Second Chances For Failed Romances

“No, I hate animals,” I spoke into the phone as I paced around the sidewalk, in front of the boutique I work in.

“Please, please, Audrey, I found him on the street, I’ll take him to the shelter later, just don’t kick him out when you get home, please,” Elyse, my roommate, said on the other end of the line. Elyse is a complete hopeless romantic and the walking definition of a nature lover. Whenever we sit down and talk about our high school years and I tell her some of my stories, she swoons; not literally though. I guess what I’m trying to say is that she idolizes platonic love so much, she wont settle for anything less. It wont hurt to mention that she believes in whatever I had with that guy. The first time I opened up to her about him she couldn’t stop crying. She spent a whole month after me, telling me I needed to find a way to, well, find him. Now we both know that all she did that month was waste her time, there’s no getting through me. She’s yet to realize the truth about men.

“Don’t, please, don’t,” I begged my sister, as I drowned myself in tears, while stepping inside the house.

“What happened?” she began walking after me, a confused and worried look washed over her face.

I came to a stop near our dinner table and took a seat, still sobbing, “please don’t say ‘I told you so’” I looked up at her.

Her eyes widened, she knew it was about the boy, “oh, sweetie,” she got on her knees and grabbed my head, resting it in her shoulder, “don’t cry over him, he’s not worth it,” she spoke softly as she caressed my hair, “what happened to the strong girl that I used to know? The one that would never let someone hurt her or mess with her?” she lifted my head, looking straight into my watered eyes, “baby, he’s just a boy, I’m sure there’s a million more to come.”

After all, she was right. I couldn’t let some boy ruin me. I was better than that. The next day I got a letter from him, explaining why he’d done what he did and, worst of all, asking me to stay the way he’d made me. I had to read it a handful of times before understanding what he was asking me, he was asking of me to stay a weak person, to wait for him and wear my heart in my sleeve. No one had ever been so wrong. I cleared up my mind and decided I never wanted to see him again, I needed to stay strong, after all, I’ve never been a pansy.

I took a deep breath, “fine, but I swear if that little piece of shit has fleas, I will kick him out,” and I clicked. A cat. I thought as I walked back inside the boutique… a stinky, smelly, nasty cat. This is the fourth time this month she brings a stray animal to our apartment.

I got back to work and began shuffling through the inventory, checking what’s in and what’s not, when someone spoke from behind me.