I Can't Do It Alone

Jocelyn and Tia slowly made their way to the locker room. Jocelyn was trying to figure out the best way to break the news to Sid that she was offered a job across the country. Tia looked behind her and saw Jocelyn had stopped.

She turned around, walking back towards Jocelyn. “It’ll be fine,” she assured her, continuing to walk towards the locker room. “Sid loves you, and you two will figure everything out.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t tell him about all of this after a loss,” Jocelyn began.

“No!” Tia told her. “If you don’t tell him now, you’re never going to tell him. We both know that. Just go in there, and explain everything to him,” she said as they reached the locker room door. “Everything will be fine,” she promised.

Jocelyn nodded her head as the security guard let the two girls in. They walked inside and could feel the disappointment in the room. Tia gave Jocelyn an encouraging smile before walking over to Kris’s locker. “Hey,” he smiled at her, giving her a quick kiss. “I’ll be ready in a few minutes if you want to go get something to eat.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Tia told him, turning her attention towards Jocelyn who was walking up to Sid.

“What’s going on?” Kris asked, noticing that Tia was staring at Jocelyn and Sid.

“Um, Jocelyn’s going to break some news to Sid, and I’m kind of wondering how he’s going to take it,” Tia told him, turning around and seeing Kris put on a t-shirt and a baseball cap.

“Is it bad news?” Kris wondered aloud.

“No, not necessarily,” Tia told him. “I’ll fill you in later,” she promised as she saw Jocelyn approach Sid.

Jocelyn walked up to Sid, her stomach full of knots. She had a bad feeling about telling him, but she knew she had no choice. He needed to know, and the sooner, the better. “Hey,” Jocelyn said quietly.

Sid turned around, seeing Jocelyn standing there. “Hey,” he said shortly. Jocelyn knew it was nothing personal, this was usually how Sid acted after a loss.

“I need to talk to you,” Jocelyn told him.

“Is everything alright?” Sid asked, concerned.

Jocelyn sat down in front of his locker, with Sid sitting down next to her. “Do you remember when I told you about that marketing company that was hiring?” she began.

“The one in California?” Sid asked.

“Yeah, that one,” Jocelyn said, nodding her head. “Well, a couple of people from the firm came here, and I had an interview with them,” she continued.

Sid stared at her, a look of surprise on his face. “And?”

“Well, they offered me a job,” she told him with a smile.

“When do you leave?” Sid asked, an ounce of emotion nowhere in sight.

“I haven’t accepted the job yet,” she told him. “But, I have two weeks to tell them my decision.”

“When do you leave?” Sid repeated.

“Sid, I haven’t accepted the job,” Jocelyn told him. “I wanted to talk to you about it before I made a decision.”

“It seems to me that you’ve already made your decision,” Sid told her, standing up and throwing things into his bag.

“I just told you I haven’t made my decision,” Jocelyn told him, grabbing his arm to try to make him stop and look at her. “I wanted to talk to you first,” she repeated.

“Why talk to me now?” he yelled.

“What?” she asked, slightly taken aback from the anger in his voice. She looked around and could see everyone that remained in the locker room was now staring at the two of them.

“Well, you had an interview without talking to me. Why even talk to me about taking the job?” he questioned.

“Sid, I don’t want anything to happen to our relationship,” Jocelyn told him quietly.

“You’re planning on moving across the country, and you think nothing’s going to happen to our relationship?” he asked incredulously. “Of course it’ll change our relationship. If you take the job, everything’s going to change.”

“It doesn’t have to,” Jocelyn began.

“Yes it does! Jocelyn, you’re going to be two thousand miles away all the time. We’ll never see each other,” Sid told her.

“We can make time to see each other,” Jocelyn told him. “I mean, I can fly out to Pittsburgh, and when you have a break, you can come out to California.”

“It’s still not going to work,” Sid said, shaking her head.

“But…” she began.

“Choose one. Our relationship or your job,” Sid interrupted.

Jocelyn’s eyes went wide at his ultimatum. “You can’t make me choose,” she said, shaking her head. “Why are you getting so angry that I want this job?” she asked.

“You want a job that’s clear across the country!” Sid yelled.

“Yeah, and your job takes you all over the country!” she argued. “But, do I ever complain about that?” she questioned. “No, and why is that? Because I love you, and I’ll do anything to make this relationship work!”

Sid stared at her, his face void of emotion. “Choose,” he repeated.

“Fuck you,” Jocelyn screamed, storming away from him. She walked past Tia, who was staring in shock at what had just happened between her two friends. “Do you still think everything will be fine?” she questioned, continuing to walk out of the locker room.

Tia just stood there, shocked. Kris put his hand on her shoulder, and Tia spun around to look at him. “Let’s go,” he told her, grabbing his bag out of his locker room.

Tia nodded her head and walked wordlessly out of the locker room. Once they had made it to his car, he turned to look at her. “Care to explain everything now?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Tia said, launching in to an explanation of everything that had just happened.