The Heartbroken - S01 E70

Story 2 years ago

The Heartbroken - S01 E70

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 70

“Nope. You are not

ordering that,” Alyssa

told me before looking

up at our waitress, who

was wearing a

nametag with the

name Judy but

everyone apparently

calls her Jean. “She’ll

have the Aly and lots

and lots of onion rings.”

I blinked. “Aly?”

She grinned. “Warren

named a burger after

me.”

“God, you just keep

bringing that one up,”

Warren said with a big

sigh, but the smile on

his face told me he

didn’t really mind at all.

“D--n right, I do,” she

said. “It’s the best

burger here anyway.”

“Oh, no,” Dan said.

“Here we go,” Seth

agreed, shaking his

head like he was

resigning himself to

something he didn’t

have any control over.

“What—why?” I asked,

but was answered

when Alyssa began

with, “We were

sophomores when…”

Everyone groaned, so in

sync that it made me

wonder if they’d

somehow practiced it (I

wouldn’t doubt it,

knowing how weird

they all were (in a good

way)).

While waiting for our

orders, Alyssa

recounted the tale of

the Aly. It turns out

they’ve sort of been

friends since forever, all

of them, and Alyssa

and Warren used to

bicker like “an old

married couple” (as

described by everyone).

Alyssa used to like him

during freshman year,

but Warren was dating

some other girl, “that

b---h,” (again, everyone)

and come sophomore

year, they broke up. But

by that time, Alyssa

was dating some other

guy and had completely

moved on, “Ugh, that

guy” (Dan).

But then Alyssa caught

“ugh, that guy” s-----g

faces with someone

else on a party and

Warren happened to be

there as well. He

punched the guy twice

and hauled Alyssa away

from the party and

brought her here.

“It was past midnight

and the diner was

closed, but Warren had

the keys,” Alyssa said,

just as the orders were

being served. “I asked

him what we were

going to do here, and he

just brought me to the

kitchen wordlessly. He

said he noticed the way

I always asked for my

burger. He didn’t even

ask me to tell him how

I wanted it. He just

took a piece of paper

and scribbled it down.

‘Did I get it right?’ he

asked me, showing me

the paper, and I was

surprised because he

did.

“When I nodded, he

scribbled ‘The Aly’ on it,

and posted it on the

bulletin board in the

back. Then he asked me

if I was all right,” she

said. There was this

almost sad smile on her

face. Despite

everyone’s reaction

when she was just

beginning to tell the

story, it was obvious

that they actually liked

hearing it. “We talked all

night. From that day

onwards, we started

spending more time

with each other and it

took a while, but we

eventually got

together.”

“And broke up a year

later,” Warren said,

looking outside through

the glass wall.

“Yeah. And that,” Aly

said, looking down at

the table.

For a moment it was

quiet as all of us let

that sink in, Jean placing

our orders in front of

us. She placed the Aly in

front of me along with

the platter of onion

rings.

I didn’t get it. How could

they still be friends like

this, after breaking up

with each other? And

how was it possible for

them to talk about the

past like it didn’t bother

them? Didn’t they love

each other back then? I

was pretty sure they

did. Really. There was

no mistaking it.

As a matter of fact, I

was pretty sure they

still love each other.

“At least we don’t get

to see you swapping

spit with each other

while we’re all eating

anymore,” Rev said, and

everyone agreed with

chuckles and an

indignant “Hey!” from

Alyssa.