For My Broken Heart - short stories

The Heartbreak Memoirs

In college, my best friend and roommate fell in love with a stranger she met online. I was cautious at first, but Emily introduced us through video chat and added us into a group chat to help us become better acquainted. After some time, I realized that Danny really was the right guy for her. It was such a shame he lived all the way in Canada.

Then one morning after our last exam, I was sitting outside with my laptop open to my current work-in-progress and sipping English Breakfast, when Emily burst out to the patio practically bouncing.

"What is it?" I asked, preparing an obnoxious eyeroll.

"Danny is coming here!" She squealed.

This wasn't the news I expected. I felt myself get giddy.

"What? That's awesome!" I said standing up to give her a big hug. "When?"

"He leaves at the beginning of July. He's coming to the state to visit relatives for the whole month, but he's promised he'll drive here every weekend to see me!" Emily looked like she was about to visibly overflow with ecstasy. I was so happy for her.

"Will you help me get the house ready?" She asked. "I want to make cupcakes."

I smiled and told her I'd be in a moment.

|Before that moment, I knew that she was in love with him, but when she smiled like that, I was sure it was so much more. There was an intense magnetic pull between them, almost magical. To me, no love was more important than theirs. It was something pure and original, and I wanted to protect it.

I saved the page, closed my laptop and joined Emily in the house.

*

On July 5th, I drove Emily to pick up Danny at the bus terminal. She was dancing in her seat the entire time. I couldn't help but smile back at her every time she looked at me.

We walked around the terminal for a half hour, but we couldn't find Danny anywhere. I told Emily to give him a call, so she took out her phone and stepped away. When she came back, she looked perplexed.

"What is it?" I asked.

"He said he missed the first bus because he accidentally got on the wrong one. He's on the right one now, and he should be here on the next return," she explained. "I'm sorry for wasting so much of your time, Karissa."

"Don't say that, he made a mistake is all," I said. "Let's go grab a coffee, he'll be here soon."

He wasn't there soon. He didn't get there at all. Emily got a text saying "meet me around the corner at the pizza place" so we got in the car and drove over. When we got there, the place was taped up and there were firemen everywhere.

"What the hell?" I said inspecting the blackened windows.

"He's close," said Emily. "I can feel it. I'm going to go find him." She hopped out of the car and ran into the street.

"Emily!" I shouted after her, but she was long gone.

I had to park six blocks away from the scene, and from there it took me 20 minutes to relocate Emily. She was standing on the corner on her phone. She hung up before I got to her, and looked crestfallen.

"There was a family emergency," she said before I could ask. "He'll come back next weekend."

I didn't believe that story, and when she told me, it didn't really sound like she believed it herself.

Regardless, I drove us home.

|We would make another batch of cupcakes the next week, and he would be full of apologies, but she would just be so happy that they were finally together that she'd keep telling him to shush. I still had faith in them. I knew that she had been looking forward to this day for a long time, but life will try it's hardest to get in the way. Overall, it just made me more excited to see how happy she would be when she was finally with her soulmate.