Elliot and Julia have a complicated relationship. Since they met in the seventh grade, the only heart-to-heart conversations they've had have been strictly over text. But they don't mind this lack of intimacy. If anything, they enjoy it.
Don't thi...
So I finally got a job. It took a few months but finally the right one came around and I got to stop worrying about how I was going to pay my rent for the next couple of months. Where exactly was this job? The New Yorker. It seems like a weird place for a creative writing person to go, they don't really have anything that relates to someone who has a MFA, but they gave me a job nonetheless. For some reason they decided that I was somehow qualified to be their Fiction Editor. I went from jobless to a nice office in the span of a week. I barely had a chance to process it all.
Life without Eli was harder than I could have ever imagined. Sure, I had other friends but I had never needed to be close to them when I had Eli. I had a new job and a beautiful apartment but no close friends. I had to find some fast.
I'm sure all of you are thinking that I'm some kind of heartless monster for pushing him away. Eli seems like a perfect guy with a great life and he's everything I would want. And maybe you're right, I was stupid. But I still think it was necessary. It's impossible for people to be together for so long to not need some time away. We needed space. We needed air to breathe. It just wasn't working.
Did I miss him? Yes, of course, I missed Eli. I missed him so much. My body hurt with missing him. He was a part of my life and I thought he would be there forever. But now he wasn't. And even though there were times that I wanted to call him and make nice, I would just think about what happened and then decide it was better not to. Even if it didn't feel like it at the moment, things would be better because we weren't around each other. So much more was possible now.
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"You're Julie, right?"
"Uh, yeah, that's me. And you are?"
"Abby. I work in the Features Department."
"Cool! I'm the new-"
"Fiction Editor, I know. Everyone's been talking about you."
"Is that a good thing?"
"It's great. We've needed some new blood around here."
"I'm glad. It's been pretty nerve racking. I actually only moved to the city a few months ago, I'm not even adjusted yet."
"Don't even worry about it, you'll adjust just fine."
"I sure hope so."
"Hey, a few of us are going out for a drink after work. Do you want to come? You look like you could use a friend."
