The Break Up

Mika's Note: I wrote this as a pre-Blake Ali story.  I had gotten a challenge from my writing group to 'write about what people would find in your trash' and ran with it, although I don't think I ever shared it with them.  I think that I had finished the first of my Code Red stories at that point and although Ali made no bones about the fact she and Bryan were no longer an item, she never mentioned why.  I thought that finding not just her boyfriend, but also her commanding officer digging around in her trash to be a good enough reason.  Men, can't live with 'em and you just can't shoot 'em...

The Break-Up

(January 31, 2007)

“Bryan?” Allyson questioned, stepping inside her small apartment on base.

Looking up guiltily from the trash strewn across her kitchenette floor, he spluttered, “What are you doing here?”

“Um, I live here. Sometimes.” She came around to face him. “The question is what are you doing here? And why are you in my garbage?”

“You’ve been acting strangely lately,” he told her, standing and brushing his hands off. “I thought I’d investigate.”

“Investigate?” she asked, incredulously. “Looks to me like you’re snooping!”

“Look,” he said, attempting to placate her, “I’m you boyfriend, but I’m also your superior. It’s my job to make sure you’re at your best.”

“Boyfriend,” she laughed. “Not for long!”

“Now wait a minute! I’ve found some rather incriminating evidence that you’re going to have to explain!”

Ali rolled her eyes, forcing herself to calm down. He was in the wrong, after all. “Go for it, Bry. Make my day.”

He lifted up a movie ticket stub. “What’s this?”

“A movie ticket?” She rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on already.

“Who’d you go with?”

Closing her eyes and counting to ten, she responded calmly, “Alex.”

“Why’d you go to a movie with him?”

“Because he’s my friend and because Shana was on a date.”

“Hmm,” he murmured, setting the ticket stub aside. “And this?” He held up another piece of paper.

She leaned in closer and grinned. “Dinner receipt.”

“Fancy restaurant,” Bryan observed.

Her grin broadened. “Yeah, it was. Nice wine, yummy tiramisu.” She knew she was baiting him, but she didn’t care. If the jerk was going to sift through her garbage, he deserved it.

“Who did you go with?”

“Why don’t you look at the signature on the receipt? It’s not mine.”

“Hmm, “ he studied the signature very carefully. “Reid. Damnit Allyson! Why didn’t you just tell me you and Shana had dinner together?”

“One: it isn’t any of your business. Two: I figured that if you’d spent all this time digging through my trash, you’d have figured it out by now!” She was tired of playing games with him. God only knows what was in her trash, but she knew that something incriminating had to be in there.

“Why’d you two go to such a ritzy place?”

“I keep telling you that it isn’t any of your business, but you just won’t listen, will you? I had some good news that night and she treated me to a special dinner. Friends do that sort of thing, you know.”

“What good news?”

“She’d just told me she’d found a new boyfriend,” Shana commented from the entrance to the kitchen. “One that doesn’t dig in the trash.”

Ali flashed her redheaded roommate a ‘thank you’ look, then went back to Bryan. “Anything else? So far you haven’t proved a damn thing!”

“Explain this!” He triumphantly held up a limp piece of something.

“What the…?” As she studied the item in his hand, it became so much clearer. “Oh, that’s right. It’s a condom. Can’t imagine why you wouldn’t know what one of those were, Bryan.”

“Damn you!” he screamed, face turning red. “Why can’t you just answer the question?”

“Because you’re invading my privacy!” she yelled back. “And in case you’ve forgotten, I share this place with Shana. Did it ever once occur to you that any of those items might be hers?”

Apparently not, because he hung his head and wrung his hands. “You’re right. I never once thought that…” his voice trailed off as he remembered what he was holding. “Please tell me this is hers…”

Shana turned bright red and nodded. “Now, do you mind?”

He tossed the used latex into the garbage. “Sorry. Would you…”

“Sure.” Red gave her roommate a ‘call me’ gesture and walked out of the kitchen.

“Bryan, this has got to stop.”

“What?”

“This,” she waved at the kitchen.

“This is the first time I’ve gotten into your garbage,” he protested.

“Maybe so, but you follow me, you check the messages on my answering machine, you look to see who’s called my cell phone…” She paused as it all began to sink in. “You’re becoming obsessive and overbearing. Not to mention possessive and untrusting.”

“Please tell me you’re not seeing someone else?” he begged.

“I’m not. Yet.”

“Then… the dinner?”

“I’ve been promoted.”

“Really? That’s great! We should…”

She interrupted him. “Bryan, no. This isn’t going to work. Especially now.”

“What do you mean?”

“Were you even listening to me before? You are becoming the clingy possessive boyfriend. The kind of man I cannot trust. And now that I’m going to be gone more and have more responsibilities, it’s only going to get worse. No thank you.”

“So, that’s it? It’s over?”

“Yeah, it is.” Her voice softened suddenly. Resting a hand on his arm, she continued, “Grow up some. Learn to trust me. Then we’ll see what happens, okay?”

He nodded sullenly.

“Look, you’re still here and so am I. We don’t have to stop seeing each other completely… I just can’t have a relationship with you right now. It’s getting to be too hard. And this,” she motioned to the mess on her floor again, “was really the last straw.” She patted his arm and moved to leave the kitchen. “Now get… I’ve got a date.”

“But you said…”

“I’m just teasing. I’ve got a class tonight. Now scoot!”

“On one condition?”

“Shoot.”

“You’ll have dinner with me tomorrow?”

“As long as you promise no more spying!”

“You’ve got it!”

“Good, gimme a hug and then go. I’ve got to change.”

Bryan hugged her and held her close. Giving her a friendly kiss on the cheek, he left her apartment, wondering. “Will we ever be okay again?”