Control Yourself

“Greg, we just…” Shae Dawson trailed off, nervously picking at her already chipped cuticles. “We don’t have the same spark anymore.”

Her boyfriend of five years, Gregory Antonio, was standing across the living room from her, about to become her ex-boyfriend. His jaw dropped.

“Shae Butter, c’mon, let’s talk…” He cooed. Shae shook her head, rolling her hazel eyes. She folded her slender arms across her chest.

“I can’t do it anymore, Greg,” She said tiredly. “You care more about fighting than you do me.”

Greg shook his head in disbelief, his electric blue eyes falling to the ground. Shae’s own eyes darted over to where her suitcases sat by the door, fully packed with her clothes, ready to move. She looked back over to Greg who was still staring down at the white carpet.

“I’m sorry,” She said softly. “But I think it’s time you got your priorities in check.”

Without another word, Shae left the apartment they had shared, the place she had called home, for the past three years. She gathered up her suitcases, tugging them down the narrow hallway with the odd grunt and groan. Shae loaded the cases into the elevator with her, pressing the ‘G’ button for ground level. She sighed, suddenly feeling refreshed and new. For too long she had been neglected as she stood by and ‘supported’ Greg’s obsession with becoming an ultimate fighter. He trained hard, he had good composure, but he didn’t understand that there was always going to be someone better than him – which drove him to extreme heights to reach a perfected level of fighting techniques.

Shae had always practiced tolerance and patience when dealing with her developing frustration with their relationship that was fizzling out. She was a renowned yoga instructor in the area, and had recently been approached with the challenge of learning – then teaching – the moves of the new Jukari Fit to Fly class, that was widely becoming popular in Manhattan, in her own studio on the outskirts of Las Vegas.

Needless to say, she didn’t have time for Greg’s ‘all-about-me’ attitude anymore.

Shae reached ground level and hauled her luggage out of the elevator, across the marble tiled floor of the apartment complex. She smiled lightly at a few residents whom she recognized, but continued towards the front foyer doors of the building. With a bit of a struggle, Shae managed to tug her suitcases through the narrow doorway. She trudged across the asphalt parking lot, feeling the hot, Nevada sun through her black yoga jacket and black Puma yoga pants. She set her luggage down beside the back end of her red, Toyota Prius. Digging through her floral tote bag slung over her shoulder, Shae retrieved her ring of keys from the bottom of her bag, as well as her black, aviator glasses.

She unlocked the trunk and began loading in as much of her suitcases as she could. Once the trunk was full, she unlocked the back doors and stuffed as much as she could into the back seat. Shae slipped her glasses onto her nose as she plopped down into the driver’s seat, slamming the door behind her. She shoved the keys into the ignition, but before starting the car, she gripped the steering wheel, taking in a few deep breaths.

She was doing it.

She was actually doing it.

A small smile spread across Shae’s face as she started the ignition, her hybrid car purring to life. The soft sounds of the album ‘Black Holes and Revelations’ by Muse was playing through her speakers. She backed her car out of her designated parking space, and then pulled out of the parking lot, onto the busy streets of Las Vegas. Adrenaline was pulsing through her veins. For once in her life, she had taken control of the situation – not just put up with it. Granted, she had been dealing with Greg’s antics for more than two years.

Shae ejected the CD and put on MGMT’s ‘Oracular Spectacular’ album, immediately feeling the fun vibes rushing through her. Her smile only grew a little wider.

The thought that failed to cross Shae’s mind right away was the fact that she was now, technically, homeless. She had spontaneously walked out of her secure apartment with nothing but her clothes and her car. She had her gym securely owned, which could’ve been a housing option had she’d been that desperate, but she chewed on her bottom lip pensively until a brilliant idea struck her.

She turned down her radio, reaching across with her right hand into her tote bag lying on the passenger’s seat. She pulled out her Blackberry, dialing the only number she knew off by heart. It rang a few times before finally the line picked up.

“Yo,” The voice of Kara Martinez, her best friend since birth, answered. Shae grinned.

“I did it, Kara,” She said solemnly. “I left him.”

There was a pause.

“Honestly?” Her friend asked. Shae grunted.

“I feel so independent,” She sighed. “Like a free woman…”

“Took you long enough…” Kara sighed. “Try not to make it sound like a bad thing.”
Shae rolled her eyes.

“I loved him, okay?” She said defensively. “It takes time to break through that initial fact.”

“Whatever,” Kara scoffed. “He was a total douche-bag.” She teased.

“I need a place to crash, Kar,” Shae said, smiling smugly as she ignored her friend’s jab. “Just until I can, y’know, find a place.”

“As if you had to call and ask,” Kara giggled. “Come on over – we’ll go get manicures.”

Shae giggled as well.

“I’ll be there soon,” She said, ending the call as she pressed the red ‘end’ button. She dropped her phone back onto her tote, gently pressing down on the brake as she approached a red light. Shae turned up her music slightly, continuing to smile sheepishly. Beside her, a metallic, hunter green, Corolla pulled up next to her, two young, attractive looking guys in the front seat.

They looked over at her, smirking. It finally registered to Shae that she too was free to look, to flirt. She turned her head slowly, smirking smugly, cocking an eyebrow behind the dark lenses of her sunglasses. Turning her head back to the intersection as the light turned green, Shae zipped down the street.

It was a new chapter in the life of Shae Dawson’s life; and so far, so good.