The Break Up


"Hey, why are you knocking?" Punk laughed a little, opening up the apartment door the next night to find AJ standing outside.

"S-Sorry, I just… polite, I guess." She nodded as he just chuckled.

"You're in luck, I just started making burgers. I'm kinda getting good at this cooking thing, you know." Punk nodded, making his way to the kitchen as AJ followed, "How's your head?" He asked her.

"My head?" AJ questioned.

"Yeah you had a headache last night." Punk said.

"Oh, right. Yeah, it's fine." AJ nodded to him, watching him turn back to the stove. She knew she loved this man. She knew she adored him and wanted him in her life, but all her insecurities, all her mother's input had completely got to her head.

"I gotta tell you about the explosion that happened last night." Punk shook his head.

"Phil, I have to talk to you." She said nervously as he turned around. He noticed she wasn't taking her coat off, as if she didn't intend to stay, which normally wasn't what happened. She made herself at home with him, he loved that the most, but not tonight for some reason.

"You ok?" He asked her.

"I'm ok." AJ nodded, "But we need to talk."

"Ok?" Punk questioned, "Talk about what?" He wondered.

She realised now, looking across at him, that this was going to hurt her way more than it was probably going to hurt him.

"I met with Jason this morning." She told him as he looked across at her, "I met him for coffee." She nodded.

'How come you never mentioned it?" He asked curiously.

"Well we just arranged it last night." She nodded.

"Ok so… what? You guys are officially done or something?" He laughed a little, "What'd he say?" He asked her.

"He wants me to come back home." AJ nodded, "He doesn't want to call off the wedding." She said as Punk looked at her with confusion, shaking his head.

"What?" He laughed a little, looking at her face, suddenly realising what was going on, "And you're gonna go back to him." Punk realised, nodding to himself as AJ fidgeted with her hands.

"We have a lot to work through but… I do love him and I'm grateful that he's… forgave me and wants to work through it all-"

"You're really going to marry him?" Punk looked at her, not believing it.

"Y-Yeah." AJ whispered.

"Why?" Punk shook his head with confusion, a crackle in his throat, "You don't love him. You might have at one point but you don't anymore."

"I do." AJ nodded to herself, "And my mom is right, I was happy with him and I was so excited to get married." She thought to herself.

"Your mom? This is where all this is coming from?" Punk nodded.

"No… I mean, she spoke to me about it but… I can decide for myself." She lied. She knew her mother had essentially made this decision for her, or pushed her towards making this decision at least.

"Really? What the hell have we been doing then, April?" Punk questioned.

"Phil, I love you and I just-" She walked towards him as he backed off.

"Save it." Punk shook his head, "You know this is your miserable life you're planning out, not mine." He nodded, "You wanna marry someone you don't even love? That's on you." He said, anger beginning to kick in.

"Phil, it's not like that." AJ said, tears coming to her eyes, "I was going to settle down and I was happy with Jason. He made me happy. And he's standing by me again-"

"You don't have to marry him just because he's forgave you for fucking me. In case anyone hasn't told you." He nodded to her as she looked away, drying her rolling tears, "Why do this to me?" He laughed a little.

"What?" AJ cried.

"Why spend every night here with me, tell me you want to… to meet my mom, let me get to know you… just to throw it all back in my face." He shook his head. Upset was an understatement. Even more so because he could see she was fighting against the thing she really wanted.

"Don't say it like that." AJ sighed, "I don't regret any of this but… I don't think it's meant to be. I think I'm supposed to marry Jason."

"Because your mom wants you to?" Punk nodded.

"No, because I want to and I… I've known Jason for a long time. I've not known you for a very long time and I can't… I can't take that risk." She shook her head.

"I didn't know I was such risk you had to take." Punk said.

"You're not, I just… I should be with Jason and you should move on." She nodded, "It's just better for everyone."

"In your opinion?" Punk questioned.

