Therapy Bits

Thanks to Fandango for setting this weeks story starter prompt!

Fandango’s Story Starter #171 – Facts, Fictions & Fantasies (mymindmappings.com)

Here is my offering.

They’d only been apart for a week, and Cliff already had a new woman hanging off his arm. Eve crossed her arms tightly over her chest as she leaned against her old car parked in the lot of their favorite coffee shop, watching as the two of them laughed together. The sunlight glinted off the freshly polished surfaces of a BMW parked nearby, another addition to Cliff’s new life of apparent luxury.

For a moment, Eve felt a flush of resentment rise in her chest. Just last week, they had shared a scribbled note on the bathroom mirror—“I’ll always love you.” They had been planning a future, highlighting dreams of road trips and lazy Sunday mornings. Now, he was wrapped around some blonde in a sundress that swayed like a flower in the breeze, every laugh sounding like a dagger piercing through Eve’s heart.

Cliff noticed her first. There was an undeniable bond forged through two years of laughter, tears, and messy mornings, and despite the distance that had magically grown in just a week, that bond tugged at him. His face morphed from joy to confusion as he stood there, the blonde laughing at something he had said. Eve raised an eyebrow at him but kept her expression cool.

“Cliff!” she called, voice steady. The blonde turned to Eve and pulled a perplexed expression as if she were trying to decipher an obscure code.

Cliff waved goodbye to his new companion, hastily moving toward Eve with an apologetic smile. “Hey, Eve!”

“New girlfriend?” she asked, tilting her head as if considering the viability of some new brand of coffee. “You seem a bit underwhelmed. I expect more excitement when you introduce me to someone new.”

“She’s… not a girlfriend,” he stammered, running a hand through his tousled hair. “I just met her at the gym. We were catching up.”

Eve arched an eyebrow, her heart clenching a little more. “Catching up. Interesting choice of words.”

“We talked about… life and stuff.” He shifted uncomfortably, hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans. The confidence he usually carried had vanished, leaving behind a boyish vulnerability that made Eve’s resolve waver.

“Life and stuff, huh?” she replied, forcing a casualness into her voice that didn’t quite match the feelings roiling beneath the surface. “Glad to see you’ve moved on so quickly.”

“Eve, it’s not like that,” he began, but she waved him off, feigning disinterest and stuffing her hands into her own pockets.

“Right. Just having some life conversations, then. Obviously, you’ve filled the void I left behind.”

The glance he shot her was a sharp contrast to the carefree laughter shared moments ago with the blonde. It was laced with guilt, regret—and something else she hadn’t anticipated: realization. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. You know that.”

“Didn’t mean to hurt me," Eve echoed, the bitterness creeping into her voice like thawing ice. “Sounds like a familiar tune. Maybe try ‘I didn’t mean to fall in love,’ or ‘I didn’t mean to make promises.’”

A brief silence loomed between them as memories flooded in. The whispered secrets in the dark, the adventures that led them into sketchy towns, two souls finding sanctuary in each other’s arms. Their love was vibrant in her recollection, but now it felt tattered, like the old car she relied on to get her around town.

“I never wanted to let you go,” Cliff finally said. “But you said you needed space. You wanted to figure things out, be single for a while. What was I supposed to do, wait? I didn’t know it would all come to this.”

“True,” Eve replied, her voice cracking slightly. “I needed space, but I didn’t need a gal pal to replace me.”

The blonde was still standing by the BMW, tapping her foot impatiently now, her earlier exuberance dissipating with each passing second. Cliff glanced back, and Eve took the moment to pierce through his regard with intensity.

“Right. Cool. I actually didn’t think you would move on and flaunt it the way you are,” she added, her demeanor softening yet still guarded.

“Eve, I’m not flaunting it!” he argued, but his voice lacked conviction.

“Then what’s this?” She gestured dismissively at the scene behind him.

“It’s nothing! Seriously!” he exclaimed, frustration creeping into his voice.

“Then tell her goodbye.”

“Eve—”

“You’re either still deciding how you feel about us, or you’ve chosen her and just don’t want to admit it. Either way, you can let her down easy.”

He hesitated, caught between the memories of what they once had and the uncertainty of a new flame. He took a deep breath, his gaze darting back to the blonde who was now scrolling through her phone, more bored than anything else.

“Give me a moment,” he finally said. He turned to walk back toward the BMW, and Eve held her breath, a vortex of emotions swirling inside her—hope battling despair.

Cliff leaned into the blonde’s space, and though Eve couldn’t hear the words, the body language spoke volumes. She could see the blonde’s smile falter and the confusion etch itself onto her features. Moments stretched like an eternity as Eve waited, heart pounding.

After what felt like an age, Cliff returned, his face flushed but resolute. “I told her it was too soon. That I needed time,” he said, exhaling in relief as he returned to Eve’s side.

She smiled, genuine and warm. “And what do you want?”

“I want to figure this out—us. If you’ll have me back,” he replied quietly, vulnerability washing over him.

Eve bit her lip, the smile growing wider as she took in the man before her, the man she had loved through thick and thin. “Okay, but if we’re doing this, we’re doing it right. No more ‘life and stuff’ conversations while I’m missing from the picture. Deal?”

“Deal,” he said, a grin breaking through that vulnerability.

And, in that moment, amidst the tangled mess of feelings and new beginnings, they found a thread of hope—one they both thought had frayed beyond repair.