The Last Straw
It was a dark and stormy night. Fred had retired to small apartment. It had been a long day and he all he wanted to do was collapse and fall asleep. However, his girlfriend Jane had other plans. She had been waiting in anticipation for weeks for the premiere of a new movie and Fred had agreed to take her. That was weeks ago, and Fred had completely forgotten about it even though Jane talked about it nonstop. The plot revolved around some romantic nonsense, but the male lead just happened to be Jane's celebrity crush, so there was no way she was going to miss it. Jane had sent several texts to make sure Fred was ready on time but despite her attempts to make this a reality, Fred had still forgotten. Since Jane had talked about this particular topic nonstop Fred had put any mention of it on ignore.
The bell of Ferd's door began to chime, indicating there was a visitor. Fred mustered all the strength he had left to get up from his collapsed state to answer the hail. Each step took conscious effort and when he finally reached the door and opened it, he saw an irate woman, dressed simply with her hands crossed over her chest. Like a whipped puppy, Fred knew he was in trouble. The irate woman looked over Fred disappointedly and her face turned to rage.
"Why aren't you ready?!" the woman screamed, "I've texted you all day. The movie starts in less than an hour! You know I've been waiting for weeks to see this movie." While there was anger on her face there was pleading in her eyes. Fred had let her down again. It seemed to be a recurring theme in their relationship. The thing that Jane was not sensitive to the fact that Fred worked long hours at a job that was sucking the life out of him and draining his energy.
"I'm sorry" Fred said halfheartedly, "I know you've been waiting for months to see this movie. I've had a long day, and I just can't make it."
"Well, if you can't make it, maybe I should find someone who can" She threatened and stormed off before Fred could muster a reply. After Jane had disappeared down the stairs. Fred closed the door and made the painful march to bed. Soon Fred was fast asleep.
The next morning, Fred woke up to a text from June which indicated that was the last straw and that she wasn't taking it anymore, their relationship was now defunct. Fred did not respond. There was no need. Fred felt a weight life off his shoulders. It was one less thing he had to worry about. When he first got together with June it was exciting, but time has a way of making the exciting mundane and that's what time did to Fred. He didn't need June reminding him of what a pathetic loser he was. He was doing the best he could. if his best wasn't good enough, it wasn't good enough. No amount of verbal shaming was going to change that. He didn't hate June, in fact he understood why she did it and he didn't hold that against her.
The next day passed and Fred had still not returned June's text. In Fred's mind, the relationship was really over and there was nothing that really needed to be said about it. It was true that he would miss her for a while, but time would also take care of that and cause him not to think of her at all.
On the third day Fred got a text from June. "Is that it? you have nothing to say to me?" was how the text went. Fred wasn't sure how or if he should answer this text. He decided the direct approach was best and he answered it like this.
"No. You said it was over. So, it's over." It was direct and to the point. Fred got a follow up text.
"So, you're just going to accept it. If you really cared about me, you would have begged me to take you back, but I guess you really don't care. Maybe you never did."
June didn't really want to break up, what she wanted was for Fred to crawl back on his hands and knees and beg her not to leave him. Fred could feel himself being sucked into compliance. He knew that she was employing a manipulation tactic to gain the control she had felt she had lost in the relationship, but the thing is, she was right. Fred didn't care anymore. He did care once, but not now.
"Goodbye" was his one-word response. Although Fred could only speculate, June cried when she read the one-word text. Her manipulations had backfired, and she only had herself to blame for it. Although she tried texting Fred a dozen times, he refused to reply to any of them. He was really gone, and she would have to start over with someone new. All the time and energy spent was wasted.
Fred decided to concentrate on himself. When he had a better job and more time to devote to someone, he would try again with someone new but until then, he would shun intimacies with women.