She slammed her phone shut, muttering "asshole" under her breath as she headed back to the table where her friends were still chatting.
"Hey, guys," she said as she slid back into the booth, "Um, change of plans... Amy, do you think I could crash with you for the weekend?" Amy was her best friend since high school, and she knew she wouldn't mind, even though they hadn't spent much time together since Karen had moved to Pennsylvania and started dating Jim.
Amy nodded quickly and asked, "What happened?" Their three other friends had stopped talking and were all looking at her.
"Well, I think I just broke up with Jim. I mean, I did just break up with Jim."
Everyone gasped. Not ten minutes before Karen had been going on about how wonderful he was. "What happened?" Amy asked, shocked.
"Well, I'm pretty sure he left me for another girl. And I think I need a drink."
"Another girl? What are you talking about?" her friend Rebecca asked. "He met someone else in the last hour?"
"Oh no, he's been in love with this one for a while," she sighed, and then realized they were all staring at her, alarmed at her seeming nonchalance. So she felt the need to explain further. "Okay, there's this receptionist, Pam, at our office. I didn't know about her before but it turns out that Jim used to have a big thing for her before he moved to Stamford. So when I found out, I asked him, he said it was no big deal. Then a few weeks later he was kind of flirting with her over... nevermind, not important. Anyway, I asked him if he still had feelings for her, and he said yes."
"Wait," Amy interrupted, "When was this?"
"In January," she replied.
"Karen, it's May! Why didn't you dump his sorry ass then?"
She sighed again, and suddenly the emotions that she should have been feeling a few minutes ago when she had first hung up on him came flooding to the surface. "I don't know. I mean, we talked about it, and he said she would never feel the same way, and he was trying to get over her."
Amy's roommate Laura interjected with, "So you let yourself be his rebound? What were you thinking?"
Karen paused. The thought had occurred to her before but she had pushed it out of her head, rationalizing her decision to stay with Jim in other ways. "I don't know," she said, putting her hands to her face and letting the tears come. Then she started babbling while sobbing. "I mean, I asked her if she had feelings for him and she said no and I knew that she was lying but I thought he would get over it and be happy with me and we were so happy for a while but then she had to go and walk through fire and tell him how she felt in front of all our coworkers and I thought he was over it but I guess he wasn't because he just called right now to tell me he couldn't move here with me and I'm just so stupid!"
"Karen!" Amy practically shouted, putting her hand on Karen's shoulder, "Slow down. What are you talking about? 'Walk through fire'? What does that mean?"
She caught her breath and tried to explain. "We were on this outing for work, and there was a coal walk. Pam did the coal walk and then it must have given her a burst of... something, because she ran over and told Jim that she called off her wedding because of him."
"What?" everyone yelped at once.
"She was supposed to get married?" Laura asked.
"Yes, and then Jim told her how he felt and kissed her, but she told him she was still getting married, so he moved to Stamford."
"And how long after that did she call off her wedding?" Rebecca asked.
"Oh, I don't know. A couple weeks, maybe?" She looked up and noticed everyone glancing at each other. "What?"
Amy paused before saying gently, "So he was in love with a girl who was engaged, he kissed her, she rejected him, and she canceled her wedding anyway after he moved to a different state to get away from her? And you knew this?"
Karen stared at her. "Well, I didn't know it all, at first. It sort of came out in pieces... and by that time I was so crazy about him that... Oh my God, I am so stupid!" She started sobbing again.
"Hey, it's okay," said Kate, who had been fairly quiet up until now. "You are so much better off without him. He sounds like a giant asshole." Everyone else nodded in agreement.
"But he's not!" she protested. "He's really not. He's funny and sweet and I really thought he was it. I thought I was going to marry him."
"No offense, Karen," said Rebecca, reaching out to touch her hand, "But he was never going to marry you. You realize that, don't you?"
The truth hit her then, and hurt worse than anything she had experienced in recent memory. She nodded mutely. The group was silent for a minute, and then Amy said gently, "So how about I skip off work for the rest of the day, and I'll tell them I'm sick, and we'll have a girls' night out tonight and drown your sorrows. Then tomorrow I'll stay home and we can make waffles and paint our toenails."
Karen nodded again, sniffling as someone handed her a tissue. Yes, a girls' night out was an excellent idea.
Story Notes:
The title comes from the Bruce Springsteen song of the same name, which very loosely reminded me of how Karen didn't seem to know the "real" Jim.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter End Notes:
Next chapter - girls' night out.
