"So what did you want to talk to me about?" he said.
She stared at him blankly, pretending she had forgotten in the first place. And then, pretending to remember, she said "I called you over because I remembered that I had borrowed this DVD from you forever ago and I didnt want it anymore."
"You called me over because of that?"
"And also, I dont think that this relationship is working out."
He tried to pretend he had not seen it coming. "You dont think its working out?"
"I think relationships are like sharks, they have to keep moving or they will die. And I think we have a dead shark."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It's from a Woody Allen movie."
"Which one?"
"I dont remember."
"So we have a dead shark?"
"Yeah I think so."
"And it is deffinetly dead? No form of maritime artificial resussitation can save it?"
"I'm afraid not."
"Ok."
He stood up from the chair and took the DVD from her hands. It was his favorite, and even though he missed it during its absence, he took a strange kind of comfort in knowing it was at her place all along.
"So... goodbye," he said.
"Yeah, I'll see you around probably."
"Ok."
They hugged each other, and, thanks to a brilliant last minute head turn, he kissed her on the cheek.
In the stairwell of her apartment building he let out a tremendous sigh, feeling completely neutral about the brief exchange he had just escaped from. He walked down the stairs carefully, trying not to make noise. He buttoned his coat and walked into the freezing cold January night.
She watched him from the bedroom window of her apartment, shivering pathetically as he trudged through the snow back down the street. When he disappeared around the next corner, she fell onto her bed and cried for an hour and a half.
The snow was thick on the sidewalk, and still falling from the sky. The city always did a lousy job clearing the sidewalks after a big storm, he thought. After climbing seven flights of stairs (no elevator) he unlocked the door and walked into his apartment, where it was warm and it smelled like him. He turned around and started to lock the door, but then changed his mind and left it open instead.
