I organized her whole send-off and paid extra into the gift fund. Now that she's gone, what I feel isn't grief.
I say I go for the empty machines. Really I go on the nights his name's on the shift board.
A shared smart home routine still fires every night after the breakup, and neither of us has been the one to end it.
I've been first in and last out for five months. Tonight the only other person still here almost got the real reason out of me.
I found the real reason I've been doing laundry at midnight, and it wasn't the machines being free.
Five months since she left and the recurring invite's still on my calendar, pending, like the meeting might still happen.
Mid call, a text says the ceiling's leaking at home. I finish in my customer service voice and can't find my real one after.
I went back for my charger and found someone else already settled into my old desk. I still check her status every night, like it's still my job.
The old friend group's reunion poll closes in eleven minutes, and the diner we always picked isn't one of the options anymore.
the schedule went up on the corkboard tonight and the last week just keeps going without my name in it.
an old friend's dinner ended earlier than it used to, and i sat in the car after, not sure why i couldn't make myself drive home.
at dinner my sister said she basically raised me, and i drove the long way home adding it to a list i'll never use.