Chapter 1: What Hurts the Most

Priestly looked up as footfalls met his ears. His jaw dropped open as he took in the scene before him.
It was Tish, her suitcase clamped firmly in her hand and sunglasses on her head. She wore a stoic expression as she headed for the door. Priestly, jolted out of his state of shock, leaped up and raced over to his girlfriend, catching her arm just as she grabbed the knob. She turned and fixed him with an icy glare.
Gulping down his nerves, Priestly stuttered out, "Where are you going?"
Giving him a spiteful look, Tish shrugged off his hand. "I'm leaving, dumbass," she stated, sickly sweet. Priestly was stung by her words. Sure, the couple had their fights, just like any other couple. But nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing big enough to make her want to leave, surely.
And was the dumbass comment really necessary?
Tish reached from the doorknob again, and Priestly grabbed her wrist, panic flooding through him. "Hey, wait. Let's talk about this. I can change. I promise," he pleaded, his mind racing. What had he done wrong? It must've been him.
She whipped to face him, throwing his grip off. "Talk about what? Us? We're over." Priestly felt like he'd been kicked in the gut, but Tish kept going, seeming to be fixed on making him miserable. "Look at you!" Priestly spared a quick glance down at himself. Sure, he'd started wearing his crude t-shirts again, along with his left earring, but she'd said that she didn't mind. "When I agreed to this relationship, I didn't think that you would take up all THAT again!" she snapped, breaking him out of his trance.
Overwhelmed by how fast Tish was trying to walk out of his life, he held his hands out, trying to form a somewhat intelligent response. What finally came out was, "You should've just said something. I'd gladly change for you, Tish."
The brunette snorted, and Priestly felt his heart stop, then sink into his stomach. That had been his last grab at hope. His last way to keep her with him, and she'd blown it off.
"Obviously not. You lasted… what… a month? And then, that stupid little piece of shit went back in your ear!" Priestly self-consciously put his hand up to his ear. He thought she would stop, at least long enough for him to formulate a retaliation, but she was on a roll, and her words knocked him down further and further with each hiss of breath. "You want another reason? Here's one: You are way too clingy! You follow me around like a puppy! It's so annoying! And, not to mention, you refuse sex. Boaz, we've been together for three months now! How is it not special enough for you yet?" Tish paused, then faked thought. "No, wait. How WAS it not special enough?" Priestly opened his mouth to answer, but the furious woman before him cut him off. "You're clearly not the right guy for me. See you at work… Priestly."
That stung the most.
It wasn't the slam of the door. It wasn't the name calling or the accusations. It wasn't the fury.
It was the fact that she'd called him Priestly for the first time since they'd been together.
The pain finally becoming too much, he sank to the floor, his eyes blurring. The woman of his dreams had just walked right out the door. She hadn't wanted him.
In fact, she damn near detested him.
It was a long while, in that broken state on the floor, until he heard another voice. "Priestly? Tish? Anyone home?" The second name sent a stab of pain through him. He knew, in the back of his mind, that it was Piper. She had said she was dropping by with movies after work for them to have their weekly movie night. At the memory of those many happy nights, Priestly winced again.
He felt like a 13 year old girl.
Soft footsteps padded into the house from the back door, and he heard Piper gasp as she fell to her knees beside him, hands clamping on his shoulders. "What's wrong? What happened? Where's-?"
He knew it was coming. Her name. The one that would haunt him. So he cut Piper off, his tone bitter, but tired. "She left."
And that was when he completely lost it. He sobbed into Piper's shoulder as she gently comforted him, rubbing circles along his back and whispering apologizes and reassurances in his ear until he pulled away. He forced his happy go lucky grin onto his face.
Would it ever come naturally again?
Priestly knew he was being a bit overdramatic, but his happiness had been sucked away from him, replaced by the angry clicking of heels on the linoleum and the slamming of the front door.
"What movies did you bring, Pipes?"