Free Forget Me Not by Sarah Daltry

I’m sorry, Lily.”
    “ Why are you doing
this?”
    “ I’m not doing anything.
I’m an idiot. I’ll cancel and come up tomorrow. Forget I even said
anything. I just… maybe I should’ve listened to you and taken that
break more seriously. I’m so worried I’m gonna fail all my classes.
I’ve been screwing around so much with sports and-”
    “ Who is she?” The rage
builds in me and I don’t know how to control it. Derek has never
been a great student, it’s true, but he’s always been a great
boyfriend. I can’t believe that the only reason he forget about my
birthday and our anniversary plans is his busy rugby schedule. I
knew those girls were going to be a problem.
    “ She? Lily, there’s no
one. I promise I’m not trying to be an asshole; I think we are just
both under a lot of pressure. I’ll call you Monday when I get back
and we can try to figure something out for next weekend, okay?
Promise?”
    “ Where were you
tonight?”
    “ When?”
    “ You didn’t answer your
phone,” I say.
    “ When you
called?”
    “ Yeah.”
    “ I was at a study session
for trig. It’s going to be a killer exam.”
    “ Like with your professor?
Your TA?”
    “ No, just with some people
in my class. And then, since we skipped dinner to study, I walked
with Jodie to the pizza place.”
    “ Jodie?”
    “ Yeah, she’s in my study
group and she’s on the girls’ rugby team, so we just grabbed
something to eat and talked about the matches this weekend
and-”
    “ Fuck you,” I
respond.
    “ Stop it,” he
says.
    “ No. Fuck you. You’re
ditching me on your birthday for some slut-”
    “ Lily, Jodie’s not a
slut.”
    “ Awesome. Now you’re
defending her?”
    He sighs. “I’m not defending her, but
she didn’t do anything. I’m the idiot, not her. I’m not ditching
you.”
    “ Seems to me like you
are.”
    “ I told you I’ll cancel,”
Derek argues.
    “ Right. And tell Jodie
what a bitch I am.”
    “ Happy birthday, Lily. I
love you. I promise I do. You’re just upset because you’re still
trying to figure yourself out. I’ll call you Monday
and-”
    “ No, I’m upset because you
never mentioned Jodie had anything to do with rugby. Or that you
couldn’t pick up the phone because you were with her.”
    “ Lily, she’s just a
friend. Look, we can talk Monday and-”
    “ Is the girls’ team going
up this weekend as well?”
    “ Yeah, of course. The
matches are right by one another.”
    “ So this party you’re
going to? It’s with Jodie?”
    “ It’s with the girls’
team, yes.”
    “ And you didn’t tell me
because?”
    “ Because you’d freak out
and there is nothing going on. I’m stressed enough with classes and
everything and I know how you get. I just didn’t feel like dealing
with it.”
    “ Dealing with me, you
mean.”
    “ I don’t know, Lily,” he
sighs. “Maybe? It’s been a lot of pressure to make you happy since
school started. I guess I just wanted to enjoy myself for a bit. I
haven’t stopped loving you, but this break has been
nice.”
    “ And you want to continue
the break?”
    “ I want to get through
this semester. I think we’d both be happier that way. Don’t
you?”
    “ Me or Jodie, Derek? Who’s
it gonna be?”
    “ Lily, please don’t do
this.”
    I don’t say anything. I simply throw
the phone across the room until it shatters. I can’t believe this.
I don’t know what just happened; did he break up with me, over the
phone, right before my birthday, with no reason? Am I just
overreacting? I know I wanted to take a break, but this weekend is
my birthday. Tears threaten to burst from my eyes; I refuse to cry
over him. He obviously isn’t spending any time worrying about me. I
slap down the cover of my laptop; there’s no way I can focus on my
paper right now. I don’t know what to do but I’m twitching. Anger
boils inside of me and I take my keys and wallet and slam the door.
There is no destination but I can’t sit still. As I