Gravity

New Fanfiction - Rebound

            "Now's not a good time, Cheryl," I say before spinning around with my one box of items. At the last second I turn back and grab my Aubrey Hepburn poster, she doesn't deserve to be left behind whether I'm in a bad mood or not.

            "I-I have y-your s-s-severance package," she sputters through the sentence and holds her head down. I slightly pity her, but there's also some bitterness towards her at the moment. I hate to say it, but if cutbacks are needed Cheryl should be the first to go—not me. But, that's not fair to say and it's also incredibly bitchy which is not me. At least it hasn't ever been before.

            "Right, sorry Cheryl." As I speak her head turns up a bit and she no longer cowers. I wish I could help her, but right now I've got my own problems to tend to.

            I snatch the papers from her hands and rummage through my box to find a pen.

            "Don't y-you want to read through i-it first?" She begins pointing at different numbers on the papers and explaining what they all mean, but I honestly couldn't care less. I can feel the eyes on me and I know what all my (ex) co-workers are thinking: Imogen just got sacked.

            I blink away the tears as I shakily sign my name.

            "Bye, Cheryl," I mumble while straightening back up. I stare at the small office where I've wasted nearly a year of my life. Truth be told I despised my job, it was boring and I hated coming in every morning to edit nonsense things. I only did it to keep my parents at bay and to stop them from thinking I'm wasting my potential by becoming an actress. But, now look at me. I'm hopeless.

            I give a small flick of my hand that is meant to resemble a wave goodbye, but to a stranger it just seems like a weird spasm. I take a deep breath and hold down any tears. I don't allow them to fall until I'm in the safe confinement of my car and even then I sit there for a second paralyzed.

            You're fired; my boss' words circle around my head. It takes a while for the full weight of them to hit me and when they do, I scream.

Joey's POV

            "I'm done with you," her eyes are full of tears and I blink to keep the mist from forming in mine as well.

            "W-what?" I try my best to keep my voice nonchalant, but with one look in my eyes I know that she can tell that I'm slowly breaking. "I love you, Karen," I reach out to pull her into a hug, but she steps back.

            Her long black hair falls just above her butt and draws me to look, but I know now is not the time and drag my eyes back up to hers.

            "I love you too, Joey, but we both know whatever this," she gestures with her hands, "is, is not working."

            My eyebrows furrow together, what the hell is she talking about? We're perfect together.

            "We love each other though..." I trail off and try again to pull her in, but she shakes her head and yanks herself away from me and continues to try and pack her things up.

            "Listen, school is almost over. But, yet what are you doing?" Her voice is harsh and I blink. This argument, again?

            "We talked about this; I want to be an actor."

            She gives me a sarcastic laugh.

            "Yes, but I don't think you understand what you do is not acting. You get up on a stage and make jokes with your friends, that is not acting." Her voice is loud and menacing and it sets me on edge. I quickly lose my cool composure.

            "We get paid..." I trail off while mumbling, "Not a lot, but...we get paid."

            "No, no you don't." She shakes her head and lets out a deep sigh. She turns her back to me, "I don't even understand why you have to go up there every weekend for this silly play."

            "Musical," I correct while nearly fuming.

            "What?" She spins back around and I can see the anger begin to rise in her aswell.

            "It's a musical. Not a play. That's two different things. I sing in this. I told you, Karen, baby, I have a lead. It means a lot to me. It's call Starship—"

            "Yeah, what the hell is Starship?" She rolls her eyes and I know she means it as a rhetorical question, but I answer it anyways.

            "It's like Little Mermaid in space." She stares at me and there's an awkward silence before she fills it.

"God you are so childish," she groans.

I study her as she takes items and throws them into random boxes.

"Three years, three years down the drain," I mumble, mainly to myself, but Karen decides to listen.

I feel the couch dip down beside me and I turn to stare at her. Her lips are red and her cheeks are splotchy, I swallow down the pain as I see the tears in her eyes. But, she's doing this to herself. I shouldn't feel bad for her, but I do. And I feel bad for myself.

She leans into me and her warmth causes my heart to flutter.

"I really do love you, Joey Richter," she whispers before looking up at me with her bright blue eyes, god, her beautiful eyes.

"So then stay, don't leave me," I bite my tongue to stop myself from leaning down and kissing her.

"I can't," she says before pulling away and leaving my body aching for her touch. "You're hopeless, Joey. And I can see our future, your future, if you keep going down this path. And it's not good. You won't be able to support me. I need a serious man, but you'll always be stuck in your college days never making money. After Starshit—" she smirks at me proud of herself before saying, "Er, oops, I mean, Starship—is over you'll come back to Michigan and end up working at some crappy gas station. I'm sure you'll make some chick happy someday. But, as for me, I'm leaving before you drag me into your shit. I'm moving to Hollywood—the big leagues."

And with that she gathers an armful of her stuff and leaves our apartment with a swing in her hip.

I shake my head and run a hand through my hair trying to figure out how the hell I'll go to rehearsals tonight and not completely break down.

And that's when there's a crack of lightening.