.Warnings: Some angst

Word Count: 1587

Author's Note: I'm so excited to be posting this! Hopefully all of you will love it as much as I do 💛

"Hey, babe?"

You looked up from your phone. Your boyfriend, Matthew, was standing on the other side of the living room. He was leaned against the wall, playing nervously with the bracelet that he always wore on his wrist.

"Yeah?"

"So, I just heard from the graphic design company."

You nodded, trying to ignore the fact that your heart was now pounding in your chest. Matthew had applied for a position at a well known design company a few weeks ago. Both of you had been anxiously waiting to hear if he got the job or not. If he did, it would be a huge step forward in his career.

"I got the job!"

You jumped up from the couch, rushing over so that you could throw your arms around him. He hugged you tightly, rocking you from side to side as he did so. It took him awhile to finally let go of you.

"There's just one little drawback."

Your eyebrows furrowed, "What's that?"

"They want me to move to Ohio."

You felt your stomach drop, "Ohio?"

"Yeah."

You reached up and ran a hand through your hair. Your entire life was here in California: your family, your photography business, everything that you knew and loved. Ohio seemed like worlds away, but you knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Matthew.

"That's really far away, babe. What's wrong with working at their branch out here?"

"They don't have a department for what I specialize in. The only way I can take the job is if I go to Ohio."

You sighed, "You know I love you, Matt, but that's a big change. My entire life is here."

He reached out and placed a hand on your arm, "I know it is, which is why you know I would only ask you to do this if it was of the utmost importance."

"I'll think about it."

"Thank you," he grinned, giving you a quick kiss.

He walked back to his office and you returned to where you had been sitting on the couch. You were sure that Matt was the guy that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with and there was no way you would be able to swing living halfway across the country from him. It would be difficult to start your photography business over from scratch, but it wasn't impossible. Besides, you knew Matt would do everything in his power to make sure you were comfortable so far from home.

Maybe Ohio wouldn't be so bad.

It had been about a month since you moved out to Ohio and you were hating it. Every street corner was unfamiliar, your only friends were your coworkers and Matthew, and your photography business was failing miserably. You missed your family and friends back home, and you were counting down the days until you had a long enough break to fly home and see them.

The only thing that got you through the day was Matthew. He was loving his new job, and the fact that he was so happy was enough to keep you in Ohio. You kept telling yourself it was only a matter of time before things started to look up. Not to mention that you were pretty sure that Matthew was going to propose any day now; the wedding would give you plenty to focus on.

You waved goodbye to your coworkers and started the walk home. It was a short walk, maybe fifteen minutes if you were going particularly slow, and it was a nice way for you to clear your head before you got home. You weren't particularly ecstatic about working at a café, but it gave you something to do with your time and brought in some extra money.

You walked quickly down the sidewalk, eager to get home and see the expression on Matthew's face when you arrived home from work an hour early. He had been so busy lately that you two rarely got to spend any quality time together, so tonight would be the ideal opportunity to get some takeout and watch a movie together. It would be the perfect way to celebrate surviving another week in Ohio.

You took the stairs to the apartment two at a time. Your heart was already pounding with the anticipation of surprising Matthew. The look on his face was going to be priceless, you could practically see it.

The door creaked as you swung it open. Your keys jingled a bit as you pulled them out of the knob.

"Babe, I'm home!" you called.

You finally turned and got a good look at the apartment. Two suitcases were sitting behind the couch, one of them open and half-full of your clothes. A variety of your other belongings were sitting around them, sorted into haphazard piles. Your stomach immediately dropped.

"Babe?" you called again.

Matthew walked out of your shared bedroom with another pile of your clothes in his outstretched arms. His face immediately went white as his eyes landed on you, evidently having not heard you when you arrived home.

"You're home early," he stammered.

"Yeah, they let me leave early today," you said quietly.

He walked over and dropped the clothes he was carrying into the open suitcase. You slowly slid your bag off your shoulder and set it against the wall in its usual spot, never taking your eyes off Matthew.

"What's going on?" you asked.

"I was, uh-," he said, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. "It's kind of a long story. I wasn't expecting you home this early."

"Well I have," you pulled your sleeve back and checked the time, "sixteen hours until my next shift, so I would start talking."

"Oh, you're not going to like the sound of this," he said, tilting his head back to look at the ceiling.

"Sound of what?"

"This isn't working, Y/N."

Your eyebrows furrowed, "What isn't working?"

"Us," he said, biting down on his lip.

It felt like the ground had been pulled out from underneath you. You leaned up against the wall to steady your shaking legs as you tried to process what was happening.

"Why?" you asked. It was all you could manage to get out.

"Listen, Y/N," he sighed, reaching up to run a hand through his hair. "Things just haven't been the same between us lately. I thought that maybe a change of scenery would help us, but I just think that it would be better if we split up."

"What?" you muttered. It was hard to believe what you were hearing. Your legs were starting to shake so hard that you weren't sure how much longer you would be able to keep standing.

"We've been together for four years, that's a long time. You were my first serious relationship, and I'm starting to realize that there's a lot out there that I haven't experienced yet. We're in a whole new state and there's all these new people to meet. Don't you ever think about who else is out there?"

You looked him straight in the eyes and shook your head. Matt was the only one that you had ever wanted.

"Never?" he asked, one eyebrow raised. He didn't believe you.

You shook your head, "I can't believe you."

"I'm sorry, Y/N. I know this isn't exactly ideal-"

"No," you cut him off as the hurt began to get replaced with anger. "It's my turn to talk. I spent four years of my life with you. I knew that I wanted to marry you from the start and there was never a single doubt in my mind about that. You should have ended things the moment you started looking elsewhere, because all you've done is waste my time. Look at me, Matthew. I sacrificed everything for you. My family. My career. My happiness. For what? For me to move out here with you, only to be dropped because things didn't get magically fixed like you wanted them to?"

"I wasn't expecting a magical fix, I just..." He didn't finish his sentence.

"Why did you even drag me here if you were having doubts? You should have talked to me about it, Matt."

"I thought that a change of pace might be good for both of us."

"Are you kidding?" you spat. "You don't get to make those life decisions for me! I'm miserable here and the only reason that I stayed was for you. Now look, Matt. I'm stuck here with nothing and nobody."

"Why don't you move home?"

"What, like I can afford that? You heard my parents when we left. They didn't want me to leave, but I told them that I had to because you were the love of my life and we needed to be together."

Matthew looked down at his feet. He hadn't looked at you for most of the conversation.

"Little did I know you didn't feel the same," you sighed.

"I'm sorry," Matthew said.

"You're not."

Both of you were quiet then. You leaned against the wall, still waiting for the moment when you felt steady enough to get up and walk towards the couch. Matthew remained staring at the ground, steadily tapping his fingers against his forearm.

"So, what's the deal with my stuff?" you finally asked.

You didn't even want to know what it was that he had been planning.

"Right," he said, turning to look at it. "I'm going to need you to move out."