Kidnapped by Wolves

Two: Jesse Sharp

---Jesse---

I snuck a look at the ring in my pocket. I was at the nicest restaurant in town with the love of my life, and I was about to ask her to marry me. Do I propose now? Or do I wait for the right moment? Or will there even be a right moment? I considered my options while I looked at my beautiful girlfriend.

“Jesse?” She asked me.

“Yes, darling, what can I do for you?” I reached for Ellie’s hand but she pulled away.

“I… I have something to tell you.” She said, looking at her hands.

“I do too. Do you want to go first or do you want me to go first?” Maybe this was the moment?

She looked relieved. Maybe she was going to ask when I wanted to propose and was glad I was going to beat her to it? “So you agree? You think it’s time?”

I smiled at her, reaching for the ring. “Yeah. I’ve been thinking about this for a while but I wasn’t sure until now.”

“Thank god. I was worried I was the only one thinking it. It’ll make this all easier since we both agree.” She finally made eye contact with me, but looked sad rather than excited. Wait a minute, shouldn’t she be glad we were about to get engaged? Maybe now really wasn’t the right time if she wasn’t sure.

My finger brushed against the box, but I hesitated. Maybe it wasn’t the right moment. “Are you sure?”

She nodded solemnly at me. Okay She might be sure but I definitely wasn’t now. What was going on? “Yeah. Let’s break up. It hasn’t worked for a while and I’ve been pretty miserable. I’m glad it’s amicable.”

My mouth fell open. That’s definitely not what I thought was happening. I wrenched my hand from my pocket. “Wait a minute, I thought we were fine? I thought we worked through it?”

Ellie looked at me with surprise. “I thought so too, but I’ve been thinking recently. I realized that while I love you, I’m not in love with you anymore. But I thought we were in agreement about that?”

“No! I was going to propose! I love you and I’d do anything for you! Please don’t do this!” I begged her.

“No.” She looked away from me resolutely. “If you thought we were doing well enough to even think about marriage, I’m definitely sure. I can’t do this anymore. I’m sorry. I’ll move my things out of the apartment tomorrow while you’re at work.”

“Please. Please don’t do this. We’ve been together our whole lives! You’re all I know!” I reached my arms out to her but she pushed her chair back.

“You’re right. We’ve been together since we were 15, but I’m 25 now and I’m realizing I don’t even know who I am outside you. I think we made sense once but we’ve grown apart. Goodbye, Jesse. I hope you have a good life, truly.” She quickly got up and darted out of the restaurant. I looked at my half eaten dinner, no longer hungry. I called the server over and paid for the meal, then walked outside of the restaurant feeling lost and broken. 

What do I even do now? Where do I go from here? I went to the valet to collect my car. God, I can’t believe I saved up for this. If I had known this was a break-up dinner, I would have taken her to McDonalds. 

I dropped into the driver's seat of my car and put the key in the ignition. Rock music was playing on my XM radio. I had never liked it, but it was Ellie’s favorite. Now I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to listen to it again. I was about to turn it off when I heard them advertising some kind of giveaway for a vacation. I could definitely use one of those right about now.

I entered my information in the web form, almost feeling like someone else was controlling my body. After I hit the submit button, I turned off the radio and drove home. My mind was blank. I was nothing without her so I guess I’d have to live with being empty.