Playing the Bosses

Long Time Coming

"What's going on?" Ashley questioned, as she analyzed Justin's uneasy demeanor. He'd called her late that night about coming over. Before, earlier in their relationship and even just three or four months ago, she would've been excited about it. However, she stopped feeling that excitement when she finally came to terms with the reality that while the two of them were a great match on paper and started with a spark, there wasn't enough physical or emotional chemistry there. A few months before they'd broken up before quickly getting back together, Ashley noticed that Justin seemed more distracted than usual and even when they were intimate, he seemed disconnected.

Ashley tried what she could to make them work and even now, she was putting in effort by taking him back and trying to remind herself why she fell for him in the first place. On top of it all, she faced pressure from her parents just as Justin had received from his about the two of them getting married. Justin's family owned a chain of upscale hotels around the world and Ashley's family owned a luxury travel company. When the two of them started dating and their parents found out, it was pretty much decided that they'd get married soon.

Although Justin was slow about the proposal, Ashley was ready to move forward quickly and satisfy their parents. She also thought that she wanted marriage with him, but the more things dragged out, the less interest she had in trying to fight for their relationship. It was part of the reason she decided to break up with him, but Justin showing up at her apartment to ask for her back was perfect timing. The morning prior to his visit that day, she'd told her mother about the breakup, only to be met with disappointment and Ashley again felt pressured to try to reignite their relationship, despite the fact that she'd already met someone else whom she was excited about.

"Justin," Ashley called out to him after he took too long to answer the first time. "What's going on?"

"R-right," Justin croaked. "Well, I'm here because I really wanted to talk to you... Could we sit down?"

"Oh um, sure," Ashley shrugged and led him into the living room where they sat on the two opposite ends of the couch. "You ready to talk now?"

"Y-yeah..." Justin paused again before blowing out a quick huff and trying to hold on to the bit of courage he'd mustered earlier when he asked Ashley about coming over. "I wanted to talk about us. I know we just got back together, but it feels like... Maybe it was..."

Ashley rolled her eyes, knowing exactly where the conversation was going. The only thing that surprised her in that moment was her lack of emotional response to what was coming.

"Go ahead, Justin. Get it out."

"I think... Maybe getting back together was..." Justin took a deep breath before finally getting it out. "I think we should break up."

"You're the one who was at my door a few weeks ago begging for us to get back together," Ashley reminded him. Despite her words, her voice was monotoned and what she was saying felt more like a rehearsed reaction, rather than genuine.

"You're right, but now I'm not so sure..."

"Of course you're not sure," Ashley sighed. "When are you ever sure about anything outside of business?"

"I'm sorry, I—"

"There's no need to pretend you're sorry. It's fine... Could you just, like... leave?"

Justin slowly rose from the chair. While he could admit to himself that at times, he missed emotional signals, it wasn't lost on him that Ashley didn't seem to have any emotion at all when reacting to him dumping her after they had just gotten back together.

"I really am sorry," he repeated. "Maybe we could t—"

"Get out," replied an exacerbated Ashley without looking at him.