Breakfast was uncomfortable this morning. She hardly said two words to me. She just stared off into space, swirling the spoon around in her cereal until all that was left was a soggy bowl of flakes. “Your losing all the ‘crunch’ in your Cinnamon Toast.” I said to her, trying to lighten the mood. “Ha. Ha.” She said, clearly annoyed. “I’m just not that hungry, that’s all.” I had never known her not to eat a bowl of Cinnamon Toast crunch before. It was obvious something was bothering her, but I couldn’t tell what. There had been a cloud of melancholy hanging over her head for about a week now, today it seemed as if it had opened up and rained.

Dinner proved even worse. Not that I had anything fancy planned, but I did spend a few hours preparing a chicken tetrazzini for her, one of her favorite dishes. She was lost in her phone, scrolling up and down instargam and twitter timelines, avoiding any and all eye contact with me whatsoever. “The pasta’s cold.” She said. “Would you like me to microwave it for you……DEAR?” I asked, slightly gritting my teeth. “No, no. It’s fine.” She said, still not even looking at me. “I think I’m gonna go for a drive.” “Would you like some company?” I asked. “No, not this time. I just need to be alone.” She said, as she walked out the door.

In bed, she turned over on her left side so she wouldn’t face me, slid my arm off of her hip, and wrapped herself nice and snug underneath the covers. She liked it freezing cold at night, fan on full blast, air conditioning at 65. Tonight it was below 60, and she had denied me any access to my blanket and certainly to her body warmth. I just lie there on my back. Cold, confused, sad, and yet, still slightly horny. “I’m cold baby.” I said. “Any chance you could bring that sexy body of yours over here and warm me up?” “I’m not feeling well.” She replied. “I don’t wanna get you sick. Gotta long day tomorrow. Goodnight.”

The next morning she was gone before I even woke up. I called her a few times that day but she never answered. I was pretty confused. She finally called me back about a week later. “Hey, do you have those Blu- Rays I left at your house? You know, the scary ones that we found at Wal-Mart at the bottom of those bargain bins? I think it was Evil Dead… or.. Dead Alive? I dunno, something with the word “dead” in it. Anyway, I have some girlfriends coming over and I think it’ll gross em the fuck out.” She said. “Is there something wrong?” I asked. “You haven’t even returned my phone call in over a week and all of a sudden you want Blu-Rays?” “I’m fiiiiiiiine.” She said. “Just super stressed with this new job and now I just wanna unwind and have some fun with the girls, so can I get those movies or noooot?” She asked. “Sure, c’mon over.”

“Oh my God I totally forgot I left this Aveda hair conditioner in your shower!” She said, as she walked into my bathroom. “My hair has been a mess lately without it. I’ve been using my sister’s Aussie and it’s makes my hair look horrendous, but it really does smell good.” “Ohh. yeah. Still here…” I said, as she continued gathering stuff around my place. “Score! I forgot that I left my Beats by Dre headphones here. Everyone in the library freaks out because I HAVE to play 2 Chainz lately when I’m doing my homework. Without headphones people think I’m a total bitch.” “You’re listening to 2 Chainz now?” I asked, puzzled. She ignored me.

“Thanks!” She said, as she gathered up everything she could find, gave me a kiss on the cheek and left before I could really wrap my head around what was going on. The next few weeks she only talked to me in one word text messages, “cool”, “yeah”, “good”, & “k” were the most common. I was really starting to freak out. I tried calling her girl friends and they wouldn’t answer. I called her guy friends, they ignored me too. I got so mad I even threw a sneaker through my bedroom window. I even got into a car accident because I continually cut people off and honked the horn at every asshole who I thought was going too slow. I wasn’t feeling well. The week after that the text messages stopped completely. All I wanted to do after that was sleep in.

Another few weeks passed and then I saw her. At the same Whole Foods we would always eat at when we both agreed we were eating way to much junk food. My stomach was doing somersaults. She was with a really good looking guy and they both were laughing and looked really happy.”Chelsea! hey, I missed you so much! What have you been up to you never return my calls?!” I said, interrupting their conversation. “Oh hey Nick.” She said smiling. “This is Brian. After you cheated on me last month with my friend Jenna I met him and we’ve been getting along great. He has a motorcycle and he does photography. He’s even getting me on the cover of the new February edition of “Bitches, Bikes, & Beer.” Isn’t that fantastic?!! Anyway, we’re kind of in the middle of lunch right now. Text me later!” She said, as they both went back to their prior conversation.

I felt as if a bag of bricks had dropped onto my head. She found out I had cheated on her. Of course she did. What did I expect? They were good friends for Christ sakes. I felt like throwing another shoe through another window but I stopped myself because I knew I was wrong. I don’t even know why I felt so bad. I was actually planning on breaking up with Chelsea before she started ignoring me. Ever since then she’s all I could think about. And now that I look at it, her and the motorcycle douche bag actually look good together. No matter how bad I wanted knock out his teeth I couldn’t because she looked like she was having such a great time with him. All I could do was sigh, hang my head, and drag my feet out of Whole Foods to get some chicken wings and beer at Hooters instead.

Chelsea and I saw each other from time to time after that. Sometimes we would wave, sometimes we would say hi, but after a while we just walked passed each other like complete strangers. That’s all we were now, complete strangers.