The Audacity

It was 11:04 and Leyra was ready to go home. Leyra’s back hurt and legs were tired from standing for the last five hours. Most of her coworkers had already left around 10:50 after they had cleaned up the coffee shop they worked at, but Leyra was the manager so she wasn’t able to leave when they did. She was stuck making sure the floors were mopped, the counters had been wiped, and turning off the lights before locking up and heading home. Usually, that didn’t take much longer than five minutes, but today, Kayleigh had left the coffee maker running and the fridge in back ajar. Kayleigh had been distracted by her phone as per usual and did a half-ass job cleaning up so she could rush out of the coffee shop to meet her boyfriend. Why she was meeting her boyfriend at 11 o’clock at night was beyond Leyra. She knew from Kayleigh’s constant blabbing while she worked- not that Leyra had been trying to listen - that Kayleigh and her boyfriend did not live together, despite Kayleigh begging him to move in with her every three seconds. He lived in Connecticut, Leyra believed. 

Leyra headed to the back to do the final check and turn off the music that had been playing faintly in the background the whole day. Finally, some peace and quiet. She grabbed her keys and bag from her hook. She paused for a second and listened. She thought she had heard the door open. Leyra sighed. The last person who left must have forgotten to lock the door behind them. 

She walked back to the front, her stuff in hand. A girl around her age was standing in front of the counter, looking a little lost. 

“Hi, Miss, we’re closed,” she said, glancing at the clock on the wall. 11:15 the hands pointed to. Leyra really wanted to go home. She still had a little bit of school work to do before she went to bed. Today was already a long day, and it kept getting longer. The girl looked over at her. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize. The door was unlocked and I thought I’d get something to eat before I…” she trailed off, her eyes darting between and her hands. Leyra sighed impatiently and glanced at the clock again. 

“I’m sorry for being here, I just…” again the girl trailed off, looking lost again. 

“What’s wrong?” Leyra asked, hoping that this would encourage the girl into telling her and then leaving faster. She wasn’t normally this abrupt and impatient, but Leyra had had a long day and needed to get home. 

The girl was silent for a moment. She looked as if she was debating telling Leyra, which annoyed Leyra because the girl had come into the coffee shop and made it impossible to not ask what was wrong.

“My boyfriend…” the girl swallowed. “I found out my boyfriend was cheating on me,” her voice broke at the end of the sentence. 

Oh, shit, thought Leyra. This was serious. Leyra sighed. She knew she couldn’t just leave this girl after she had just confessed a bombshell as painful as that. She wasn’t that cruel, even though her body was begging her to go home and crawl into bed. 

Leyra walked around the counter to the girl.

“I’m so sorry. Do you wanna talk about it?” she asked gently. 

The girl nodded, a few tears escaping her eyes. Leyra lead them to a table near the window with cushioned chairs. She grabbed some napkins, knowing the girl might need them. 

“What’s your name, by the way?” Leyra asked as they sat down.

“Cami,” the girl responded. 

“I’m Leyra,” Leyra paused. She wasn’t sure how to approach this situation; she had never dealt with something like this before. How did one begin asking questions without sound too harsh? 

She settled with what she deemed a reasonably safe question. “How long were you guys dating for?” 

Cami sniffed. “Three years,” she responded, tears starting to come out faster. 

Leyra sat back in her chair. “Wow, that’s a long time,”

 She and her own boyfriend had been dating for around a year and a half or so. It was hard to imagine being with someone for that long, going through and seeing so many changes. Not that Leyra couldn’t see it with her boyfriend, she just wasn’t the kind of person that planned for the future; she just took her life a day at a time.

“I know,” Cami responded. “You would think that after all that time, he really loved me enough to not cheat on me. And if he did want to be with other people, at least have the respect to break up with me first,” 

Cami grabbed a napkin from where Leyra had placed them on the table and blew her nose.

“How did you find out he was cheating on you?” Leyra asked kindly, watching as Cami grabbed another napkin. Her nose was slightly red from the roughness of the napkin. 

“A friend saw him with another girl in Massachusetts a week or two ago and texted me. And then the other day, I saw him in town with another phone,” 

Leyra and her boyfriend had been in Massachusetts two weeks ago touring colleges. Perhaps they had passed by this jerk at some point. It was probably unlikely though. 

“Maybe he got a new case,” Leyra offered, knowing as she said it that it was a flimsy and unlikely reason. 

Cami scoffed. “How do you explain the Massachusetts thing then?” 

Leyra looked at the table, searching for an explanation that wouldn’t leave Cami heartbroken. She couldn’t find any. Leyra looked up at Cami. Her eyes were starting to pool with tears again and her face crumpling. 

“How could he do this to me!” she sobbed, new onsets of tears spilling down her face. “We were together for three years! Three years! I thought he loved me!” She started hiccupping quietly. Leyra offered her another napkin which she took gratefully and blew her nose loudly. 

“I know, I know,” Leyra reached across the table and grabbed Cami’s hand, trying to soothe her. 

“He doesn’t deserve you,” Leyra got up and pulled her chair closer to Cami and put an arm around her. She couldn’t imagine how she was feeling. She didn’t know how she would react if she found out her boyfriend was cheating on her. 

