Long Distance is a Bitch by shiprat

[Ramesh_Rocky]

By the time Friday rolled around, I was a bit of a wreck, stressing about my crappy midterm. But I was relieved that at least I would get to spend the weekend with my boyfriend. His bus was to leave at 10 pm, so I called him at 8 to make sure he was packed and ready to go. It went to voicemail. I figured he was busy, and went back to studying. Half an hour later, he hadn't called me back yet, so I called him again. It went to voicemail again. I left him a message asking him to call me back.

Another hour went by. it was now 9:30. Still no call back, I was now getting testy. He should've been on his way to the bus stop by now. I tried to call him again. This time, it rang a few times and was finally answered.

"Parag, where the fuck are you?" I said. "I hope you're on your way."

"No, I am not. Listen Anar...." he said in a low voice I could barely hear.

"What? You'll miss your bus. Where are you?"

"I am at...."

He started saying and then I heard a female voice say softly in the background,

"Someone is coming! I hear footsteps..... who's on the phone?"

"It's my girlfriend."

"Hang up! Hang up!" the female voice said and the call ended.

What! The! Fuck!

I tried to process what I had just heard and called Parag back. It wasn't answered. I tried to call him again. Again, voicemail.

I started feeling rage build up as I replayed the phone call in my mind. He admitted he wasn't on his way. A female voice in the background asked who he was talking to, and that someone was coming. When he told her it was me on the phone, she made him hang up. And before and after, Parag was refusing to answer the phone.

I needed someone to talk me down and tell me I was being paranoid. I ran downstairs to look for Dustin. I knew his shift ended at 10 pm tonight and he spent the last half hour mopping the lobby.

"I need to talk to you right now!" I said, my voice quivering. Dustin looked at my face and figured out something was horribly wrong.

"Are you okay, Anar? What's wrong?" he asked in a concerned voice.

"I think my boyfriend...." I started crying as the words came out, "is cheating on me."

"What?" Dustin stepped closer and put a hand on my shoulder. By now I was all but bawling. I was glad that the lobby was almost empty. But there were still a couple of students milling about, and they started staring at me.

"Shush!" Dustin noticed others staring and led me towards a side door. We stepped outside to the spot where we usually smoked. Luckily that spot was completely deserted. Blubbering through my tears, I told Dustin about the phone call.

"You know...that doesn't necessarily mean he is cheating on you." he said.

"Then....what.....could....it....mean?" I said, still crying.

"I don't know. But.... well..." Dustin said, trying to figure out a way to stop my flow of tears. "Please stop crying. Let's figure it out."

But my tears refused to stop. I kept crying and repeating, "He is cheating on me, he is cheating on me" over and over.

"Okay, listen." Dustin said. "You stay here. Let me get my car keys and take you home. You need to calm down."

And he ran inside the building. I stood there, face in my hands, crying. Dustin was back with his keys. Usually when he left, he changed from his janitor's coveralls into street clothes. But in the hurry to get me home, he was still in his coverall. Which was just as well, because as he wrapped an arm around me and led me to the parking lot, my tears and some snot messed up the front and sleeve of his coveralls.

A few minutes later, I was sitting in the passenger seat of Dustin's car. I had calmed down enough by then. The tears had stopped. I wiped them off. We drove in silence for a while.

"I left my backpack in the department." I said.

"Do you wanna go back for it?"

"No, it's fine."

Silence for a while more.

"You know, we were never right for each other." I said.

"Come on! Don't say that!"

"I am serious! Now that he's cheating on me, I see it so clearly."

I spent the next ten minutes or so venting about Parag and his flaws. How selfish he was, and decided that whatever he wanted was the best for us. How he was insecure about my being smarter than him. How he never seemed to be working on the relationship. It always had to be me. I was telling Dustin the details of one of our earlier fights when he pulled up next to my apartment.