Love Triangle

Writing fiction exercise 1

"I'm sorry Hayley, I just can't do this anymore." Pete was exhausted. They had been at this argument for hours. Hayley just wouldn't take no for an answer. He didn't know what else to do.

"I'm leaving, we are over" Pete declared wearily.

"Absolutely not! How dare you! If you think you can just up stumps and walk out on ME you've got another think coming." Hayley was livid. Who did he think he was? He'd never do any better than HER. She was obsessed with him and took care of his every need, what more could he ask for?

"You're being ridiculous! You can't order me to stay." Pete was getting distressed. "I'm leaving and that's that. This.... us haven't been working for a long time. We just need to call it quits. Rip the band aid off nice and quick. Keep this as amicable as we can. At least we don't have any kids to make this harder."

With that Pete walked out of the kitchen, up to the bedroom, packed a bag and returned to the kitchen. I'm going to go and stay at Sophie's tonight and work things out. I'll have the rest of my things picked up.

Pete walked out of the kitchen and out to the garage where he got into his car and drove away from the house.

Sophie was in the middle of doing her dishes when Pete knocked on her front door. As she walked to the door to open it for him there was the usual flutter in her stomach when she saw him standing on the other side of the door. Sophie had been in love with Pete for as long as they had known each other.

It had been true love at first site which had only deepened as they grew to know each other through the years. He was kind and gentle, strong and supportive. She had kept this love of hers a closely guarded secret all this time.

The first time she had met Pete, Sophie was with Hayley and as usual everything was always about Hayley. Especially when it came to love and relationships. She had immediately began flirting with Pete. Sophie had taken a step back that day and let Hayley 'do her thing'.

Sophie was not a confident woman which was ridiculous because she was very accomplished in her field of work where she often took control of situations and led her team to success.

It was Hayley really that had undermined the confidence in her socially. She would always find a way to criticize Sophie's looks or accomplishment and dress it up in a reverse compliment like "Your so lucky you don't have to worry about attracting men, you make a great living in your job and don't have to rely on anyone to take care of you financially." Always with a condescending smile on her face which seemed to convey a sense of 'I'm here for you and all my other friends who have been smacked straight in the face with the ugly, awkward stick.'

Sophie opened the door and let Pete in. His face was troubled and he looked like he was going to burst into man tears at any moment.

"I've left Hayley!" he exclaimed, the words bursting out of his mouth like rockets.

"Oh, Pete, how awful. Come in and sit down, I'll make us a cuppa."

Sophie led Pete into the lounge room and went to put the kettle on.

This was terrible, Pete was experiencing one of the lowest points of his life and all Sophie wanted to do was sing from the tree tops. Her heart was swelling with hope and joy. He was finally free of Hayley. They were never any good for each other. Everybody but them could see that. Or was that just what Sophie saw? Never mind that for now, he was here, in her home and needing comforting and a safe harbour to lick his wounds. Sophie would give him everything that he needed. She would be the best shoulder she could be for him to cry on.

With the kettle boiled, she made two cups of tea and took them into the lounge room. Pete sat there with his head cradled in his hands. He looked up as Sophie came in and the pain in his deep blue eyes was palpable. Sophie instantly felt like a heel for her hope that a spark may ignite between the two of them.

"Out with it then," she said, "tell me what happened. I'm here for you."

"It was insane." Pete lamented. "She just wouldn't accept that I was leaving. Right to the end she had to try to control the situation. That was the problem you know. She always had to control everything that we did. It was like what I wanted didn't matter. I was just there as a placeholder. Anybody could have done my job as husband for her so long as they sat quietly and did as they were told. Even in bed mind you." By this time Pete's voice had risen to a pitch that even dogs could detect a mile away. He was becoming hysterical.

"There there." Said Sophie in her most consoling tone. "You did what you had to. Nobody has the right to control another... I'm surprised that you put up with it as long as you did. You've taken the hardest step now and it can only get better from here. I hate that you're in pain Pete. Is there anything you need, anything I can do for you?" She asked

"No, Sophie, there's nothing anybody can do for me right now. I guess I just have to ride this wave to it's conclusion. I have a feeling that Hayley isn't going to make this easy for me."

For a long time they sat there in silence together on the couch. Pete rested his head on Sophie's shoulder crying every now and then. Sophie passed him the tissues and put her arm around his shoulders and waited as the emotions to flowed through him.

The day grew late and Sophie suggested something to eat and a stronger drink than tea might help fill his aching belly and soften the sharp edges of emotion that he was feeling. Pete agreed and a bottle of whiskey was produced, shots poured and drunk.

Sophie got on the phone and ordered in some fast food to be delivered. While they waited they drank the whiskey and discussed where Pete should go from here. She suggested that he stay at her place for the night. Get a good rest, get some perspective before he makes any decisions. Pete agreed and they drank another shot.

