smelled.
"I can't help what I believe in." She says, trying to justify herself.
"Neither can I. And I believe that you're taking it too far. Let them do what they want, it doesn't concern you."
"It does concern me, they're my team."
"No, Connie. They're not your team. They're Charlie's team. And you took that away from him."
The wall is between us is being built again. She stands up, her hands in her pockets. I do the same, preparing to leave.
"Yeah, you should go." She says softly. I can tell that if I stay, we'll start arguing again.
"Yeah. I'll see you later at practice."
"Bye Guy."
"Bye Connie."
- + - + -
I stand outside of their door, unsure of what to do. For the first time since fifth grade, I'm Guy Germaine. Not a part of Connie-and-Guy, or Guy-and-Connie. Just Guy. The first thing I want to do is talk to my best friend, Charlie.
When I started dating Connie, the bond between Charlie and I had started to break. It wasn't intentional, and we had never meant for it to happen- it just did. We had just joined District 5, and Coach Bombay soon took my place in Charlie's life. Then he and Adam started to get close. At the time I thought that he was just getting a new best friend. Sure, I was hurt, but I had a girlfriend to go to. By the beginning of our freshmen year we barely talked. I was busy with Connie, he was busy with Adam.
I'm going to get him back into my life.
I knock on the door, more nervous than when preparing to talk to Connie. Charlie opens it. I search the background for Adam, but find that he's not there.
"Oh, hey."
I step into the room before he can invite me.
"Sure, Guy, come on in." He says sarcastically, closing the door. "What's up?" He flops down onto his bed.
"Um, a lot. Where's Adam?" I ask, sitting myself down in a chair next to their desk.
"Out with Maya. They're going Christmas shopping for me and Taz." He gives a grin. "What Adam doesn't know is that I've already got his gift." He holds up a small velvet box, and I take it from his hand. Inside is a silver ring.
"Awww. When's the wedding?" I grin at him. He grabs it back from me, and puts it in his pocket.
Silence reigns for a few moments.
"I broke up with Connie." I finally speak what I had come to tell him. He looks up with interest.
"Wow. Four years." I'm sure he wants to say more, but is refraining.
I nod.
"How do you feel?"
"Kind of empty, kind of free at the same time. I don't like it. Hopefully it'll wear off soon."
Charlie nods. "I know the empty feeling. When Adam broke up with me, I was so mad that I tricked myself into believing I was free. But I was a mess for days."
"You and Adam broke up?" I didn't know this…
"Yeah, back when he was on Varsity. Right after the unofficial game."
"Wow. No wonder you were being such a jerk right after that." I smile, letting him know that I'm kidding.
"Yeah, but I won him back with my manly charms." Charlie flips his hand at me, obviously trying to look gay.
I snort.
"I don't even want to know what Connie's going to be like at practice tonight. Or even the game tomorrow...Adam's going to start playing again today." Charlie says it all casually, but I can sense the underlying worry.
"I'm sure she'll be fine on the ice. And if she's not, we can always talk to Coach Orion. You know, try to get you be Captain again."
"I don't want to be Captain, Guy." Charlie looks sad. "When I fought for that position, it meant something. Now it doesn't."
"They'll come around sooner or later, Charlie. The Ducks mean everything to all of us. If it weren't for the Ducks, we'd be nothing."
He shrugs, and I let it go. After a few more minutes of silence, I sigh.
"You ok?" He asks.
"Yeah, just thinking about Connie. The old Connie."
"Do you want the hat?" Charlie asks mockingly. He'd always made fun of me for my old green hat. I thought it was pretty cool.
"You're gonna get it Spazway," I growl. He grabs a pillow and throws it at me. I throw it back, and we're soon engaged in an all out war.
Looks like I have my old best friend back.