The Breakup Breakup

Short Story #8 for 2023 has been submitted to the Deadlines for Writers writing group. "Pick" was the prompt. I used the word 9 times in this piece. It is exactly 750 words, as prescribed. 

The Breakup Breakup

Sally glanced at the clock. Again. After a hard day at work, she was exhausted; nevertheless, she had hurried home and quickly cleaned up for the evening.  Don’s parents had insisted that she attend the monthly family dinner that night with their son.

Frank and Genevieve Edison were firmly entrenched in the Atlanta society scene, and Sally had been dating their son for 6 months; but, up until now, they had not considered Sally important enough to be invited to the family dinner.

Now here she sat, ready and waiting to do their bidding. She knew that the Edisons did not put up with tardiness, although their son had no such concerns. His circle of friends laughingly called him “the late Don Edison.”

As the minute hand snailed around the clock face, Sally became more and more irritated. Don wasn’t even answering her voicemails or texts.

“WHERE ARE YOU?” Sally texted. All caps this time.

Silence.

Should she call Don’s parents and make their excuses?

No! that’s HIS job! They are HIS parents, after all.

Angrily, Sally extracted her journal from the drawer beside the sofa and began to make the list she had been thinking about for weeks.

Reasons to break up with Don

1.    This is the fourth time he has been more than an hour late picking me up for a date.

2.    He keeps picking fights with me about my regular outings with my friends.

3.    When I asked his opinion of the last article I wrote, he had nothing positive to say and just picked holes in both the style and the content of my work.

4.    He always finds fault with my choice when he asks me to pick the restaurant for dinner. And then stalls, hoping I’ll pick up the tab!

5.    When we spend the evening in my apartment, he never picks up after himself. He expects me to be a combination waitress/maid, picking my way through the clutter he’s created  - the coat he’s tossed on the chair and the shoes he’s kicked off and left in the path.

6.    He continues to expect me to make all the concessions and “pick up the slack” in our relationship.  When will he begin doing HIS part to make this relationship work?

7.    He doesn’t even care that his best friend is a pervert who “accidentally” rubs against me at any opportunity and even brazenly picks imaginary lint or crumbs from my clothes.

Sally thoughtfully laid the pen down and picked up her phone just as a text message arrived.

“Be there soon! Have some exciting news!  Dinner with Mom and Dad is off.”

Irritated, Sally huffed. Now she had to change clothes AGAIN! And she knew Don would expect her to magically come up with alternate dinner plans. Well, this change of plans was on him, so he could darn well make the alternate dinner plans himself!  She sank deeper into the sofa cushions, picked her pen back up, and angrily added #8 to her list.

He doesn’t consider my convenience when changing plans.

 Well, she WOULDN’T change clothes! Maybe it would penetrate his consciousness that she had spent time preparing to make a good impression on HIS parents. AND she certainly wasn’t going to put together a meal just because her self-centered boyfriend thought that the spotlight should shine on him fulltime. This “exciting news” undoubtedly involved some minor achievement at his workplace, and he’d expect her to celebrate with him!

Sally had worked herself up into a dither by the time the doorbell rang and the door opened simultaneously.

“Hi, Baby!” Don burst into the room and picked Sally up as she rose from the couch. He exuberantly swung her around then abruptly set her on her feet and kissed her soundly.

She looked up at him, questions firing from her eyes directly into his. The enthusiasm and vibrancy he had brought into the room was contagious, and she smiled in spite of herself.

“Remember that Quick-pick lottery ticket I bought Tuesday after my softball game?”

His eyes searched her face and saw realization dawn.

“Really!?” Sally was releasing her previous tensions at warp-speed now; her pulse quickened, and her eyebrows lifted in quest of details.

“The big one!” Don beamed. “I couldn’t wait to tell you. Baby! I’m a millionaire!”

Don held the ticket out and watched in puzzlement as Sally quickly tucked her journal under the sofa cushion and held out her hand to receive the winning ticket.