The food arrived and they sat together, still in the living room and ate the hot chips and burgers.

"Hayley would never let me order this kind of food." Pete was beginning to slur his words. "She was always obsessed with not putting on any weight and that meant the both of us." There was a bitter tone creeping in.

They drank some more.

"You've always been a great friend Sophie" said Pete. "Just the best. Really, you and I get on and have more in common than Hayley and me." Pete was staring straight into Sophies eyes. "I never noticed how green you eyes are Sophie." It was said as a statement of fact rather than a compliment.

Sophie was having trouble keeping the room from spinning. She needed to stop drinking. She went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Pete followed her in there.

"Good idea," he said when he saw what she was doing "we don't want to get so drunk we make dumb decisions." He was referring to the life decisions that were looming before him right now.

"Yes," Sophie agreed, "don't want to wake up in the same bed tomorrow morning with regrets." She giggled uncomfortably.

"Oh, wow that's not where I was going, but yeah, that would be bad too I guess."

They both stood in the kitchen staring into there glasses of water with that thought hanging between them. Looking up at the same time and with whiskey making the decision for them they rushed into each other's arms and kissed passionately, deeply.

Sophie opened her eyes groggily the next morning, her head was pounding. She could feel Pete next to her before she turned and looked at his head on the pillow. He was awake and was staring right back at her.

It took a moment for Sophie to register exactly what had happened. It wasn't that she couldn't remember what they had done. On the contrary she remembered every single kiss and caress in vivid colour. She had just been afraid that it might have been a dream. It wasn't.

Pete was still staring at her.

"What are you thinking?" He asked her.

"What are you thinking?" She volleyed back as care freely as she could.

He looked at her more deeply, more earnestly. She braced herself for the inevitable let down. He must have regretted what they had done.

"The last thing I want to do is scare you Sophie."

"It's okay Pete, just be honest. We have been friends too long to lie to each other."

"Yes, you're right. Honesty best policy and all that. Last night opened a flood gate for me. I realized that I have had deeper emotions for you for a very long time. Sophie, last night was not a mistake for me. It was simply something that I have wanted for a very long time."

Sophie stared in disbelief at Pete. Her expression must have worried him because he began to apologise.

"Stop speaking." Sophie blurted out. "I am on the same page Pete. I have had feelings for you for a very long time, in fact, since we first met."

Pete's mouth dropped open. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because, before I could get a word in let alone anything else, Hayley had already gotten her claws into you."

They both just lay there and stared until they simultaneously burst into laughter.

"Stop, stop." Sophie was trying to get her giggles under control. "This is not funny." She stopped and her face sobered. "There is so much time that we have waisted because we couldn't get past tornado Hayley."

"You're right, it's not funny but it's no good looking back. We just moved forward from here and what we do next is cook up a full English breakfast because I'm starving."

"Slow down bucko, I think there is something else we need to take care of first."

With that they made love again and again. They were both lost in each other's universe.

They finally emerged from the bedroom and made their English breakfast. It did not disappoint, delicious.

Once they had finished Pete grabbed his phone from the living room to check for any messages. There were many messages. They were all from Hayley. Text and Voice messages. He scanned through the text messages. They were all very angry. He could literally see Hayley's contorted face as she would have been typing the messages. He knew this would take a while for her to accept. Hayley was very good at holding on to grudges and he had a feeling she would never let this one go. He began listening to the voice messages. They were along the same vein as the text messages. He could here the venom in her voice. This whole process of separation was going to be truly torturous if Hayley had her way. He was almost done with the messages, one more to go. He sat and listened to the last message. As he did his face drained of colour. He hung up his phone and turned to look at Sophie.

His look startled Sophie. He looked as if he had been told his family had been taken out by a natural disaster.

"What is it? What did she say?" Sophie pleaded for him to tell her.

"She's pregnant." Pete was aghast. "Sophie, how can I leave her when she is pregnant?" Pete asked. She knew he wanted her to be able to give him a reason why he could still leave.

"Oh Pete!" Was all she could manage.

They both just sat at the dining table staring into the tabletop, boring holes with their eyes. Both truly devastated. They had only just found their way to each other and now they had been ripped apart before they had even had a chance to begin.

Pete looked up from the table to Sophie.

"There's no way around this. I just can't leave her now. I'm not the kind of guy that will leave a mess for others to take care of." Pete was almost hysterical.

"This is not a mess to be cleaned Pete!" Sophie was in full panic mode. This seriously could not be happening. Not after all this time without him and now a fucking baby was going to keep them apart!

Pete's shoulders slumped and his face fell. He looked Sophie in the eye. "I'm sorry Sophie, I have to go back." There was resignation in his voice.