"You don't want to have me in your life for much longer anyway. People tend to get sick of me eventually. Jason never did so…"

"I never did either." Punk reminded her as she looked at him.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

"No, April… I'm sorry." He nodded, "I'm sorry you can't make decisions for yourself. And I'm sorry you're gonna marry someone you don't even love." He said, "I'm really sorry about that."

"Phil, please don't." She shook her head, drying her tears as he looked at her sadly.

"Look me in the eye and tell me you want to be with him." He said as she looked at him.

"I wanna be with him." She nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat, "I'm so sorry I did this to you, I'm sorry I involved you in this mess and everything I've done… it's all on me. And you can hate me, I understand."

"I don't hate you." Punk shook his head, "He just seems like the type to hang what you did over your head forever. Just watch… any argument you both have… you'll always be the cheater." He nodded as she shook her head.

"No…"

"Yes." Punk nodded, "But hey… if that's what you want, if you wanna marry someone like that-"

"He won't be like that." AJ said, "He's a good person and he loves me." She nodded, "And he'll stand by me."

"You know I really thought that if he was dumb enough to actually forgive you, you'd say no to him anyway-"

"Dumb enough to forgive me?" AJ questioned.

"Yeah. Who forgives a cheat?" Punk questioned as AJ smiled to herself and nodded.

"So that's really how you see me?" AJ nodded.

"No, cause you didn't do it to me." He said, "You wouldn't have come near me if you really loved him like you say you do." He shook his head, "And you know that."

"We were having a rough time, you were there for me." She nodded, "It happens. It's… a common thing."

"Oh, bullshit." Punk shook his head, "You were with me because you wanted to be with me. Nothing else." He made clear, "You know the person you're cheating most here? Yourself." He nodded.

"We don't have to make this hard. I'm not saying these past few weeks haven't been great, cause they have." She nodded, "And I'm not saying I didn't love you because I do." She cried, her voice breaking as she dried her tears, "I just think it's better if we go our separate ways."

"You wanna end up like your parents?" He asked her as she looked across at him.

"Don't use that against me. Don't use things I trusted you with to hurt me." She shook her head.

"No, I will. Cause that's gonna be your life." He nodded, "I get to be mad right now. You're gonna wake up one day and you're gonna hate your life. You might think this is what you want right now, with whatever bullshit your mom fed you and whatever dumb things he told you… but I know you, I know what you want and it… it's not him." He shook his head.

"You don't know me." She shook her head, "Not well enough to make those kind of assumptions." She said.

"I probably know you better than him." Punk nodded.

"I didn't come here to argue with you, and I really didn't want to leave things like this but… I understand you're mad." She nodded, "I think I should just go."

"You're gonna regret this." He shook his head, "I don't… I don't want you to be unhappy. And when we met, you were unhappy. Ok? I got to see you transform into… who you really are. You let me see that cause you trusted me and now you're gonna hide it all away again, and go have a life with him with… with boring sex and boring everything." He said childishly.

"That's mature." She rolled her eyes.

"I'm not wrong." Punk said.

"You get to have an opinion." She nodded, "Cause I brought you into this mess but… now you can go. You can be with someone else and they'll be so lucky cause you're… such a good guy." She nodded, "And we can just move on."

"You don't wanna see me move on." Punk scoffed.

"I do." AJ nodded, "Cause I am. And you deserve someone who can be there with no distractions." She said.

"You suck for this." Punk nodded.

"I know." AJ whispered as he looked over at her, walking closer to her as she looked up at him.

"Don't do this." He said quietly, "I don't know what your mom has over you or why you feel you need to listen to her, but you can choose what you want… I know it's not him." He shook his head as she looked up at him.

"I can't." She placed her hands on his chest, "Please don't make this harder than what it already is." She whispered.

"It shouldn't be hard if it's the right decision you're making." He said, "You should be with me." He whispered as she looked up at him. She wanted to nod and agree, but she'd already convinced herself otherwise.

"I need to go." She stepped back, "I'm sorry… for everything." She nodded, leaving the kitchen and wiping her tears as she left the apartment.