Cami’s shoulders shook and for a few moments, they sat next to each other, Cami’s crying the only sound heard.  

“What was his name?” Leyra asked. 

“Micheal,” Cami responded, her voice muffled from behind her hands. 

Leyra froze. 

“What?” she asked, her heart pounding. She was sure she had misheard. Cami’s boyfriend couldn’t be named Micheal. 

“His name is Micheal,” Cami repeated, lifting her head to look at Leyra. “Why, what’s wrong?” 

This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be true. But it was starting to make sense.

Leyra took a shaky breath, trying to calm her racing heart. 

“My boyfriend… is also named Micheal,” she whispered, staring at Cami. 

Cami’s jaw dropped. “What!” she screeched, leaping out of her chair. The table in front of them nearly toppled over. 

“You’re the one Micheal cheated on me with?!” she seethed. “You ruined my relationship!” 

Leyra jumped up from her own chair. “Micheal and I have been going out for a year and a half. I had no idea I was the ‘other woman’. Cami, I am so sorry.” 

Leyra’s mind was spinning. Micheal had been with both of them at the same time, with Cami longer. He had led a double romance life for a year and a half, no easy feat. Leyra’s heart hurt. Even though she could tell that Cami had loved Micheal more since they had been going out for longer, Micheal had been with her for a long time. This whole debacle had escalated so quickly.

“How could you have not known? He never did anything to make you know he was dating someone else?” Cami looked skeptical. She crossed her arms across her chest, glaring hard at Leyra.

Leyra swallowed. “No, he never made me suspect anything. I thought I was the only one he was with,” 

Cami considered this for a moment, her glare softening ever so slightly. 

“So you’re saying he was cheating on both of us,” 

Leyra nodded, her eyes starting to fill with tears. Micheal had been with her for so long. She planned on breaking up with him before college; this was not how she planned on ending their relationship. 

Cami’s face completely transformed. “Hey, I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to find out he was cheating like this. He’s such a dick for doing this to us.”

She pulled Leyra into a hug, embracing her. Tears slid silently down her face as she wrapped her arms around Cami. They stood there for a while, letting the pain and hurt wash over them, letting it be released through their tears. This was a heartbreak for both of them; Cami knew exactly how Leyra felt, they were going through the same thing. 

After a while, they pulled away from each other. Leyra's tears had mostly dried up, Cami still had some glistening under her eyes. An idea came to mind. 

“Hey, you already broke up with him right?” Leyra asked.

Cami hesitated. “Kinda? I obviously know he’s been cheating on me, but before I came here, I hadn’t really confronted him,” she responded, looking just a tad bit guilty. 

This worked. “Ok, that’s perfect. Let’s call him,” Leyra said, pulling out her phone. Cami looked surprised and then smiled. They were going to ambush him. 

“I’ll stay out of the screen when you first dial,” Cami said as she moved a few inches away from Leyra. 

She hit the video call button and they listened to the sound of her phone ringing. Leyra hoped he picked up. It was kinda late, she realized, looking at the time on my phone. It was nearing midnight. 

On the 6th ring, just as Leyra was about to hang up, Micheal picked up. 

“Hey, Babe. What’s up? You’re still working?” He asked. He looked like he was on his couch. He was probably playing video games, as usual. Leyra looked at Cami and took a deep breath. 

“Yeah, I’m still here. Guess what?” 

“What?” he asked, looking at the screen.

“A girl came in upset that her boyfriend had cheated on her. We started talking and I think we’re friends now.” 

Micheal looked confused. “Okay, why are you telling me this?” He was confused but his interest had been piqued. 

“I think you know her,” I chirped. Micheal’s face grew even more confused.

Cami came into the frame. 

“Hi, Micheal.” 

Micheal’s face dropped from confusion to shock. Leyra wished she had thought to take a screenshot because his face was priceless. 

“Cami?” he whispered. 

“You’re a dick, Micheal. How could you have possibly thought it was okay to cheat on me for a YEAR AND A HALF, and therefore cheating on Leyra. What the hell is wrong with you!” Cami demanded, her voice rising. 

“Leyra, Cami, I can explain!” he cried, his voice pleading. 

“Micheal, we don’t give a sh*t about your excuses. We’re done with you. And you can take your miserable, lying, cheating ass and go. To. Hell.” Leyra emphasized the last few words, hoping it would drive her point home. Before she disconnected the call, she and Cami simultaneously gave him an obscene gesture. 

“Well, that went well, I suppose. I might have wanted to yell at him a bit longer but this worked,” said Cami, sitting back down in her chair. Leyra followed suit. 

She breathed in a deep breath, feeling a little relieved. Obviously, she was still hurt and heartbroken, but at least she knew the truth. 

“So, where does this leave us?” Cami asked, looking at Leyra. 

Leyra gave her a smile. “I don’t know about you, but I think we’re kinda bonded, you know? Experiencing a heartbreak together, knowing exactly how the other feels? That seems rare.”

Cami smiled back. “Yeah, it does.” Her smile grew mischievous. 

“What?” I asked, noticing. 

“Wanna go egg his house?”

I laughed and stood up, grabbing my stuff from the counter. 

Cami stood up as well. 

“Obviously.”