"Jamie," I say in a low voice. "Please move out the way."
"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I was just messing around, you know that."
"Please move," I say again.
"Look at me. I'm just joking-"
My fist flies forward and connects with his nose before I can com...
"Hey Ellie," I say into my phone. "......no, not exactly. Can you come to the flat? We need to talk.... No of course she's not here..... Just come over...... Please?....... Okay, thank you. See you soon."
I hate to do it but, once I've hung up the phone, I get a box and start to pack some of her things into it. Hopefully she'll see it when she walks in and it'll give her a not-so-subtle hint of what I'm about to tell her.
I can't find another box once the first one is full, but if I pack away all of things then she might be offended and get upset.
Just as I put the kettle on, the lock clicks and the front door opens.
"Jamie?"
"In the kitchen," I call through.
There's the familiar click of heels across the wooden floor and then Ellie's face appears around the corner along with her mass of blonde hair.
"So. I'm assuming you've made a choice."
"I'm having tea. Do you want one?"
"Jamie-"
"Please, Ellie. I want this to be a proper conversation."
She lets out a sigh, "Fine. I'll have a coffee."
I smile gratefully at her as I get another mug from the cupboard.
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"I'll go wait in the living room."
I take a few minutes to gather my thoughts and think about what to say, before I go and face her.
"Thank you for coming, by the way. I wasn't sure if you actually would or not," I confess as I hand over her drink.
"To be perfectly honest, I wasn't sure myself. I know I said I'd come but.... Well. You've got a lot of explaining to do."
"I know, I know. But before I tell you anything, I just want you to know that I am truly sorry for how I've treated you. You didn't deserve it."
"Thank you, that does mean a lot. But I don't want to hear apologies, I want to hear the truth."
"I.... I can't give you the whole truth, because there's some things that she doesn't want people to know."
"She? The girl from last week?"
I nod silently, and Ellie sighs in return.
"Okay. You tell me as much as you can, and then I'll decide whether or not to call bullshit."
"That's fair. I suppose I deserved that."
"How long have you been seeing her?"
"Well I met her when we started shooting the new film-"
"I don't want your entire life story. How long have you been seeing her like that?"
"We went on one date and, when she found out about you, she refused to see me again until I'd sorted out what was going on between me and you."
"Well you must really feel something for her if you took her on a date rather than just screwing her for one night. And even better, she was being a home-wrecker without even knowing it!" she laughs scornfully.
"Don't call her that. This is my fault, she had nothing to do with this. And let's face it Ellie, our relationship has been broken for a long time."
"I suppose it may have been a bit fractured. Doesn't give you an excuse to start seeing other women though, now does it?"
"No it doesn't. And I am sorry. I never meant to hurt you as much as I did."
She looks down at her mug. "It wasn't just one time though Jamie. Ever since that one night stand, that 'mistake', you've been hurting me over and over again. Every time I look at your face, all I see is the betrayal."
"I've got to be honest Ellie, if you couldn't truly forgive me for that mistake then we were never going to last. You'd always hold it over me."
"So what? It's my fault now?"
"No! I didn't say that and I didn't mean that, and you know it."
She puts her mug down on the table.
"I'm guessing that means you've chosen then."
"Look, regardless of whether y/n was in the picture or not, we were destined to end sooner or later. Neither of us are happy in this relationship, and at the end of the day we're just tying each other down."
".....You're right. I deserve better than the way you've treated me, and I clung onto you because I still love you, but also because I have no-one else. But I'm not happy. And neither are you. So," she takes the key off of her keyring, "you now have the freedom to see whoever you want to see. Be happy with whoever you want to be happy with. I'll take my box of things you've conveniently placed by the door," she looks at me pointedly and smiles a little, "and I'll come back when you're not here to get the rest of my things."
I look at her a little surprised. "You're taking this a lot better than I was expecting."
"Well, I want to be happy just as much as you do," she shrugs. "Even if you've done some bad things, you still deserve a happy ending."
