It was a bitterly cold night in late February, and I had found myself half way accross the city at my good friend's door.
I didn't ask why he wanted me to come over. Roman rarely ever explains himself. He sounded a bit troubled and told me no one else was answering their phone, and he just wanted someone to be with him. An odd request coming from such a stoic.
It was raining that night, and big drops fell on my head, sliding off the nylon hood and running down the nip of my nose. I sniffled, cold and wet and wanting to get in his door but he wasn't answering it.
After about a minute in the rain and a few good pounds on the door, he finally answered.
He looked tired and sick, his eyes dark and brow furrowed.
"Come in." he said solemnly, moving out of the way so I could enter.
I took off my jacket and placed it at the foot of his stairs. "You okay?"
He shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets and sitting down on a kitchen chair.
"Laura left."
"Where did she go?"
He shook his head, "No, she left. Left me."
I turned and stared at him. "Are you serious?"
"Deadly." he said with a tiny grin, but lost it as he went on, "This morning she threw the ring in my face and said she was leaving me. She took most of her stuff."
Roman and Laura had been engaged for a while now. It was no surprise. They'd been together since Freshman year. Now we were all grad students, and it seemed obvious to everyone that the perfect couple in our circle of friends would tie the knot.
"So, that's it? She just called it off?"
He nodded, "Said she found someone else."
Found someone else? When Roman was such a catch? That didn't make sense to me. Why throw away someone amazing?
"Here," he said, "I'll get you some coffee." he stood up and went to work brewing some coffee. I watched him as he did.
Roman and I were a lot like each other. The strong silent type I guess. Other people thought we were weird, but it's just that we didn't have to speak, we don't have a problem with silence.
It's only after years that I and Roman became close, simply because we're both so resigned. Once we did though, we found out about all our similarities. He was a great person to be around because we both had the same interests and ideas.
I looked at him some more. He was quite a handsome man. His hair was dark brown, almost black, and his eyes were a beautiful shade of hazel. His skin was tanned most of the time, and he had very strong broad features and an aquiline nose. Although he was mesomorphic there was some pudge to his body from being about fifteen pounds overweight, but I thought it was charming actually.
Roman returned with the coffee, handing it to me in a mug decorated with Kahlo's painting 'The Two Fridas'. I can still remember when we went to see that exhibition, only he and I were impressed with the art we saw that day and the friends that came with us, including Laura, became bored with it easily.
"Sad isn't it." I said referring to the cup, "Fits the somber mood, I suppose?"
He shrugged, "I guess I too know how it feels to have my heart ripped out." he said softly, staring into his own mug. His coffee was black, the way he usually drank it. I saw his sad reflection in it. It was almost poetic.
"I'm real sorry, Roman." I said, patting him on the shoulder, "She just didn't know what she had. That's all. Maybe she'll change her mind."
Roman sipped his coffee and thought for a moment. "I don't want her back." he said bluntly, "Since I'm not good enough now, I doubt I will ever be."
"That's a bit defeatist of you."
"I don't care. I don't care about her, not anymore." he stared off at a framed picture of them together on the side table, "I haven't in a long time."
"What?" I said incredulously, "Everyone always thought you two were the perfect couple."
"Yeah, thought," he snorted, "I thought the engagement would change things. Guess not."
"Wow. I had no idea. Neither of you ever said anything."
It struck me then that of course he'd never known how to say it. Not even to me, the one who probably understood him best out of everyone.
"Whatever. Fuck it, it's over. And good ridance."
We sipped our coffees in silence, both thinking about the state of things, about what would come next.
The thought that he was back on the market only briefly came into my mind. I was seeing someone, so he was off limits, even now. Roman was hot, anyway, he could go out and get any girl he really wanted.
"Do you mind staying here tonight?"
