Short story: emma friary
This is How You Keep Him
Cassie woke up and immediately found her thoughts were of Eugene. It was how she knew it was time to break up with Liam.
Cassie thought as she brushed her teeth that it was only fair to be honest with Liam. It didn’t matter that it had been three years since she’d seen her best friend, two since they had talked on the phone, one and a half since he had started seeing his new girlfriend; whenever she thought of him she knew that her relationship was about to end.
It started with Damien. Damien was a fool, a guy trying to make it as a rock star. He had little in the way of singing but more in the way of shaking his hips and acquiring groupies who would come by after his setlist at the bar, batting their eyes and glaring at Cassie as she sipped her drinks and tried not to watch the way that he smiled back at them. Eugene came to visit her at college, sleeping on the couch in her lounge and exchanging polite remarks with Damien. A week later the relationship was over. Cassie had ended it; she knew it was meant to be over. Damien had not acted right since he’d met Eugene, acting nervous and seemingly starting fights just to have them. Eugene said he was sorry for Cassie but she could never be sure.
Then came Corey. He was bookish, studious, and mysterious. Cassie knew she was drawn to him only because he was the total opposite of Damien. Eugene met him, commented he knew him from somewhere before, and the relationship was over a few weeks later, when Cassie caught him cheating through the Facebook messenger app he left open on her phone. Eugene was happy for her then that the relationship was over and came to stay with her again once she started seeing Todd.
Todd immediately hated Eugene. He couldn’t stand having him around, as he thought him to be sticking his nose in their relationship whenever Todd upset Cassie, and pointedly tried to draw Cassie away from Eugene. She used it as fire in their relationship.
“I want to see the new Conjuring movie,” she said over brunch one day, serving Todd his eggs in their small dorm kitchen.
“I hate scary movies,” he said, pushing the eggs back and forth on his plate.
“I’m sure that someone will see it with me. Maybe I’ll ask Eugene.”
“Forget it, I’ll just go.” He sulked.
The relationship went on that way, and the more Cassie was determined to make it work, the more Todd seemed determined to make it end: fighting, name calling, and finally refusing to compromise.
“I don’t know what you saw in that guy anyways,” Eugene said, taking a drag on his cigarette. “He was nothing compared to you.”
That was how they went along. Theirs had been the first relationship she ever had; they fell into each other as best friends turned lovers. Now every man had to go through the same process he had to reach the same heights. Liam had seemed like he hit every mark. She was friends with his family, loved his friends, and enjoyed being with him. They had similar dreams. But she realized over the course of months that whatever love they once had had fallen away and left them both feeling bitter. After a painful few weeks of trying to end things, the cord snapped and the two became strangers once again.
Finally, a new love. And every morning, she waited to see if Eugene would return. And when he didn’t, she learned how to love again.
about the writer: emma friary
Emma Friary is an undergraduate at FSU planning on pursuing her Masters through the school. She draws inspiration from her travels and experiences as well as her favorite novels. Emma’s goal is to publish a book and travel back to Europe in the next year.
