Alice let out a tiny laugh through her tears. “Well I apologize if I’m causing you any stress.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Dana was trying to stay strong, but her emotions were quickly taking over. She couldn’t help but let her pain be shown through the tears gliding down her cheeks. “Please know how sorry I am.”

“I don’t think sorry is enough, at least not right now.” Alice took a deep breath and forced herself to look the athlete in the eye. “I need you to leave.”

Dana’s head dropped in defeat. In less then thirty minutes she had managed to throw away a love that people spent a lifetime searching for, and lose her best friend. She opened her mouth to apologize once more, but decided it would be better if she left in silence.

——————————————–

Loneliness was like an old friend to Alice. She had grown up with two parents who chose to create a home where absence was more common then love. When she was five her father walked out of the house in a fit of rage and after that the writer only saw him on the most rare occasions. Like any child she blamed herself for her dad’s disappearance, and even as an adult a tiny part of her believed she somehow lacked the ability to hold his love and affection.

While sitting in her pitch-black apartment, she once again felt that familiar tug on her heart. She tried to ignore it, but her irrational side was quickly overtaking the few rational thoughts she held. It was becoming clear to her that she was not capable of rousing a person’s love to the degree it took to create a lifetime together. Alice felt stupid for believing Dana could love her when the writers own parents never seemed to care.

Before she could fall deeper into her thoughts a persistent and extremely annoying knocking echoed through her apartment. Alice turned her head to look at the door, but made no attempt to stand and answer it.

After two minutes, the pounding was replaced by Shane’s voice, “Alice, Al, open the door. I know you’re in there.”