[Short story #25] - long-distance relationship

The writing prompt was:
"I would love it see a story of two lovers who are separated by distance. In the story, I would love you to use distance as a human."
Provided by @fona

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Image provided by @rocking-dave

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“Are you coming over for the weekend?”

“I can’t, I’m so so sorry.”

“It’s because of Gary, isn’t it? What is it about the two of you? I mean, if you don’t want to be with me anymore, just tell me. I know we have our ups and downs and that it’s not always as amazing as we’d want it to be. But please just… be straightforward with me.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to be with you, silly. It’s just… Gary’s always there. And you’re not,” she paused for a moment. “I would never cheat on you, Mark. Not ever! Not in a million years! But…”

“But what, Cindy?”

“I just can’t take all of… this… anymore. It’s too much.”

They both broke down and began to cry. Their telephones were silent for nearly a minute.

“So you’re saying it’s over? That you’re no longer mine?” Mark continued.

“I… don’t know. I want you so very much. But I can’t take this anymore. I know we agreed not to talk about Gary and both promised he wouldn’t stand between us, but… It is a problem, Mark. It really is.”

“But I love you and the way you speak makes me believe you love me too! We can overcome this! We’ve faced it before and conquered it. We can damn right do it again!”

“I do love you, but you can’t keep on telling me it doesn’t bother you. I know it does! And ignoring it won’t make it go away, will it? No. we either talk open about Gary; face and solve this problem; or we’re done. I can’t take this anymore. And before you ask, no, there’s no one else. I’m not trying to dump you for someone else. I just want to have some peace of mind, that’s all.”

“Yes. He does bother me. And I know he bothers you too. And the more I want to ignore him… it… the more it bothers me. Calling it Gary never made it any better, it just made it worse.”

“We shouldn’t have given distance a name. And we should be able to talk openly about it. Because it sucks. I want you here, Mark. I miss you so bad.”

“I miss you too, Cindy. More than words could ever describe. Listen, I’ll fly over to France on Friday and stay for a week, okay? I thought you were coming over to America so I already have a week off work. Why not spend it with you?”

“That sounds lovely and all, Mark, but I can’t.”

“Don’t worry about work. I’ll wait until you come home and make you lunch every day.”

“It’s not about work.”

“Then what is it, Cindy?” Mark got irritated and his voice began to shake.

“It’s Gary. An actual Gary. Not the “distance Gary”. I wanted to end with you and make you think it was the distance between us. But it’s not. I met someone a month ago and I… developed feelings for him. I’m sorry, Mark. I didn’t want to-…”

beep beep beep.
The phone call ended. Mark had hung up.

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in the comments below leave me a clue,
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Gif provided by no other than the awesome @rocking-dave

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Previous writing prompts fulfilled:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19

• #20 - A love story about a war veteran
• #21 - The red star
• #22 - A terminally ill child wishes to meet a villain
• #23 - School trip
• #24 - Rebellious talking food

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