Prompted - Chapter 2

I paced in front of the wide mirror, and considered.

"I don't think we should see each other anymore," I started, running my fingers through my hair. "I mean, you're, uh...oh, hell. Where am I supposed to go from here?"

I leaned towards the mirror and gripped the back of the desk chair, not unlike the bad cop of B-movies everywhere. "Right. It would be ridiculous to continue in a relationship that is going nowhere; such a thing only wastes the time of those participating in it and leads to the mutual emotional harm of both parties. It would be logical to discontinue it now and move on to new things."

Flat gray eyes watched me carefully from the mirror, met me blink for blink, and finally I threw up my hands in disgust. "And what was that supposed to be, a breakup note from Spock?"

More pacing. I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans. "So. We shouldn't date anymore because I have absoloutely no feelings for you. I mean, I wouldn't be adverse to some no-strings-attached sex, but that's obviously not what you're going for here, so, uh, bye."

I jerked my head around and gave my reflection an odd look. "Ho-lee TMI."

Finally, I got tired of wearing a hole in the floor and dropped into my chair with a sigh, propping my feet up on the desk. "I don't suppose you know anything about dumping someone?" I wondered of the brown-haired girl in the mirror. "No, of course not."

I laced my fingers behind my head and leaned back. "Going about this the wrong way, I think. As far as I know, you're supposed to lie." I pondered.

Galvanized, I sat forward and began to practice on myself again. "Good lies. Good lies...ah, family emergency? No, that's stupid. My uncle got the clap, so I can't let you grope me in movie theatres anymore. That makes perfect sense.

"It's not you, it's me! I'm a horrible person who can't be in a commited relationship because...because...I'm gay? Hmm--but then I have to date somebody else to enforce that, and then I'll have to dump her! Dammit!" I pressed the heels of my hands into my closed eyes. There was just no way out of things when you were a prideful jerk with too much consideration for people.

"Maybe..." I propped my head on my hands, squinted at the mirror. "Maybe my priorities are really messed up right now, and I need to be paying more attention to--to--uh, my work right now. Because I need to be going, er, up...somewhere, and I need more...free time?" I blinked slowly, thinking. Well, it needed another runthrough with less stuttering, but there didn't seem to be any major holes in it.

"Yes!" I shouted, springing up and punching a fist into the air. As if triggered by my exclamation, the phone rang. I definitely did not make a strangled sqeaky noise and leap half a foot up.

"Hu--hullo?" I gasped in the reciever, after gathering myself and snatching it up. "Oh, Cam! Ah, of course I'm free next Saturday. You know me, I'm never doing anything important...hah." I laughed weakly. "Right. Eight o'clock. See you then."

I hung up the phone and collapsed into my chair. "You're pathetic," my reflection told me.