Closer

"Are you sure you want to do this, Louis?" Mr. Binkley asked, looking at the young man over the top of his glasses. Louis was his newest client. He came to him saying he wanted to fight his divorce. He looked so sad and scared when he told him the situation; Mr. Binkley hardly had the heart to say no. "If this is something Laurel really wants, she'll get it eventually. Fighting it will just drag it out."

"She doesn't." Louis defended, sitting up a little straighter in his chair "I know her, she doesn't want this."

"If you say so." Mr. Binkley had seen his fair share of spouses in denial. Louis was the spitting image of a husband in denial of the inevitable. Mr. Binkley always found that it was easier to let thing run their course instead of trying to explain the likelihood of reconciliation. "So now that you've denied the petition, you need to tell the court why. I'll get that paperwork drawn up, you just need to tell your side of the story." He said to Louis, clicking his pen open and setting it atop his legal pad, ready to take notes.

"My side of the story?" Louis asked, his sad face dropping even more. "There is hardly a story. I don't even know what is going on. I left to go on tour, and she told me she loved me. I come back, and she's gone. How are those grounds for divorce?"

"In her petition, she claimed it was 'unreasonable behavior'. Do you know what that means?" He asked, removing the glasses from his face.

"No." Louis said to the ground.

"This is a common reason for people feel neglected or lonely. I'm going to speak honestly here, Louis. In Laurel's case, I think she feels that the marriage should be ended because she feels abandoned when you go on tour." He said as nicely as possible.

"We tried to make it work. She knew that it would be like this when she married me! We called, emailed, Skyped, we visited when we could. She said she understood." Louis argued.

"Sometimes the distance proves to be too much." Mr. Binkley said regretfully.

“We’ve been together for almost five years. We’ve made it work for five years. She’s just stuck in one of her moods and she can’t snap out of it. Is there anything I can do? Anyway I can make her talk to me?” Louis asked hopefully.

“Well, sometimes courts require counseling for sudden petitions like this. I could try and recommend that. But Louis, I think you should accept the possibility of this not working out.” Mr. Binkley said, looking at the heartbroken man seriously.

“Not yet.” Louis shook his head.

"Don't go." Laurel whined, burying her face in Louis' chest. She wrapped her arms tighter around him, making him immobile. Louis laughed and rubbed circles into her back, trying to soothe her.

"I have to." Louis whispered into her hair.

"I thought I could do this, Louis, but I don't think I can." She said, her voice getting thick with the tears she was trying to hold back.

"Hey." He said, pulled back so that he could look in her face. He cupped her cheeks in his palms and gave her a reassuring smile. "I'll be home in no time, okay? Three months isn't so long." He argued, wiping some tears from her skin with his thumbs.

"That’s a really long time." She complained. This was the first time that Louis had to leave after the wedding. The honeymoon stage was over and they had to face reality. Louis was a world famous popstar. He had to go and do his job. It was hard enough to be apart when they were dating. But it was proving to be nearly impossible for Laurel to bear the thought of her husband leaving.

"Remember that we're planning on visiting? Really, it's only two weeks until we're together again."

"I know. You're right. I just want you with me every night."

"I wish you could come with me."

"Me too." She sighed and looked up at him. "We can do this, right?"

"Of course we can." He picked up his bag and walked to the door. "I love you." He said, looking back with the door ajar.

"To the end of the universe and back." She finished with a small smile. He returned it, and before it got any harder, he was gone. Laurel took a deep breath and sat down on the stair, burying her face in her hands. After a few deep breaths she came down from the brink of a panic attack. Two weeks. She could wait two weeks. That was hardly anytime at all. Despite trying to convince herself otherwise, she climbed the stairs with a heavy heart. Who was she kidding? This was going to be the longest two weeks of her life.

She crawled into bed slowly, feeling all her energy leave her. Laurel settled into the middle, it felt less empty that way. She closed her eyes and let the smell of Louis fill her nostrils, making her sigh. He felt closer this way, even though he was getting on a plane and flying away, it felt like she was laying his arms. If only for a moment.



"Laurel, why don't you start?" The therapist asked in a calm voice, pulling her attention away from the plant by the window. Her chair felt as if it was suffocating her and she felt crushed under the harsh stare of Louis and Dr. Green. Before the court would consider either petition, the two were forced into marriage counseling to discuss their issues. This was just postponing the inevitable. Laurel was angry. Louis was optimistic.

"Start with what?" She asked in a distant voice, her eyes now focused on her chipped nail polish.

"Tell me why you want to divorce, Louis." Dr. Green prodded gently. Laurel looked up at the middle-aged woman carefully. The doctor had a straight face and her focus was on Laurel. Laurel took a deep breath and looked over at Louis, who looked distraught.

"We got married too young. We thought we could beat the odds, you know? Reality caught up with me and I realized it wasn’t working. I'm always waiting for him. I can't spend my life waiting." She looked over at him and winced. "He always lets me down." Louis face turned to a look of agony and his blue eyes were swimming with the questions she couldn’t answer.

"How has Louis let you down?"

"He's never here. He promises he'll call, or text, but he forgets and its like we aren’t married at all. I can't have a husband that's not really mine. But I’ve let him down too. So I guess that makes it even?"

"Laurel, does this have anything to do wtih-" The doctor began.

"You told her?!" She yelled at Louis, her anger boiling over. The Dr. Green looked confused. She didn’t realize it was a secret. Louis' mouth opened and closed, not sure of what to say. "I can't believe you told her! You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone!" She shouted at him.

"I had to! Don't you think it’s important?! Lo, our lives are falling apart at the seams; you need to talk about it. You can't ignore it!" Louis yelled back. He was sick of her always avoiding it. She just need to talk it out, but she always refused.

"Shut up, Louis. Shut up!" She turned and faced the doctor and pointed an accusing finger at him.

"See! This is exactly what I mean. He always disappoints me!"

"Come off it, Laurel. You aren’t the only one that's hurt, or that's confused. And don't you dare tell me that I'm a disappointment! I have done everything for you, and you know it. I'm trying. Can't you see I'm trying? And you're running away." Louis shouted at her. Dr. Green nodded her head, approving of the way the two were opening up.

"That's not the point, Louis. The point is that you broke a promise you made to me! That's not the first promise you broke! Remember when you promised you'd be home for our second anniversary, or when you promised you would call, or when you promised you would be home on time? God, Louis. You're so good at making promises!" She yelled in a sarcastic tone, ticking all of her reasons off on her fingers.

"If it bothered you so much, Laurel, you should have said so. Instead of piling up all these things and using them against me. You lied to me. Every time you said you understood, or that it was okay, you lied! It wasn’t okay and you didn’t say anything to me. How am I supposed to fix something I don't know is broken?" Louis demanded, his face flushing with anger.

"You should just know! You're my husband, you should know! But you are never here! I feel like we don’t know each other anymore. You're just some stranger that occasionally sleeps in my bed. I can't be trapped in a marriage with a man I don’t know." Laurel told him, looking him square in the eye.

"I'm so sorry I've held you hostage all these years then." Louis lamented.

"I can't convince myself that I love you enough to make it work anymore." She said quietly, unable to meet his gaze. He deflated, losing the defiant squaring of his shoulders. He fell silent and slumped in his chair.

"If that’s the way you feel, then fine. I'll give you you’re fucking divorce." He said coldly. “Thanks for your time, Doc.” He spat and stormed out of the room.