As I got out of my car holding my papers in one hand, I thought about what I should say to the love of my life. Or what used to be the love of my life; I couldn't really tell anymore. I walked through the doors and immediately recognized her, although her face wasn't facing me. I had known her forever, and now, in the small, simple diner it all started in, I would be leaving her.
"You look nice," I chuckled, and it felt wrong in my chest.
"Thanks," April mumbled. "And thanks for meeting me here, Sam. I just need the divorce papers and then I'll be out of your hair. We'll never have to see each other again."
I shrugged. "Maybe we could talk awhile. You know, like old times? I mean there has to be a reason you picked--"
"The place where we got engaged?" she interjected. Now she shrugged. "I don't know. I've always liked this place. I went here a lot before our relationship got serious and you started taking me. I don't think I even realized that this is where you proposed when I decided on this place." The waiter walked up briskly, unaware of my unhappiness.
"Would you like something to drink?" he asked us.
"Yes, but just water," she said. She smiled at the waiter. I hoped at the back of my mind it was a fake smile.
"I'm fine," I stated. He left us and she started talking again.
"So how's the university?" she questioned.
"It's great. I guess when you're living in Alabama, the buzz of a college like Alabama State really gets to you," I said. I laughed a little but she just played with her napkin, twirling the ends. "So listen," I carefully started, "Why don't we just talk, you know? We've been friends since middle school. I think we're grown up enough now to just be friends again."
"Sure," she sighed. She wasn't making this easy.
I waited a little longer and then asked the big question. "I have to ask, why'd you serve me with these papers?" I questioned, holding the now signed divorce papers in my hand.
She looked into my eyes for the first time this year it seemed. "Everything was one big joke to you. Even in middle school! Our life, our marriage, everything was just something to laugh about. You think things can be helped by a joke. Sometimes, they just can't. I need something serious."
"Your job as a veterinarian isn't serious enough?" I questioned back, maybe a little too harshly.
"My job wasn't the problem, and, before you say it, neither was yours. Sometimes it's just about the people in the relationship." She looked down again, and then I realized what she was accusing.
"You think that our failed marriage was my fault, even though you're the one that wanted to be separated? Unbelievable. Really unbelievable. You didn't have to say yes to me you know. If you didn't love me you should have said no and saved us both some pain." I could see the waiter out of the corner of my eye, hesitating to come up with April's water because of the volume of our voices.
"I loved you once, Samson," she whispered, now aware of the scene we were causing. "Can you say the same? Could you ever say the same?"
"Oh, I loved you once," I mimicked. "I just can't remember why." I got up and left her behind, along with my whole life, and those papers.
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This was a story I wrote for my English class, which had to be almost completely driven by dialogue.
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