The Anti-Love Pact

Chapter Two

Noah

An hour earlier...

"Dude, I got this, watch." The sound of mouse and keyboard clicks fill the room. My cursor moves swiftly on the screen as the animated game characters flash across and immediately die as my gun hits them in the head.

"$50 bucks!" Connor says on the other end. I hear him through my headphones. A character pops up, shoots me, and I'm shoved in to spectate mode. "FUUUUUUU!" I yell frustratingly, yanking my headphones off in the process.

A couple more seconds pass by and the "DEFEAT" screen pops up. A couple of "ggs" are sent in chat and I carefully place my headphones back on my head.

"Dude, I ALMOST clutched it." I scroll through the after game stats. "Bro, it's ok, nice try." Connor reassures me. "Next game, let's queue up."

Before I can ready up for the next game, I see my phone vibrating on the edge of my computer desk. "Hold up." In the corner of my eye, I can see the name "Baby💛" is shown as caller.

I press the phone to my ear. "Hey babe, what's up?"

"Noah, hey, you home?" Sarah says to me softly.

"Mmm, just playing games with Connor." I respond back.

"Is Tina there?" She asks me.

"No, went out with Alex for dinner."

There's an uncomfortable pause before she speaks again.

"I'm outside your place, can I come in?" I quickly sit up straight in my chair from her question. "Oh what, you're here?? Of course babe, let me tell Connor I'm gonna go."

A simple "ok" is all I hear before she hangs up the phone.

"Hey bro, I gotta go, Sarah's here." I tell Connor. "Aight, see you." The voice call ends and I close the game out.

I quickly walk over to the bathroom to check myself in the mirror. "Ooof, rough day." I mutter to myself in the mirror, combing my hands through my hair to try and look presentable. Saturday's are always my gaming days, so I don't even consider getting ready for the day most of the time.

The knock on the door comes soon after and I walk over to open the door. I see Sarah standing there, bag slung over her shoulder. She normally looks cheerful but somehow right now she looks... solemn.

"Hey." I pull her in for a hug, pressing her against my chest and resting my other hand on the back of her head. I hold her there for a little while, and I feel her bring up one hand to give me an awkward pat on the back. Ok.. weird. I pull back.

"Hey Noah." She walks inside and I close the door behind me. There is an odd feeling between us, but I just can't put my finger on it.

Sarah hops up on the barstool and I stand across from her, resting my arms on the kitchen counter between us. "You didn't tell me you were coming today, I would've tried to look a little more handsome for you if I knew." I say with a chuckle.

She snorts and a slight smile spreads across her face. "Yeah... sorry." The smile fades quickly after, and I can see her shift uncomfortably in her seat.

"Babe is everything.. alright?" I tilt my head in concern, and reach forward to hold her hand. She flinches and pulls back.

"I wanted to talk to you." She manages to smile at me again, but there's a hint of sadness in her eyes. I approach with caution. "About?"

"Noah... I" She starts, and my heart starts beating rapidly in my chest. I can foresee her choice of words, and my heart starts to already sink to my stomach. "I think we should break up."

Yup, my heart drops completely. "Why?" I manage to say, although I'm starting to get a little choked up. This time, she reaches forward to grab my hand. I withdraw from her grasp.

"Noah, it's just..." She starts to explain, "I think we both want different things." What is she even saying? Different things? I want her, and she wants me. I thought that was the way it was.

"I really care about you, I do, but I don't think this relationship is going anywhere anymore." Sarah continues to say. She says a couple more things, but my mind decides to check out.

We're breaking up. We're breaking up. The phrase repeats in my head over and over again. We've been together for three years and suddenly, we're over, just like that.

Sarah was my first girlfriend, like ACTUAL first. I've never dated anyone else in my life. Not in middle school, not in high school, never. We met in college. We were both education majors, so we saw each other almost all the time. We studied together, stressed out together, we even work together. How am I supposed to deal with this moving forward?

"Noah?" She waves her hand in front of me, snapping me back to the present. "Sorry, I just.. yeah, no, I completely understand." I try to sound as genuine as possible.

"Well, I'll see you Monday." She hops to her feet. "I'm.. really sorry."

"Don't be." I give her a pat on the back. She smiles at me, this time with a little more happiness in her eyes. "We're still friends, Noah."

"Yeah, friends." I walk her over to the door and watch her as she walks out and down the hall, getting in to the elevator.

I shut the door behind me, and here it comes. I feel a tear fall, and then another, and then another. I stand in front of the door, unmoving, as the heartache takes over me. I start to cry quietly to myself, clutching my chest as if there's real physical pain to match my emotional pain. Sarah, gone, just like that.

I cry for awhile before I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. A message from "Loser🥸" appears on my screen. forgot my keys! be there in 5

I chuckle, of course she forgot her keys. For as long as I've known her, Tina has always been forgetful. Even after living together for a year and trying to teach her to be more responsible with her stuff, I guess old habits die hard. Not that I'm any better though.

I go to unlock the door and text her that the door is open for her, then I head to the bathroom and splash water on my face, wiping the tears and snot away. I walk back in to my room and shut the door, tossing myself on to my bed.

--

"I promise." Tina says back to me, tightening her pinky around mine. If I'm being frank, this pact sounds, stupid. But she is beaming at me, and I know this would make her happy. Seeing that her and I are going through the same thing, I can see why avoiding love in any shape or form would seem like the best approach. Breakups... suck.

"So... this self-improvement thing? How we gonna do this?" I ask her.

She taps her finger to her chin in thought. "Hmmm, let's figure this out tomorrow, I'm exhausted." She stretches her arms out wide and lets out a big yawn.

"All this crying really drains a person, yeah?" I joke lightheartedly. She lets out a little snort and pushes me with a pillow. "I'll see you tomorrow, dummy, goodnight."

"Night, loser." I put my fist out for a fist bump and she taps her knuckles against mine. I watch as she gets up and disappears in to her room.

I ponder the night's events again one more time, and I start to convince myself that maybe Tina is on to something. I'd hate to feel this heartbroken again.

An Anti-Love pact? God, I hope this works.