Friendly Discussions
Stephanie woke up the next morning and looked around the room.
"Paul," she called. She briefly wondered where Paul was before she remembered what had happened just last night. She had left him. He had taken her for granted for the last time and she had left him. A small smile touched her lips as she thought of what she had done. Sure it was awful that such a long relationship had ended, but now she could get out there and find out who she was again. She could date again. Yes, she thought, this is all for the best.
~*~
Shawn looked across the table at his obviously upset friend.
"So tell me exactly what happened," he said while sipping his coffee.
"She said she was sick of me taking her for granted and that she was leaving me." He spoke numbly. "Then she took her things and left. She left me Chris! She's gone! What have I done?"
"Well, I know this is going to sound cruel, but you screwed up royally," he said with a slight grin. In all honesty, Shawn had been surprised that Stephanie had stayed with Paul as long as she had.
"Thanks for the sympathy man."
"I've never been the sympathetic friend," he joked, "that's Kevin."
"I knew I should have called him instead." Paul took a long sip of his beer.
"But yet you called me," said Shawn. Paul might be one of his best friends, but he couldn't help picking on him right now.
"How am I going to get her back Shawn?" Paul asked looking like a lost child.
"I don't know Paul, I really don't know." Shawn looked at his sad friend wishing there was someway to make this all better.
~*~
"So you actually left him," Amy said astonished, "I don't believe you actually did it!"
"But you couldn't have waited one more week," Trish giggled, "now I owe Christian twenty bucks!"
"You bet on my relationship!" Stephanie said in shock. Trish just lowered her head to look at the floor. "I can't believe you did that."
"You wouldn't believe how many people were in on the bet Steph," Amy joked.
"You too?" She almost didn't want to know the answer to that.
"I most certainly did not! Betting on someone's relationship is wrong and I would never do it," Amy said with a smile. Stephanie smiled at her two friends. Considering she had just ended a year-long relationship with the man she had thought she was going to be with forever, Stephanie was extremely happy.
"Well I'm glad everyone else knew my relationship was doomed to end and forgot to tell me," Stephanie said beginning to sound bitter. "Why didn't anyone tell me Paul was such an ass?"
"Because he made you happy," Trish suggested.
"And the rest of us knew that if you were with him for so long he couldn't be that bad." Amy finished.
"Well, it's over now," Stephanie said with a smile.
"Which means, we have to set you up again!" Trish cheered. Amy and Stephanie just laughed and shook their heads at their very blonde friend.
~*~
"Well," said Shawn sipping from his coffee, "do you want my personal advice?"
"That would be why I called you here," Paul quipped obviously getting aggravated.
"Show her you appreciate her." Paul just stared at Shawn in confusion. Shawn shook his head as he put his mug down. "She thinks you take her for granted, show her you don't. Make her see how much you love and need her." Paul looked down to his bottle.
"Exactly how am I supposed to do that?"
"I can't tell you how to do this Paul, you've got to do this one on your own," said Shawn. He hated not being able to help his best friend more.
"I guess I am." Paul took another long swig of his beer again as he contemplated on how to show Steph how much he needed her.
