So this is how it ends?

“So, that’s it, then?” She leaned back against the side of her car, playing with the keys in her hand while watching him from the corner of her eye.  His face gave nothing away; he remained stoic as always. 

“Fate fell short this time,” he said with a shrug.  She sighed and looked up toward the sky, cursing Fate while wondering if it really was a thing. 

Often, she thought their “what ifs” outweighed their “hads.” She knew she lived in her head too much, and maybe that’s where much of their relationship lived as well. Still, he knew her better than anyone and their relationship had endured all these years.  But perhaps it had had one up and down too many.

With a curt nod, she got into the car and went to close the door.  He reached out and grabbed it before she could shut it all the way.  “You know, it’s not against the rules to say you were wrong.”  She rolled her eyes as she put the key in the ignition.  Stubbornness, pride – they both had too much of it for their own good.  With her hand still on the key, she turned and looked defiantly at him. He drove her nuts.  He was the only person in the world she actually fought with, and she could never figure out why it was that way with him. 

“Yes it is,” she replied.  She knew she was being unreasonable, but when she was pissed she didn’t care.

He knew he was pushing her buttons, but he kept pushing anyway.  “Fine, so just bend the rules a little, you need to admit partial blame.  It’s not like you ever follow the rules anyway.”

For some reason - maybe it was his tone, or maybe it was because she knew he wasn’t entirely wrong, but that set her off.  Angrily she jerked the key to the right, starting the ignition.  With her other hand she pushed out against the door, causing him to stagger back a couple steps.  “You’re not the boss of me,” she said as she slammed it shut.

Angrily, she shifted into drive, but she kept her foot on the brake as her mind raced.  She glanced into her side mirror and saw he was still standing there, watching her.  He looked pissed now as well.  But there was something else.  Perhaps he was thinking the same thing she was – about the amount of miles they’d been through together, and the amount of miles she was about to put between them now.  But, she didn’t ask.  Instead, she put the car in reverse and backed up until he was even with her.  Unrolling the window, she turned to look at him again; her anger replaced with pensiveness.

"You know, this place was never the same again, after you came and went.”

"This place??” he asked, looking around the parking lot of his apartment complex.

“No,” she shook her head.  “This place” she said as she put her hand over her heart.  It was the closest she could come to an apology.  With that, she put her car in gear and drove off.

‘So long,’ she thought wistfully to herself without looking back.

 

© Dahlia Ramone: June 12, 2016

 

 

This was written for Blogophilia Week 17.9

Topic: “Bending The Rules”

Bonus Points:

(Hard, 2 pts) Quote Steve Prefontaine (I didn’t)

(Easy, 1 pt) Incorporate a Blink-182 lyric in your blog:

 

Fate fell short this time /

This place was never the same again, after you came and went

(All lyrics from "Feeling This")