"I understand, Pete, you have to do what you have to do." Sophie consoled even though all she wanted was to scream.

Pete took a shower, dressed and left Sophie's. He drove back to the home he shared with Hayley.

Hayley was pacing back and forth in the kitchen, waiting for his return. He had messaged that he was on his way before he left Sophies.

Pete walked through the door and through into the kitchen. Hayley swung around and just glared at him for the longest moment. Just as quickly her face softened, she gave a quick fragile smile and then collapsed onto a chair, her entire body heaving with sobs of relief.

"Pete, you're home." She cried, burying her face in her hands.

"Hayley....." Pete couldn't finish what he was going to say. Perhaps because it was a lie. "I'm sorry." He managed.

"I know Pete, I know you didn't mean those awful things that you said. We are meant to be together." She assured him.

"Yes dear." He mumbled, all fight leaving his body.

All he really could think of right now was Sophie. She was devastated when he left. He hoped that she was going to be okay. There was a baby involved now and he couldn't leave Hayley now that she was carrying his child.

"Well, all is forgiven. Let's just move right on passed this little blip and worry about the other little blip I have in here." Hayley gestured toward her body.

"When did you find out you were pregnant?" Pete asked her.

"I took a home test yesterday, before you had got out of bed. I was going to tell you over breakfast but we had that little dust up and you stormed out." She declared a little too smugly for Pete's liking.

He knew that she was enjoying this manipulation.

*

Sophie sat slumped on her couch. She was running her hand over where Pete had been sitting the day before. Tears were flowing soundlessly down her cheeks.

She didn't know how she was ever going to recover from this devastation or even if she would. To have what she had always wanted right there in her hands so briefly, only for it to be snatched so brutally away was torture of an especially cruel kind.

An alert went off on her phone. It was a message from Pete. Brief and to the point, sorry was all that it said. Sophie crumpled into a wailing mess on the couch. There was no recovery from this.

Sophie ran herself a hot bath, perhaps she would feel better after a long soak. She put some herbal salts in to try to help lift her mood. She slowly slipped into the hot water and lay there for a while. Her mind searched frantically for how she could get over Pete now that she had experienced the love and joy that they could have together. Nothing but darkness filled her mind.

*

Pete and Hayley were sitting down to there dinner. Pete just played with his food, his appetite was absent.

"What's wrong?" Asked Hayley. "You've hardly touched your food."

"I'm sorry Hayley, I'm just not hungry. It's been an exhausting day don't you think?"

"It's been a great day darling. You and I are together and there's a little munchkin cooking away in here getting ready to spend it's life with us." Hayley said seeming overly invested in brightening the mood.

"Can I see the test that you took? We should keep it as memento of the beginning of our baby's life." Pete asked.

"Test?" Hayley repeated absently as she feined a little too much interest in her plate.

"Yeah, you know, the pregnancy test that you took." Pete explained beginning to lose patience.

"I threw it away silly. I had to pee on it you know." Hayley was hiding something, Pete just knew it.

"Then it will be in the bin in the bathroom. It hasn't been emptied. I saw when I was in their before dinner."

"I didn't put it in that bin." Hayley was getting nervous.

"Then in the kitchen bin?" Pete pushed, becoming impatient.

"No not that one either." She wouldn't make eye contact with Pete.

"HAYLEY!" Pete yelled as he slammed the kitchen table with his fist. "Where is the pregnancy test?"

"..........There isn't one." Her voice was so quiet he had a job to hear her.

"Excuse me!" All pretence of civility was now gone. "What do you mean that there isn't one?"

"There isn't one because I didn't take one." Hayley declared with as much false bravado as she could muster.

All he could do was glare at her. His face turned red and then white with fury.

"You lied to me!" More glaring.

"I....I....What else could I do? You had to come back. I wasn't going to live with the shame of a broken marriage!"

"My god! You're insane!" With that he gathered his bag that was still packed and stormed out of house.

He couldn't believe the audacity of the woman. He knew she was shrewd but didn't realise she would sink to such a low. He was driving straight back to Sophies and they would spend the night wrapped in each other's arms. He could only hope that she wouldn't be too wary now after this debacle.

Pete knocked on Sophies door. No answer. He could see that the bathroom light was on and he tried the front door to see if it was locked. It wasn't. He went inside and called to Sophie as he made his way to the bathroom. Still no answer. He swung the door open and his stomach dropped to the floor.

Sophie had slit her wrists. She was dead.

Pete fell to the ground weeping. After a moment he crawled across the bathroom floor to her. He checked her pulse and there was no sign of life. He slipped her out of the bath and held her in is arms, sobbing. Soon, he would call the authorities soon. He just wanted a moment to be here with her. The love of his life. She was gone.

pg. 7