Party 'til you pass out / When the party's over

Oliver

The first thing I did when I came home was searching for those goddamn divorce papers I had to have somewhere. Without taking my coat off, I barged into the small room I always used as an office and pulled open every drawer and looked on every staple of papers until I found them.

I picked up a pen and without reading it through, I signed the divorce agreement, put it in the attached return envelope and called the dogs to go for a walk to put it on the mail.

As I put them on their leash, I looked at my wedding ring. For a moment, every raging thought in my head fell quiet, until Luna nuzzled her nose against my hand. Then, without further notice, I took my ring off and threw it in a drawer of the side table in the hall.

'Come on, guys,' I said, opening the door and going back out into the cold. It was eerily quiet outside, since it was getting dark again and the temperature was below zero. I hid in my coat, regretting not putting on a scarf and hand gloves while I walked down the road to the main street and all the way into town. When I came across a mailbox, I threw the envelope in and inhaled deeply, knowing there was no way back now. Alison and I would be divorced as soon as our signed agreement had passed through. And somehow, deep down somewhere, I felt relief.

My feet took me to Tom and Lizzy's apartment, and I rang the doorbell. Lizzy opened the door, looking surprised to see me.

'Hey, you.'

'Ey... Is Tom home?,' I asked her. Lizzy shivered a bit and pulled her vest around herself, shaking her head.

'No, he's still at work. Why? What's going on?' I made a face and looked at my hands, which were fumbling on the leash of the dogs. 'Come in, it's cold.' I let her drag me in and took off my coat, setting the dogs free from their leash as they happily walked into the warm living room. Luma immediately jumped on the couch, and I corrected her. Lizzy chuckled.

'Let her, I bet she wants to warm up a bit.' I cocked my eyebrow at the white dog, who just stared at me with anticipating eyes, so I sat down next to her and let my hand run through her soft fur.

Lizzy put a glass of water down in front of me.

'You look tired,' she stated, sitting down across from me.

'I just came home from tour last night, and haven't really slept...'

'Why not?' I shrugged.

'Too much going on.' Lizzy just hummed at that, scanning my face with her eyes. 'I signed the divorce agreement and sent it back,' I then just said.

'Ah.' Lizzy's face became softer, and she gave me a sympathetic smile. 'What made you change your mind?' I sighed deeply and petted a very content Luna on her belly.

'I drove to London today to go see Alison.'

'Oli... Again?!'

'Yeah... I just had to. I just - I missed her so much on tour, and I just wanted to see for myself if it's really over between us.'

'And then?'

'I saw her with her ex-boyfriend. And she started screaming at me when I walked up to her. She said she never wants to see me again and she would file for a restraining order if I ever came to visit her again.'

'Ouch...,' Lizzy said, making a troubled face. I nodded and sighed deeply.

'So I guess the only thing I could do to make her happy is really divorcing her.' I sniffed my nose and looked at everything except for Lizzy's face, who looked sad.

'I'm sorry, Oliver...'

'Yeah, so am I. I might have asked her to marry me in a fever, but my intention never was getting divorced a few years later.'