Timeline of a Breakup

Mandala looked down at her paper, then glanced at the officer seated across from her.

"Since I'm, well, fairly close to insane anyway, I figured I'd make light and dark of this situation and give a timeline of my activities since H. and I broke up."

"H? You mean, your ex-boyfriend?" The officer queried.

She smiled. "Precisely. You are a sharp one."

She flipped a page and read:

"Sunday, 16 October 2005
4:20-6:10pm
Online discussion that ended with me promising to call him at 12:00 am his time, which would be 11:00 our time."

"Why?" The suit interrupted. "Weren't you 'officially' broken up?"

"I was honoring his last requests - of a sort. And, I had asked to hear his voice one more time. We needed to get things wrapped up. What, you've never had one last call?"

Mandala shot the detective a cool glance and resumed reciting.

"6:00pm-"

"Wait, that's during your discussion." He leaned in to study her paper.

She pulled back. "Correct. 6:00pm - Removed necklace with half-heart and inscribed ring."

Her voice slipped, just enough to bring his eyes to study her face.

"I knew it was over."

"6:15pm
Called L.B. to talk. Ended up feeling better after a few minutes. Sent a message to Axis. No answer, but she was out.

"7:00-7:30pm
Told mom. Her response: 'Well, maybe he already had another girl anyway.' Classy, no? Packed up pictures of him, removed photos from frames, and put them all in one album.

"That's the way to do it, you know" she interrupted herself, her tone now more friendly, almost conversational.

"What is?"

"Not very thoughtful, are you?" She sighed. "That way, you only have to look at that person in one place. They're stuff is not all over. It's bad enough with your head churning up memories all the time, all on its own. You don't need another trigger."

The detective looked mildly amused at her choice of words.

"7:30-8:00pm
Ate dinner with the family. Omelettes. Cheese, to be exact."

"8:00pm-12:15am
Watched television, played computer games, worked a bit on my costume for our upcoming Shallow Queen Party - (thanks, Dan!).

"12:20-1:40am
Called H. Result of conversation: he wants me to wait for him to get his act together. On the 9th of December, he will call me to see if we should get back together. Oh, also, on the 9th of November. To keep in touch."

"Why the ninth?"

"We met in the wee hours of the morning on the 9th of August, 2002. He's...sentimental like that."

She nodded at the two-way mirror, her body under complete control. She got to her feet gracefully, gathering her papers as she did so.

The suit grabbed her wrist just as she turned to the door.

"One last thing."

Her eyebrows asked the question for her.

"What was your answer? Did you say you would wait for him?"

"I didn't give him one. Instead, I gave him hope. Isn't that the best thing you can give someone who's lost in the world?"

"But will you? Wait for him, I mean?"

She tilted her head to up just slightly, patted his arm, and smiled. "It's not whether one person waits for the other. It's who they end up being once they find each other."

And then, somehow, in the few seconds he was lost in the curve of her lips and the downward tilt of her eyes, she had gone.

"So? What do you think, Einstein?" His partner sat on the table in the interrogation room. "You like her for it?"

"I hope not." He shook his head balefully, like a wayward dog. "The world is too small for those eyes."

Temporary Soundtrack: Feel Good Hit of the Summer by Queens of the Stone Age.
Quote Trapped in My Head: "But my big secret // Gonna hover over your life // Gonna keep you reaching // When I'm gone like yesterday..." from Slow Like Honey by Fiona Apple.
What I Learned Today: The definition of patchouli.