RomCom Cliché

Chapter Twenty

A few days later, Rebecca was sipping coffee and poring over a stack of printed job applications, her old resume and cover letter on the screen of her laptop as she brooded over her unemployment. 

It was a dismal day, a light rain pattering on the stones of the old church all morning as she milled about the place alone. She was getting sick of waking up alone, the empty space feeling so cold without Freen's gentle presence to fill it with her wry jibes and her critiques of Rebecca's movie choices and decor.

She'd asked if anyone was free to do something and received apologetic responses for already made plans and Heng offering to bring her breakfast before he went to his personal training session at the gym. 

He didn't stay long, unpacking the bag of breakfast pastries and setting down the green juices, letting Rebecca rattle off a list of potential jobs and shooting them down as he poked holes in the flimsy veneer of these great opportunities.

He left with a kiss on her head and the promise to make Nam answer her phone and Rebecca was left alone until lunchtime, when Nam turned up out of the blue, as was her custom. 

She let herself in and Rebecca distractedly greeted her as she crossed off another option, half-listening to her friend babble on as she rummaged around in the cupboards and then made them both coffee.

"Heard anything yet?" Nam asked, flopping down onto the sofa, her shoulders back and a sly look in her eyes as she watched Rebecca, tearing open a packet of pretzels.

"No," Rebecca curtly replied, trying not to sound too petulant.

"Well... wouldn't be the first time she's ghosted you for a few days."

"Mm. I don't think this classifies as ghosting. She told me to go; as far as I'm aware, that means it's... over," her brisk, aloof reply petered out into soft resignation as she tried to numb herself to the sting of heartbreak.

"Surely not."

Fixing her friend with a dour look, Rebecca's mouth thinned. 

"It shouldn't be surprising; you know the greatest loves of all time are over now. They all ended in tragedy so maybe I should just chalk this up to following in the historic footsteps of the greats. Romeo and Juliet. Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Grace Charlotte and Prince Rainier. Orpheus and Eurydice. Johnny Cash and June Carter. Bonnie and Clyde--"

"I think we can disqualify them."

"Still stands," Rebecca murmured.

"Well, if you're just going to pity yourself I'm not going to tell you my secret."

"You don't have any secrets."

Nam shrugged and Sawyerd her neck to look down at the stacks of paper in Rebecca's lap. She shook out a pretzel and bit into it. "What're you doing?"

"Looking at my options."

"For jobs? I thought you were waiting a couple of weeks."

"Yeah, well, if I don't find something to do I'm going to lose my fucking mind," Rebecca muttered.

She let out a rough sigh and sat back, slumping as she put the pen between her lips and brooded. Moving on, Nam inhaled deeply and then exhaled sharply, curling her hands in her lap as she gave Rebecca a nervous smile.

"Well, I have something that might take your mind off--"

"Rebecca Armstrong."

The sound of her name seeped in through the stained glass windows and thick stone walls, cutting Nam off. Rebecca frowned, pulling the pen from between her lips and setting it down on top of the stack of paperwork as she turned to stare over the back of the sofa.