No-one's Ever Let You Down:

You Made Somebody's Heart Break

Despite two cold showers and a punishing workout, Ty's dreams were filled with Nikki, and he woke up exhausted. His head propped by on his palm, he sat at his desk and stared blankly at the open report. Ignoring the urge to give up on Westpac and start coding the second level of his game, he started writing random sentences in the hope that the words he needed would come to him.

It was due first thing tomorrow morning. He had twenty hours.

Goddess of poison, he wrote, and didn't bother deleting it. Suggested system change would result in heartbreak. Recommend restarting the design stage.

He continued typing absently, his thoughts drifting from Nikki to the reports and back again. Half an hour later, his daydream was shattered by the ringing of his phone.

"Tyler Hughes," he said curtly, staring at the page he had written. Once he edited out the frequent references to Nikki, he might have a starting point.

"Ty mate, it's Davo. I got a friend, his daughter's doing some school project, hit a bit of a snag with her code..."

"Not a good time, Dave," Ty muttered, but his colleague continued.

"She's trying to call a sub, keeps getting a syntax error saying the argument isn't optional, and she says she hasn't got any arguments in there –"

"Does she know what an argument is?" Ty asked, unable to help his mind bending to the challenge of the code.

"Apart from the one between her and the game? No."

Ty sighed, and began detailing an explanation.

And by the time he was finished, it was nineteen hours. Rubbing his eyes, he looked at the screen again and tried to type.

Arguments. Arguments with Nikki are hell.

***

Dave rang back a few minutes later.

"Ty, forgot, there was something actually important I rang to ask you."

"Yes, Dave?"

"There's a gaming firm hiring at the moment, they're looking for someone with experience and a bunch of other stuff, but Ty, mate, this thing would suit you perfectly. I know how much you hate these reports, this would mean no more of them –"

"Tell me more about the job," Ty said quietly, sitting up straighter. Anything to get away from the reports.

"Well, there's a few downsides, and I'm not sure you'd be able to apply through their site because they want a demonstration of your coding ability, and I don't know if you've got anything ready to be looked at –"

Ty's thoughts locked onto his game-in-progress; he had an entire level completed, bug free. He listened intently, as Dave slowly got around to the other negatives.

"...and there's quite a few people going for this, I think, maybe. Oh right, and I know Nikki's pretty settled here, but the job's in Sydney, it'd mean a major move. And I was talking to her the other week when you two came round, she really isn't interested in leaving, so it'd probably be the job or her..."

Dave paused for breath, and Ty spoke before he could continue.

"Send me the info."

***

Ty found himself back at their usual cafe on Monday morning, and was unsurprised to see Nikki approaching from the opposite direction. They hadn't spoken since last Wednesday, yet upheld their standing breakfast date without any conscious agreement.

"How's work?" Nikki asked politely. She ordered a coffee, and Ty noticed that it wasn't her usual – the name of this one involved more syllables than he could count.

"Handed in the reports Friday," he said with a bright smile. Slightly taken aback by his demeanour, she nodded, and gestured for him to continue. "The analysis was accepted, so that's one client satisfied. And I was kicked off Westpac."

"You sound happy," she noted, utterly perplexed. Seeing the waitress coming with her coffee, she gently rested her foot against his leg, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Oh, I am happy. Very happy."

He didn't elaborate, enjoying the rare feeling of superiority. If she wanted more information, she'd have to ask him outright. Even the feel of her toes probing his thigh couldn't distract him from his purpose this morning.

"What did you tell them?" she asked.

Instead of answering her question, he deferred, letting out a slow sigh.

"Nikki, there's something we need to talk about."

She gave a slight roll of her eyes, as if thinking 'Not this again', but didn't do anything to stop him.

"I've been offered a new job. Working for a gaming company in Sydney. The pay's better, the work feels better, and they contacted me only a day after I submitted my application." Her hand, returning a serviette to her plate, froze. Almost unnecessarily, he added, "I accepted."

And she was momentarily silenced. But that was okay. She didn't need to talk, just listen. For once, she was going to listen.

"Nikki, this is my golden opportunity. I've wanted something like this for years. Now…now that it's here, I have to take it." The next words he said with a certain relish. "I'm moving to Sydney."

Her eyes burned dangerously as she watched him, and he mentally prepared himself for the explosion. Instead, she finished lowering the serviette to the table and sighed.

"Ty, I'm not going with you. I've met someone else."

And with that, his entire world imploded.

Someone else? Other than him? She was having an affair? She was...

"I see. Well, it's up to you," he muttered.

She gazed at him pityingly. "I'm sorry, Ty, but you weren't being very good to me, all this talk of breakups and poison and... anyway, he's at ADFA with me, his name's Craig. Nothing's happened yet, but there's somethingbetween us, and we'd both like the chance to explore it."

And he suddenly understood. She hadn't been willing to let him go until she had a replacement. Her old toy was worn and scratchy. Now she had something shiny and new to keep her entertained.

"I think, considering everything, it would really be best if we went our separate ways," she said, the perfect blend of apology and finality in her voice. "I wish you all the best for Sydney."

Ty nodded, unable to help the tearing feeling in his chest as she stood up. He'd thrown away the best woman he could ever hope for. Maybe there were worse things than being a down trodden sex toy in a miserable job with no way of achieving his dreams. He may have just made the worst decision in his life.

Snorting, he stood up. Maybe, just maybe.

"Hope you and Greg have fun, then," he said politely, and began to walk away. He felt a moment of pity – not for himself, and certainly not for her, but for any and every man who would try to win Nikki in the future. Maybe they would do better than he had.

"You never said, what did you say to Westpac?" she called after him, and he had to smile at her curious streak. She'd watched him struggle with this report for over a month, and wouldn't let the last chapter of such a story go unread.

He licked his lips nervously before turning back to her. She looked like a pouting goddess, wide eyes completely innocent. But he knew better.

"I told them – and I quote – "Go back to the design stage, your system is fucked."