Clash Of Their Egos

PROLOGUE:
He was a simple man with simple needs; content with life and
the way it treated him. He didn’t ask for much from people, just
that they respect him and the relationship they had. He was an
introvert and the only person who knew him front to back was
the woman he loved, the woman he wanted to marry and
grow old with. The woman who was his and his alone. He
wanted nothing else from life. Just a little assistance from fate
to make his world complete.
She was really sporty, but while others usually played with balls,
she played with hearts. She juggled them, her position strong
and concentration on the mark. Why have one man when you
could have another in line, better yet, a third one on stand-by?
Deception was the name of the game, lies were the rules and
she was a champion at it. But juggling is a difficult stunt; balls
fall but bounce back, hearts fall and turn to dust. And then she
searched for more.
************

He entered the diner and was hit by a cloud of grease; he walked towards
the back and slid into the last red vinyl booth. A woman with a voice like
heartbreak was belting out a song about love while a mini-skirt clad waitress
went about fueling customers with caffeine.
He had agreed to meet her one last time, to hear her version of the story of
his heart's murder. She would probably come up with a thousand excuses and
explanations about the accusation he had thrown at her. She hadn't realized
that she had permanently scarred him; she was too self-absorbed for that.
He wasn't ready to let her in again; he just wanted to see her cry, one last
time.
A smug smile covered her face as she spotted his car at the end of the parking
lot; she made her way inside ready with apologies and counter accusations.
She was glad for the thick greasy diner air, it would make the tears come
quick; she had chosen the setting well. He was sitting at the far end, his
black shirt screaming character and good taste, paired with old money; she
couldn't afford to let him go. She changed her expression to grim and slid
into the booth, facing him. His expression blank he stared at her face,
probably searching for a give-away that the remorse in her eyes was fake, but
she was too good an actress, she covered all grounds. She smiled inwardly,
this wouldn't take long, and after all, he was head over heels in love with
her.
He watched her dab at her eyes, the plastic bitch, faking tears just so he
would melt like a sugar cube in her mug of black coffee. He'd wanted to see
tears, but these just sent a wave of revulsion through him. She seemed to
think she had layers, that it was hard to know who she really was, what she
didn't realize was that after all these years of knowing her he knew her
better than his own self. She was transparent as a glass to him, albeit a
cheap one that distorts reality for the untrained eye.He could predict what she wanted. She expected him to
comfort her, to tell her he was wrong to doubt her faithfulness, and he did
just that. He wanted to lure her to the peak, just to push her off.
He was falling for her fake tears; she had triumphed again. She put her
fingers into his offered hand and let him stroke them lightly, an attempt to
stop the waterworks but she willed more tears into her eyes to hang on her
lashes; pearl drops of sorrow. She wanted more than comfort, she wanted an
apology for doubting her, she wanted an admission of his unrequited love
and then she'd give one back, so what if she didn't mean it, he would lap it
up like a thirsty dog. He would believe her. She just wanted a 180° turn on
the road towards their break up, she'd play some more, teach him new tricks,
get him even more dependent on her and then she'd turn another 180° and
dump him. She had never been dumped, it was always the other way round
and he wouldn't be an exception.
He had loved her like crazy and that was his biggest mistake, the other was
that he had trusted her with his heart. She still thought she had a
stronghold on that poor thing and she was using her tears to make sure of
that; was she wrong or what. He was going to play along for a while, be the
old him who was mesmerized by her charm, and then he would drop the
bomb. He ordered them more coffee and sat back with a lazy smile and eyes
half closed,drinking his. She was too busy with her tissue and scheming mind to notice his sudden nonchalance. He cleared his throat to get her attention, then
leaned forward, looked straight into her eyes and apologized for doubting
her, the sinister gleam in her eyes left as quickly as it had come; but he had
seen what he wanted, everything was going according to plan.

EPILOGUE
A month later....
He was still a simple man and she was still sporty. Besides that,
they were changed people. He turned to granite, trust and
love for the female species completely gone. She became
careful, her previous escapades having left her severely
bruised and feeble. Juggling is after all a difficult stunt, once the balls fall its
the juggler who gets thrown out of the ring. The same fate
awaits the juggler of hearts.