Thread: Bearer of Bad News (1,060) [Language]

Hello everyone!
Well, this type of story is definitely not my usual, but I thought I'd give it a try.
Please let me know your thoughts and suggestions!
I will return the favor.
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“You’re getting married?”

The smile fell from my face when I saw the frown on hers. I had just entered her bedroom to tell her the good news. However, apparently someone else's words had reached her before mine could.

“Yeah, I was going to tell you.” The smile slithered back onto my face, but this time it was forced. “I wanted to tell you in person.” In all honesty, I had not been expecting this sort of a reaction from Olivia. However, in all reality, I should have.

“Oh.” Olivia allowed a simper of her own to creep up on her face. “Wow, that’s amazing! Congratulations! It’s about time.” If anybody else had heard the encouraging words, they would have received them on a dime and without a guilty conscience; but I knew the hurt that was behind them, as cunningly as Olivia had tried to hide it.

I shifted awkwardly at her room’s entrance. We had lived together for nearly two months now, but I had always been uncomfortable busting in on other people’s personal space. Finally, I gave in to the pressure and hurried in, plopping my butt on the ground.

“Hey, you know, I wanted to let you know that… well, if you need to talk—”

“Aaren, don’t.” Olivia turned around on her seat, flashing that fake smile that I knew so well. “This is your moment. Don’t let me ruin it.” She breathed in deeply, exhaling overdramatically, as if she were fighting off an emotion. Ten bucks that I knew the emotion. “And really—I’m really really happy for you!”

I gave her a curious expression to let her know that I had read her mind. Honestly, how do you hide anything from your best friend? It wasn’t possible. “Well, I wanted to tell you in person because I wanted to ask you…” I put my hands together and began to pick at my nails in my lap. The cat nudged my side, so I satisfied its need for attention with a scratch on the head.

I glanced up at my friend to see what reaction I was getting out of her with my inconclusive statement. She seemed expectant, and it made me laugh.
“Maybe I should ask you later.”

“Aaren!” She moaned.

“Fine, fine, fine. Gee, chill out lady.” I laughed at her, continuing to scratch the desperately needy feline that was now in my lap and purring. “I was going to ask if you wanted to be one of my bridesmaids?”

In a span of milliseconds that I felt like preceded the end of my query, Olivia had gasped out a girlish squeal and flung herself off of the chair, tackling me to the ground. The cat bolted to avoid deflation.

“Really? You mean it?”

“Of course I do! Why would I joke around about something like that?”

“I would love to be one of your bridesmaids!”

I laughed. “I thought you would! That's one of the reasons why I wanted to tell you in person. I'm sorry you had to hear it from someone else, I just wanted to see your face when I told you.”

Olivia sat up, sitting on her knees. She sighed, and looked as if she were deep in thought. I sat up too, propping my torso up with my arms.

“I can’t believe it. You’re getting married.” She shook her head slowly, glancing at me with a coy smile. I tried to figure out what she was thinking, but failed.

“Yeah… sure has been an eventful year.”

There, I said it; the dreaded sentence that brought about horribly reminiscent memories. I would have said that I didn’t mean to bring “it” up, but I would be lying. As much as I was excited that Olivia was happy to be one of my bridesmaids, this topic still needed to be addressed.

She looked down, a pained look on her face.

“I’m sorry…” I started. “But another reason why I wanted to tell you all of this in person was because I needed to make sure that you were okay with, you know, everything.”

Olivia sighed again. It seemed to be her choice action for the past month and a half. “Well, things aren’t going to be okay with me for a long time.”

“I’m sorry Liv.”

“No, you have nothing to be sorry about. It’s your time to get proposed to this time around. If I ever act in any weird way, I apologize in advance. Just remember that it isn’t anything that you are doing, it’s just… me.”

“None of this was your fault,” came my attempt at consolation.

“I had my oar in it.” She admitted, finally looking up at me again. Blatant hurt. I hated that look. This time around I had instigated it. To try and resolve the conflict I had purposefully stirred up, I tried to redeem myself.

“Well, you might have had your oar in it, but Derrick had his whole freaking boat in it.” I grumbled. “It’s his fault for leading you on for five years of your life.”

“I should have seen the signs, though. You have to admit, I should have seen the signs.”

“I guess so, but who wants to see ‘signs’ popping up when you’re in love? It’s his fault for not telling you straight up how he felt.” My voice rose. “It’s his fault for proposing to you, god damn it!”

She flinched when I said this, tears coming to her eyes. I immediately wished for a time machine to climb into and redo that sentence…and maybe this whole conversation.

“I’m sorry, Liv, I didn’t mean to make you upset.”

“No, it’s okay.” She reached up and swatted the tears away. The cat, on queue, crawled into her lap and started purring. She stroked his head. All that was audible in the heavy room was the benevolent cat’s rabid purring. I looked at the creature and awed at how easygoing it could be when faced with such an obviously tumultuous conversation. Dumb cat.

The conversation lulled for a couple of moments.

“It’s funny, huh?” Olivia finally broke the silence.

“What is?” I asked, thinking she was talking about the cat.

“One life ends, another begins.”

My eyes met hers again. She was smiling at me again, but this time it wasn’t just filled with redundant, forced happiness. It was filled with bittersweet sadness. I matched her smile to a T before grabbing the stupid cat and squeezing him until he pushed out of my arms and ran off.


“For you, life doesn’t end here, Liv. It begins.”

Very enjoyable story.

Two things: The way you introduced your setting made me double take, so to speak. From "I had just rounded the corner" I had the impression of an office or other large building. Not a lot of corners to round in most apartments. When I found out where they where, it caused a bit of confusion for a moment. You might clarify that ealier.

Secondly, I didn't like your use of the phrase "this is your big day." Besides it being a cliche, which is fine in dialogue of course, it doesn't seem like something someone would say before the wedding day. Made me get a bit confused as to if this was the day or not.

Otherwise, I really enjoyed reading this piece.

Thanks for the feedback, Flapjack.

I agree with what you suggested, and have made some changes.