When It's Broken

The night was silent as the wind started to pick up. The clouds up above in the sky began to gather, forming thick, dark wisps. Just as soon as they formed, the rain began to fall. The young woman quickly shoved the pile of papers she was holding over her head as she picked up her pace, darting down the sidewalk as fast as she could.

The rainfall grew heavier and heavier, drenching every inch of the girl's body as she ducked underneath a small cafe's awning. Letting out a deep breath, she cursed herself for not leaving sooner.

After watching the rain for three more minutes, she decided to start walking again, turning left down an empty street. 'At least there's more awnings to cover my head.' she thought to herself, as she slowed her pace.

She was almost to the end of the street when she came across a closed pharmacy. Right outside, the young woman noticed a newspaper stand with tabloids right in front. She hastily picked up one on the left, gripping the magazine as she scanned the front page.

Right on the front in big bold letters read The Delicates Finally Getting Back Together?. Below the headline was a slightly fuzzy picture of four people she knew better than anyone. They sat in a booth inside of a small restaurant, talking and laughing like old friends.

The young woman couldn't believe what she was seeing. There was no way they would be getting back together. There was no way they could get back together. They were missing one important element to having a band, and she was far from ready to be in a band again.

The girl looked around quickly for any pedestrians before shoving the tabloid underneath her arm, dashing down the street towards her flat. Her mind was racing, trying to understand what was happening. She really didn't think they would do this. It just didn't seem right. Surely they would have told her. They would have invited her to come along, even if they knew she probably wouldn't want to join them.

The woman found herself right outside the door to her flat building, shaking her head of the thoughts. She needed to forget this; it would only bring her more stress than she needed right now. She got into the lift, pressing the 2 button as she thought up an excuse for where she had been.

As the door made a ringing sound before opening themselves, she realised she still had no reason. With a deep breath, she let herself into her flat hoping her sister was out.

"Daphnee?" she silently cursed herself as she set her papers down and hung her coat in the closet.

"Hey, Dani." she spoke quietly as she walked into the living room. Her sister was sprawled out on the couch cuddled up next to her husband, watching some sort of romantic movie.

"Where've you been? I was starting to get worried." Danielle asked.

"Oh, um I went for a walk but it started raining and I got home later than anticipated." Daphnee lied, biting her lip as she held the tabloid behind her back.

"You should have called me, silly. I would have come pick you up! Never mind that, were watching that French film I told you about if you wanna watch." Danielle offered, eyeing her sister. She wasn't stupid. She knew Daphnee had been places she wouldn't dare tell her or anyone for that matter. It was nights like these, though that really made her worry about her little sister.

"Um, that's okay. I think I'm just going to go change into my pyjamas and then lay in bed. Goodnight, guys." Daphnee hugged her sister quickly before making her way towards her bedroom. Locking it securely, she fell on top of her bed as she took out the magazine again.

Daphnee knew she should just call her old friends and ask what was going on, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. She hadn't spoken to any of them in almost a year, and she really wasn't sure she wanted too.

But after staring at the front of the tabloid for ten minutes, she couldn't stop her fingers from dialling the familiar number. After the second ring, a deep, Scottish voice answered.

"Daphnee?" he questioned, surprised to see his old best friend's number flash across the screen of his phone.

"H-Hey, Collin." Daphnee spoke, inwardly smacking herself for allowing that stupid nervous stutter of hers to come out.

"What's going on? No offense, but I'm surprised you're calling." Collin responded. He motioned for his brother to come over to him as he clicked the speaker phone option, allowing his older brother to hear the conversation.

"Oh, you know. I just thought I would, um call. See how things were uh, going."

"You saw the tabloids didn't you?" Collin said, instantly regretting saying those words. Connor stared at his brother in disbelief, wondering how he was going to get himself out of this one.

"Um, yeah. I mean, it's no big deal- you guys getting back together. I- I uh, don't mind. You know."

"We're not getting back together, Daph. At least not until you're ready." Connor spoke, forgetting that she didn't know he was there.

"Connor?"

"Oh, um yeah. How's it going?"

"Uh, fine. So you guys aren't getting back together? But how come you all four were together then?" Daphnee questioned, trying to make sense of it all.

Collin let out a sigh, as Connor decided now was his time to leave the room. How was he supposed to explain this? "We- we were getting together to um, celebrate James' birthday."

"Oh. Um, okay." the two were silent, as they both tried to think of something else to say.

"So how've you been?" Collin asked after seconds of awkward silence.

"Okay. Listen, Col, I should get going. I think Danielle's calling me. Maybe I'll talk to you later?"

"Yeah. Yeah, okay. Um, bye." the two hung up the phone, knowing fully well they wouldn't be talking to each other later. Ten minute phone calls every nine months is what they had amounted to, and that wouldn't be changing unless something major happened.