The Weekend Trip (An "A New Agent" Short Story)

Chapter Eight

They were walking down the sidewalk, Mike's arm draped over Brett's shoulder. She had a pale blue scarf he had just bought her slung around her neck. She smiled up at him. "This is such a beautiful scarf. Thank you." He smiled back at her. "Of course." "This has seriously been such a wonderful weekend. What brought this on?" Mike's stomach twisted into a knot. He suddenly couldn't stand to hold it in anymore. Mike stopped walking, and Brett looked at him, concerned. "What's wrong?" Mike took a deep breath. "There's actually a reason I wanted us to go on this trip." Brett suddenly felt uneasy. Mike ran his hands through his hair. 

"I was offered a job in D.C, and I was just wanting to give us the best possible weekend before I asked you about long distance." Brett was already feeling hurt. "So this whole weekend was a bribe?" Mike put his hands on her arms. "Of course not. I just wanted a lovely weekend for you before I had to ask you to do this. You deserved this." Brett sighed, as tears started welling in her eyes. "When would you leave?" Mike looked down. "Wednesday." The air caught in Brett's chest. "Well, Mike, I just don't think I can do it. All this weekend did was prove to me how special it is when we're together. I just can't think about being that far away from you." 

Mike couldn't believe she was being so selfish. He felt the anger swelling in him, and it slipped out. But he instantly regretted his rash words. "Well, I already took the job." Brett's mouth hung open, and tears now visibly flowed down her cheeks. "You took the job without even asking me? This whole weekend was just you trying to make up for something I didn't even know you had done yet! You thought I would just let it go, if you did this?" "Brett..." Brett pushed his hands off. "Shut up, Mike. I.. I just.." Mike interrupted her. "Well, don't you think it's a little selfish to ask me to stay instead of going after my dream?" Brett seemed to be in disbelief. "Mike, did I ever say you had to stay? I would have gone with you. All you had to do is ask, and if I could have gotten a transfer. I would have made this work for us, but you didn't even let me help you with this. You just did it on your own. Did you even stop to think about me at all?" Tears were in Mike's eyes now, too. "How can you say that? Of course, I considered you!" 

Brett laughed grimly. "Well, obviously not too much, if you could take the job without asking." She put her face in her hands and looked back up at him. "You let me gush over you this whole weekend. You let me be a lovey dovey idiot, knowing all along that you were leaving." She paused, and Mike could see the hurt on her face, as the tears started again. "You let me say that I loved you." Tears streamed down Mike's face, once again. "Does the fact that I'm leaving make what you said a lie? It certainly didn't make it a lie when I said it back." Brett looked up at him. "It doesn't matter. This whole, lovely weekend was just a deception. I always loved you, because of how real you were, but suddenly you don't seem so real to me, if you can do something like this." Mike sobbed. "You can't mean that. Brett, I'm so sorry." Brett just shook her head. "Take me back to the cottage. I just can't do this right now. I can't be with someone who believes that this was okay." Mike looked over at her, with disbelief. "Are you saying this is over?" Brett felt an unbearable amount of anger and sadness building as she looked up at him. "Yeah, I think we're done here."