This Is Jack’s Heartbreak

Just a short "story" I wrote when I was feeling a little down and out. It's about how some people just aren't good for you, but you keep going back anyway even though you know what will happen.

She was like that last bite of cheesecake you should have resisted; the fat trimmings on the steak you probably should not have eaten (but that’s where all the flavor is!); the extra bowl of rice you should not have ordered; and that additional serving of crispy bacon that probably wasn’t the best idea.

You find yourself out of breath, maybe a little light-headed, you’re sweating in an air-conditioned room, and your chest hurts like a mother f****r, but in that moment you find absolute pitch-perfect clarity. Like the secrets of the universe unlocked and you, and only you, have found the answers to everything you wanted to know.

Everything is so clear now, how could you not have seen it? She is, and was, a bad idea, and maybe if you were fitter emotionally and mentally, you could have allowed yourself to indulge. She is, was, and could have been your cheat meal. You swear to yourself that it’s done; you’re done.

But in that brief moment, that beautiful, raw, and soul-baring moment of weakness, it all makes crazy, twisted, perfect sense. To hell with the pain and the shouldas, couldas, and wouldas. Damned be the advice of the best friend who knows you better than you’d like to admit; he doesn’t know everything (I think?).

If you’re going down, you might as well go down happy (and swinging), right? What is life without a bit of drama, anyway?