Elise laid in her bed in the dark, staring at the ceiling, lost in sorrowful thought. She had never known heartache to be akin to real, physical pain until Trey walked out the door, presumably into the arms of another woman. She asked herself what she had done to deserve the loss of his love. Did she not give everything of herself? Was this woman's body so much more attractive to him? Or, perhaps, was she more sexually adventurous or satisfying in bed? Whatever the case, Elise missed Trey and would give nearly anything to have him back, lying next to her in this bed, snoring gently as she lay awake.
Just as she began to drift off to sleep, there was a soft knock on the door. Elise wasn't sure if the sound was a figment of her oncoming dream, or if she had truly heard someone knock on the door at the late hour of 11:00. She rose from her bed, and pulled a robe over the nightgown that left very little to the imagination.
As she approached the door, Elise could see that a male figure stood outside, waiting for her to answer. She wondered who it could possibly be, and she was apprehensive to open the door to a stranger. Nevertheless, she did. Her heart leapt into her chest when she realized that it was Trey, standing there with a solemn expression.
"Trey..." she acknowledged breathlessly. "What...what are you doing here?" Her surprise was short-lived as it morphed into sadness and longing. He must have forgotten something important in their house when he left.
"I needed to see you. I'm sorry it's so late...but, I just couldn't stand to wait much longer..."They were both silent for what seemed like minutes. "Can I come in?" Elise took a moment to consider her options. At the end of the day, what would this really lead to? Her heart was irreparably shattered, her dreams for the future having vanished in a matter of brief moments. But she nodded, opened the door further, and stepped out of the way, giving him access to the house.
The house was small, the distance from the door to the living room sofa was significantly shorter than it felt to Elise as she made her way there. They sat on the couch, facing each other.
-
The two of them were silent for a moment as they looked into eachother's eyes. Trey could see the sadness in Elise and felt guilt, and his own sorrow. He had missed her so much. Even in the company of Shelly, he couldn't stop think of Elise, recalling their fond memories. Walking away was difficult, but it only took a matter of two days before he regretted his decisions. The break between he and shelly was swift, painless, and lacked any empathy for her. All he could experience was the fear of the biggest mistake of his life resulting in the loss of a woman he had once planned on spending the rest of his life with.
Even though she had clearly just gotten out of bed, her touseled hair and sleepy eyes complimented her soft skin. She was beautiful and he questioned his own logic of leaving her for anyone or anything. Trey sighed and reached for her hand. Elise recoiled from his touch. He felt a twinge of pain in his heart as he withdrew his own hand and remembered that he deserved it. "Why are you here, Trey?" there was disdain in her voice that almost concealed her pain.
"I just...I couldn't...I realized..." He thought he had come up with the right words to say, but they escaped him when his eyes met hers at the front door. "I ended things with Shelly." he blurted out.
-
The sound of her name felt like a punch to the gut. It reached her heart much sooner that the words from his mouth saying that it was over between he and Shelly. Elise closed her eyes as a tears welled up in her eyes. She lowered her head and scoffed at words that certainly made no impact on her heartache.
"I don't see the point of you coming all the way here to tell me that. What do you want from me? Why are you making this worse?" More tears threatened to fall as Elise rose to her feet, turned her back to Trey, and began to walk away.
-
Trey regretted his words immediately, realizing they were the wrong ones. He felt fear and deep regret as he stood up and slowly appproached her. He reached for her and his fingertips brushed against her arm. She turned and looked at him as rage filled her eyes.