Don't Let Us Go

Letting Her Go.

"What's with all the bags in the living room, babe?" Olivia asked, walking through the apartment to meet her boyfriend of three years in the kitchen. 

Hanging her keys on the hook adhered to the wall, she turned to face Spencer, who sat intensely at the table, rubbing his face.

"What's going on?" Olivia asked, now worried by his rough stature. She'd been gone for work since before he awakened earlier that morning.

"I heard you and Monica on the phone last night about your job offer in Toronto." Spencer replied monotonely, looking up at to face her from where she stood near the kitchen bar.

Shifting her smile into into a regretful expression, Liv immediately dashed over to where he sat, kneeling down to meet his height. Cupping his cheeks in her hands, Olivia pushed their heads together. "Baby, I wasn't hiding it from you, I promise." She vowed lowly, "I wanted to take the day to think about it. I was going to tell you during dinner."

"That's not the problem, Liv." Spencer sighed, gently pulling away from her grasp, as he stood up and motioned around her kneeling postion. "That's the third offer in the last seven months."

"I wasn't going to take it." Olivia gushed, hopping back to her feet, concerned that Spencer thought she was leaving him.

"You can't turn this one down like the other two. I won't let you. Not for me." Spencer groaned, shaking his head earnestly in denial.

They moved to New York right out of college so he could start his NFL career, and Olivia was forced to take the first journalism offer that came around, instead of vying for her options out of state. He hadn't intended to hold her back, but Olivia wanted to be where he was, which meant rotting as a low ranking assistant at a writing column that didn't deserve her talents. All her best offers were out of state, and she rejected every one of them.

"I won't let you keep putting your life on hold for me and my career." Spencer concluded, pacing in anguish.

"I'm not leaving you, Spencer. I won't leave you." Olivia voiced strongly. "You can't force me to go to Toronto, Spencer."

"You're right." Spencer agreed. "That's why I am moving out."

"You're leaving me?" Olivia choked up in disbelief of what she heard. "No, you can't. I don't want you to." Tears were streaming down her cheeks, as she remembering his luggage sitting in the living room when she first came inside. It began to sink in that he was serious.

"I love you, Olivia." Spencer promised, stroking her cheeks, with tears of his tears now falling. "And I gotta do right by you, even if you don't want me to, baby."

She shook her head, forcing her face out of his palm. Sighing heavily, Spencer spun around, making haste towards the living room. Heels clacked against the ground as Olivia trailed behind him, fighting the bags off his shoulders and the suitcase in his hands. Her angry actions slowed him down, but failed to stop Spencer from going through with his choice.

Her pleas for him to stay fell on deaf ears as he continued to walk out the door, holding back his tears, as he fought off the urge to go back.

Her screams were heard down the halls of the apartment building as he closed the door behind himself. Inside, glass frames of pictures of them through the years slammed and shattered against the doorframe. Numbed by her pain, Olivia's knees gave out, sending her to floor sobbing as she glared at the door where the love of her life walked out on her.