I Didn't Know I Could Break Your Heart

"Jennifer,"

"Tyler,"

They stared at each other for a moment. She hovered by the doorway, her hand still resting on the frame, wondering whether or not she should have come. He sat upright in his hospital bed, his broken hand sitting uselessly by his side and the other reaching out to her, begging for her to come closer. She swallowed nervously. He waited for her patiently. Nothing happened.

"You shouldn't be here."

"That's what I thought."

Tyler bit his lip, cursing himself for saying such a dumb thing, cursing her for agreeing with him so quickly. Jennifer stared at the ground, trying to make pictures out of the blacks specks in the white tile. No thoughts were in her head. The last thing she remembered thinking was that she had to come here and see how Tyler was. Now she wasn't so sure why she had felt like that.

"I want you here though. I shouldn't have let you leave," Tyler whispered, biting back tears. She didn't look up at him. She knew the power of his eyes. She knew that he could pull her back in with a simple smile. He continued, his voice shaking, "I broke my hand, punching a wall because I was mad at myself for losing you. I tried to commit suicide three f*cking times because I lost you. Please don't leave me again, Jen. Please."

She shook her head, trying her best not to believe him. It was so hard to do when all of his emotions came through in his voice. Her tone less firm than she would have liked it to be, she replied, "If you really wanted to kill yourself, you would have succeeded, Tyler. I... I don't believe that if I leave you'll do this again. You're smarter than this, Tyler... the only reason I'm here is because... well.... because..."

"You felt something,"

"No I didn't!" Jennifer screamed, cutting him off with a violent glare. He stared at her, his eyes wide, as she took several deep breaths. As her anger wore off, tears started to cascade down from her eyes, smudging her mascara. She said, "I shouldn't have come. I should have left you and that should have been that because you were the worst boyfriend that a girl could ever ask for and... and... you're a terrible person and I should have left and never talked to you again! But... but... they called me, for emergency contact and my heart stopped. Don't you ever f*cking do something this stupid again, Tyler, because I swear, when I heard you tried to commit suicide I almost died."

Tyler opened his mouth to say something smart, but then thought better of it. There was no point in telling her that he had already gotten chewed out by Rudy or that she was the reason he had tried to kill himself. There was no reason to point out the irony in the fact that him committing suicide had almost killed her. She was angry and she had to yell at someone. He would let her. So he closed his mouth and waited patiently for her to go on.

"I don't even know what's wrong with you. Those red-haired sluts you cheat on me with all the time dump you all the time. They are always leaving you for someone better," She exclaimed madly, "And don't you dare try to tell me that you love me or that you care more for me than you ever did for them because it's not true. You know it's not true and still you torture me by saying it all the time!"

I love you, Jennifer, you know I do. Please don't say stuff like that... Tyler countered silently.

"And then there's that girl, that girl you randomly tell me about, the love of your f*cking life who you f*cking proposed to a f*cking month ago and didn't have the heart to tell me about! Now is that what a good boyfriend does, Tyler? Is it?" She shouted.

But now she had crossed a line. He started shaking his head, first slowly and then more vigorously. He could feel anger welling up inside of him, "She's engaged to someone else! She had no f*cking clue what you were talking about and thought you meant him! Rodger. She thought Rodger was cheating on her with you."

Jennifer stared at him for a moment. "And how the f*ck would you know this?" She asked coolly. Tyler avoided her icy cold eyes. "How the f*ck would you know this?" She screeched, causing the bedside table to rattler. Tyler swallowed but said nothing. Jennifer sunk to the floor, overwhelming grief washing over her.

"You... you saw her..." Jennifer mumbled, her breath coming in gasps, "You met her... she... she was with you... and she told you..." She paused for a second, her brain working rapidly to keep up with everything Tyler had just told her. "F*ck." Jennifer whispered and then louder, "F*ck! You slept with her, didn't you? Didn't you?"

"Jen," Tyler began, but he was quickly cut off.

"You did," She breathed out. All signs of anger had left her. Her stomach had sunk all the way to the bottom of her feet and it felt like it was still going. The left side of her brains had completely shut down, leaving only her emotions working. She looked like she was holding her breath, "I can tell when you cheat on me. You always have on the same expression, you always start the same way. But, with her? Marrietta? You... you slept with... Marrietta? F*ck."

"Jen, please, listen."

"No f*cking way. I've spent too much of my life listening to you and your god damned ideas!" She exclaimed, a littler louder. Reaching up, she grabbed the doorknob and pulled herself up. With one foot out of the door, she turned back and hissed, "I hope you do kill yourself one of these days. Whether it's because I left you or not, I really don't give a f*ck. I'm done listening to you. I'm done looking at your face. I'm done following you to strange cities. I'm moving back home, I'm going back to college, and if you dare follow me I will take out a restraining order. Do you understand?"

Tyler nodded silently and she left, slamming the door behind her. "Jennifer!" He screamed when she was finally out of sight. "JENNIFER!" The last glimpse of her he had had was her black high heel just barely clearing the doorway. The last time he had seen her smile was over a week ago. The last time he had kissed her had been the night he had told her about Marrietta. "JENNIFER!"

Nothing.

Overwhelming silence filled the halls.

A second passed.

Nothing.

Another second.

Rudy entered cautiously, his face set in stone. Tyler stared at him as if he was a stranger and reached out one hand to him. Rudy came forward to take it but before he could, a single word left Tyler's lips, "Pills."

"What?"

"Pills," Tyler repeated, his voice shaking violently, "I need the pills. Now."

"You promised." Rudy said with a hiss, "You don't break promises to your best friend."

"Just give me the f*cking pills," He replied, deadpan.

"No. No. You f*cking swore to me, you f*cking promised me you wouldn't do this again. No, Tyler, no."

"I don't give a damn about my promises to you. Just give me the f*cking pills."

Rudy stared at him for a moment before turning on his heel and leaving the room. The door slammed five times harder than when Jennifer had left. Tyler looked at it for an entire minute before groaning and praying, "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."