***Trigger Warning.***

When I don't see him, I summon all my confidence and call for him. "Jeremiah!"

"I'm in the bedroom." He says back as he waits for me to come to him. Typical.

I walk as fast as I can, loosing courage with each step. I enter to see him lounging on the bed, still watching the movie. I realize he knew I was out in a thunderstorm and he didn't even get off the freaking bed. He was here laughing at someone he doesn't know.

He gives me a small nod to acknowledge my presence. "This is pretty good."

"We need to talk."

His eyes never leave the TV. "Babe, I'm really into this movie. Can't it wait until it's over?"

What I had to say was clearly important to me and he wanted to brush it off until he finished a stupid movie he's seen nineteen times? The lack of empathy he has irks me, dissolving any kind way of saying what I came here to tell him. "We're over."

He turns the TV off and stands up. "What did you just say?"

I look him right in his dead eyes. "I said I'm breaking up with you."

My now ex boyfriend couldn't have looked more startled if he tried. "You figure this out on your little jog?"

I nodded. "As a matter of fact I did. Although I've known this wasn't working for awhile now."

"How do you break up with someone you love Lyra?"

I start taking my dresses off their hangers, one by and laying them on my old bed. I try not to focus on the fact that it's no longer my bed, this is no longer my house and Jeremiah is no longer my boyfriend. That's alot of loss for one night. I pick up momentum to avoid any oncoming breakdown threatening to happen. "They hurt you to past the point of no return."

He grabs my arm. "Will you stop a minute? How could I hurt you by watching a movie?"

"You stop!" I yank my arm free and go back to my closet. "It's not the movie, it's everything. It's you isolating my from my family, it's you controlling my every move, it's you cheating on me every chance you get, it's you not even blinking an eye when I tell you I need to talk to you!"

I move on to my dresser. "We were supposed to go to Australia together." He whines.

His exaggerated breathing causes me to ball one of my shirts up in my fist. "You can keep your stupid attempt to convince me that you're a good guy, I don't want it! I am getting my own ticket and going with my friend! She cares about me. She drove me home when I was caught in a thunderstorm while my boyfriend was relaxing."

He looks like I've just hit him in the face. "What friend? I'm your friend! You hate everyone else here!"

"You're far from being my friend. You've been torturing me for years." My voice breaks when I say the last line. I realize how true it is. I've been doing mental gymnastics since I met him. I clear my throat in an attempt to hide the crack in my voice.

"What made you decide to do this tonight?"

I grab all the stuff I've packed into my duffle bag and head out of the room. "I almost died."

He follows me. "You what?"

I face him for the last time. "Yeah and I realized that if I would've actually died tonight I'd always regret not dumping you." I slam the door behind me.

I speed walk to Inara's car. I wanted to run but I refuse to let him know I am afraid of him.

Inara looks me over when I crawl into the passenger seat. "So...how'd it go?"

I wait until she pulls out before I respond. "It's over. I did it."

She pats my shoulder with her one hand, her other hand grips the steering wheel. "I'm sorry, I know that couldn't have been easy. How do you feel?"

I think about it. How do I feel? "I feel free." I chuckle, suddenly feeling giddy. "That felt amazing!"

She cheers. "Yes! You're officially single and free to do whatever you want!" She looks at me through the corner of her eye. "Did he cry? Please tell me he cried."

I laugh. "He sort of did this little whimper." I mimic it. "Then he started pretending he was going to hyperventilate." I copied his heavy breathing technique. "The real kicker was the injured puppy face."

She was laughing so hard we had to pull over so she could gather herself to drive. "We are going to celebrate! I have wine and we'll most definitely need a pizza."

My stomach rumbles at the mention of food. I was so busy today I didn't even realize I'd forgotten to eat. "You better not be playing with me."

"I don't play about pizza and wine."

"Thank you Inara, for everything! You have no idea how grateful I am for you!"

She holds her heart. "Aww, you're going to make me cry! I am so happy we met!"

We spent the rest of the drive home jamming out to what Inara calls her breakup playlist. It was so fun I was disappointed when we pulled into the driveway. I haven't let loose like this is so long I was starting to think I'd forgotten how to.

We race each other into the house (not that Inara's heels have her a fair shot) and we threw on our pajamas. As promised, there was pizza and wine.

"You know, you never told me how you make so much money. You promised you would!"

Her cheeks get red. "It's kind of embarrassing."

I put a pillow over my lap and sit my plate that's full of pizza on top of it. "I won't judge you, I swear."

She sighs. "Okay, fine. I'm a stripper. We'll, I used to be anyways. I recently quit."

I sit my wine down. "You're kidding! My ex is one of the owners of a strip club around here."

"Really?!! Do you know what it's called? If it's the same one I work at, he sucks."

I try to remember the name of his club. "He didn't allow me to know anything about it. He said he wanted to protect me from that world, but I think he just didn't want me to find out he was cheating on me. His name is Jeremiah if that rings any bells."

"I don't think I know anyone with that name." She grabs a slice of pizza. "Ughhh, did I mention I can't stand him?"

I am starting to feel a little tipsy and can't stop myself from being noisy. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you quit?"

She looks away. "Let's just say I'm seeing a therapist in order to finally be able to talk about it. You'll be the first person I tell."

I am such an idiot. I am going to put this drink down and keep my big mouth shut. "I am so sorry Inara, that was absolutely none of my business!"

"No, it's okay really! I don't mind you asking! I can't even talk to my parents about it yet, it was sort of recent. It's not all bad though, the day after I quit a girl came up to me and asked me to model. It seems legit so I'm super excited to see what happens."

I wasn't shocked at all that she was asked to be a model, the girl is gorgeous. "That's amazing! You're going to be a natural! Life has such a crazy way of working out. I mean, look how we met."

It's blows my mind how comfortable I am around this girl I met only hours ago. I feel as if we've known each other for years. We stay up late talking about life, the good, the bad, the in-between. I didn't know that I would feel this good after a breakup. Inara even convinced me to block Jeremiah and it was surprisingly easy. It was a great idea on her part, who knows what he would've been saying in an attempt to get a response out of me.

Everything is going so well until we go to bed. We go to our separate rooms and I am elated that I get my own room until I'm alone. All of the sudden I'm lonelier than I've ever been and my heart collapses. I know this is me growing, I have to suck it up and be alone for awhile. I toss and turn all night and when I finally fall asleep I have the worse nightmare I've ever had. I dream that Jeremiah comes to Inara's house and strangles us both to death. After that dream, I decide I'm done even trying to sleep. Instead, I call my work.

"Hello?" Lucy yawns into the phone.

I smile. "Hey Lucy, I just wanted to check in and see how our delinquent patient in 209 is doing."