Aug
blindsided
–verb (used with object)
1. To be hit or attacked on or from the blind side.
2. To be caught or taken unawares, especially with harmful or detrimental results
3. How Zephyr Rhodami feels at this moment, while being dumped over the phone by the boyfriend she’s had since her senior year of high school.
Some days, Zephyr Rhodami thought to herself, it really doesn’t pay to answer the phone. She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes as she held the handset to her ear. “What did you just say? I don’t think I caught that.”
“I said I think it’s best if we go our separate ways. We’re just not compatible,” her boyfriend repeated. The voice on the other end of the phone sounded almost completely unemotional, and Zephyr wondered if Leo knew how much more it hurt to listen to. Somehow, she had a feeling he knew perfectly well how much it hurt.
Zephyr paced in front of the couch that she had been so comfortably seated in when the phone rang, her teeth clenched in anger. “And it took you two years to figure this out?”
“Two years ago, you were eating healthy, you had ambitions and goals, and you were optimistic. Now you’re a flabby, lazy pessimist, Zee. It’s getting to a point where I’m embarrassed to be seen with you.”
Zephyr could almost feel her hackles raising. Making her mad was never a smart idea, which was probably why Leo was being such a coward and dumping her over the phone. “Embarrassed? To be seen with me? I’ve dealt with staring and snickering and comments the entire time we’ve been together, simply because I was dating someone who’s a good five inches shorter than I am. I ignored it and stayed with you because I actually happened to care about you. So I’m thanked for not being narrow-minded by having you dump me when I gain a few pounds?”
“Is that what you think?” Leo sounded insulted now, which was an improvement. At least he sounded like something of this conversation finally mattered to him.
“No,” Zephyr answered, enraged. “What I think is that I just wasted two years of my life on you.”
With that, she hung up. She glared at her cellphone a moment, resisting the urge to fling it against the nearest wall, before the anger drained out of her face and tears welled up behind her eyes. No matter how angry she might be or how distant she and Leo had been to each other for the last few months, they’d still been together since their senior year of high school.
He’s not worth crying over, Zephyr chastised herself as she hit the speed dial on her phone. She was, as she had expected, immediately sent to voicemail, but her tension eased the moment the message started playing.
“You’ve reached Tempest. I’m in an area without good reception until Wednesday, so please leave a message. If this is Zephyr, I love you and I’ll call you back as soon as I can, no matter the time, so don’t turn off your phone.”
“It’s me,” Zephyr said after the beep. “You can rejoice, Leo just dumped me. I know you never liked him, so let’s throw a party when you get back.” The jovial tone of her voice wouldn’t fool Tempest for a second, but Zephyr felt the need to try. “When are you getting back, anyway? It’s been almost a month, and I miss my twin. Love you.”
Zephyr hung up the phone and threw herself onto the couch with a thud, opening the laptop that was on her coffee table so she could pull up the website for the local pizza parlor. After she finished ordering, she turned on the TV and sprawled out on the couch.
Leo was right, Zephyr thought, sighing. I know he was right, but he could have been more supportive and less of a jackass. She rubbed at her face as she reflected – two years ago, she’d been lifting weight because she was on the high school football team, and she’d been gung-ho about starting a job that held a great deal of promise. When she’d been hired at the local paper just prior to graduation, they’d promised her a spot in the food section as soon as it became available. She thought she’d been within reach of her goals, and she’d been full of enthusiasm.
Instead, they’d given the spot to someone else when it had become available and given Zephyr the title of “office assistant” – she was a glorified scapegoat, below even the personal assistants in the company’s food chain. She’d once made a remark to her best friend that she needed to have business cards printed up that said “Zephyr Rhodami, Professional Office Bitch”. If the job market were better, she’d find something else…
That was her excuse, anyway. Deep down, Zephyr knew she was just at a point where she didn’t care anymore if she got yelled at, and she was too depressed to muster the energy to look for a less abusive work environment. As her work environment had gotten worse, so had her energy, her eating habits, and her self-esteem. With that thought, Zephyr looked down at her once-firm stomach and poked at her chub with a finger.
Apparently, her love life had gone down the toilet, too, as proven by a jackass now-former boyfriend.
Zephyr flicked the television to the cooking channel and tried not to think about it. By the time the doorbell rang, she was feeling a little calmer, though the general cloud of gloom and doom that had hovered over her for the past 10 months or so hadn’t dissipated at all. It sat like a tiny mental storm cloud as Zephyr sat in front of the television and ate her pizza.
I should have gone to cooking school, she thought to herself. I know I hated the idea of staying in school, but I should have gone. Now I can’t afford to, and no one will hire me to cook anything but fast food without some form of certification.
Zephyr shook her head. It did no good to dwell on what was done or not done in the past. She carried the pizza box into the kitchen, tossed it into the fridge, and began turning of the television and the lights. It was getting late, and she could worry about it later.
As Zephyr headed for her shower, her phone started playing Freezeframe, and she scrambled to answer. “Tem.”
“Hi, Beautiful. Are you doing okay?”
“No,” Zephyr said. She’d never lied to Tempest before, and she didn’t see a reason to start. “I’ll get there, though. Are you coming home soon?”
Zephyr heard Tempest sigh. “It’ll be at least a couple more weeks,” he told her. “I’m sorry, Zee. I’d rather be home, too, especially while you’re so upset, but this shoot…”
“I know,” Zephyr said. “It’s okay.”
“Actually, it’s not, but you’d never tell me that,” Tempest said wryly. “You ought to take a weekend and go visit Mo.”
“I’d rather be able to pay my half of our mortgage without dipping into my savings. Plane tickets are expensive. I’ll call him and have a nice chat, though.”
“I left you my credit card for a reason.”
“Yeah, for emergencies,” Zephyr said. “This isn’t an emergency, and you know I enjoy having the illusion that I can support myself financially despite my craptastic job.”
Zephyr could almost hear Tempest start to grin. “Well, that’s why I have such a fantastic job, so I can give my twin the lifestyle she deserves. I won’t push, though. Try to get some sleep, and I’ll call you tomorrow to see how you’re doing.”
“Alright. Do you miss me?”
“You know I do. You?”
“Always,” Zephyr said firmly. “Love you, Tem.”
“I love you too, Zee. Sleep well.”
Once she’d hung up, Zephyr wasn’t sure if she felt better or not after talking to Tempest – talking to him made her wish he’d hurry up and come home.
After a quick shower, Zephyr lay in her bed staring at the ceiling in the dark, unable to sleep. Things need to change before I lose my mind. I don’t want to be like this. Something needs to change. I need to call Morley tomorrow; maybe he can help me figure things out.
Morely was Zephyr and Tempest’s best friend, and had been since grade school. He’d moved too far for them to visit regularly, but they still kept in constant contact, and Mo (as they fondly called him) was the only person other than Tempest who was generally able to help Zephyr figure out what she needed to do when she was in a jam. Having made the decision to call Mo, Zephyr felt a bit better. She closed her eyes in an effort to ignore the tension headache that was beginning to pound at her and get some sleep.
The tears that had pressed against the back of her eyes since Leo’s phone call finally broke free, and Zephyr cried quietly to herself in the dark.
Tomorrow will be better, she told herself. It has to be.