Blocked

Bonnie slowly walked to her car, each step exhausting and sending new waves of pain echoing from her feet. When she finally got inside her car and closed the door, she sat there for a long moment. Then the tears came strolling down her face, and though they were unbidden, Bonnie didn’t stop them. Instead, a sob broke through her lips as she placed her forehead on her steering wheel, her body already shaking.

This summer...what the heck happened?

Bonnie grabbed the bottom of the steering wheel and let out another small sob, remembering how late summer started. No, the government didn’t suddenly add a thirteenth month to the calendar and put it before June. It was the weather. For starters, it was chilly for most of May, a month where days are supposed to warm but not hot. The kind of chilly that only cold fanatics would enjoy, with snipping wind that snapped at people, regardless of whether they were wearing jackets or not. It even snowed one day!

Well, it didn’t stick, but it was the fact that the sky even attempted such a heinous deed that counted. It wasn’t until the end of May that the days started to get warm, and consistently too.

If the rest of the summer had gone the way she had planned, then Bonnie wouldn’t have minded too much. She honestly would’ve forgotten about it unless someone brought it up.

But summer did not go the way Bonnie had planned. Obviously.

Without lifting her head from the wet steering wheel, Bonnie reached for her purse to grab a tissue. She sobbed when she accidentally pushed her purse to the ground in front of the passenger seat.

Bonnie had just gotten a new job where she was promised better pay, along with promises of yearly raises and a great work environment. She also received the promise that while she might have to work the occasional night shift, Bonnie would never work overtime.

With such a job, Bonnie had thought that she would have plenty of time to hang out with her friends, Amy and Brenda. Bonnie also wanted to hike all of the trails nearby, having always wanted to do it but for some reason never gotten around to it.

Bonnie chuckled. It was devoid of humor.

Oh, how naive and stupidly optimistic she had been. First off, her new job...alright, it was true that the pay was higher than her old job. But that was the only promise that came true. Well, she might still get a yearly raise, but Bonnie was beginning to think it wasn’t worth it.

Because the promise of a great work environment? Balderdash. Her coworkers either gave her dirty looks when she tried to chat with them or took their stress out on her. And the stress, oh boy, the stress. It was overwhelming, constant, and as long as they had customers who refused to believe that they could actually be the ones in the wrong, never-ending.

But an even worse offense...the promise of night shifts being only occasional. Hehe...Bonnie only got night shifts. Bonnie’s mouth dropped when a coworker told her the truth with a scornful laugh. Along with the knowledge that only the untalented employees got the night shift.

That was the first time Bonnie had entertained the idea of quitting. And she would have done so if she had luck finding another job.

But thanks to this awful job, Bonnie couldn’t even apply to another one. As soon as she got home, she went to bed and slept for most of the day. Only to repeat the process the next day. She barely had time to make food for herself, let alone go job hunting.

But possibly the worst offense of all, Bonnie had no time to have fun with her friends.

...If they could be called friends anymore. Bonnie might have been able to deal with her disappointing summer if her friends had been just as disappointed about her absence. But other than the first few sympathy texts when Bonnie first started declining their offers, there had been silence on their end.

Even when Bonnie sent texts asking them how they were doing.

Even when Bonnie finally had a free day, and invited all of them to go hiking. Bonnie had even sent the invitation a few days in advance. And offered to change the activity to something more chill when her free day finally arrived. Bonnie even called Amy, who always answered voice calls.

The call only rang before it went straight to voicemail.

By the time Bonnie accepted the fact that her friends didn’t want to spend time with her, evening had arrived. She briefly entertained the idea of going to a restaurant, but Bonnie felt too awkward about eating out by herself, so she just ate at home.

Her free day had been a waste. And it only happened yesterday.

That was the main reason she was crying right now. After another stressful, lonely night of work, Bonnie just couldn’t take it anymore.

She wanted her summer back. She wanted her friends back.

But her friends clearly didn’t care about her anymore. If they ever did. And it was the middle of August. Summer was almost over. There was no getting it back.

Bonnie cried even harder.

Ding! Taken aback, Bonnie finally lifted her head from her steering wheel and looked over to an empty seat. Recalling that she had knocked the purse down, she reached over to it. After some struggle, she picked up her purse and took out her phone.

She...she had a message. From an unknown number.

Hey Bonnie! I don’t know if you contacted me recently, but if you did, I swear, I didn’t mean to ignore you. You see, not long after you started your new job, Amy’s phone died and she asked me if she could borrow mine. I did, and a couple of minutes later, she gave it back to me. I thought nothing of it, but now I wished I did. If I did, I would have realized she blocked you on my phone earlier. Yeah...I’m sorry. She blocked you on her phone too, because she didn't want to be your friend anymore and tried to force me to go along with her. Haha, jokes on her, now she's the one who's friendless. I told her that to her face when she confessed. As to why she did it...it’s stupid. You remember that one guy Amy was sort of dating? Well, they got into a huge fight where he apparently admitted that he wished he had been seeing you instead before cutting things off with her. Obviously, she took that sooo well. Don’t feel bad. She ain’t a good person. She fooled both of us.

Bonnie just stared at Brenda’s text, a mixture of feelings whirling inside of her.

Another text arrived.

If you aren’t too mad at me, or if you just want more details, can we meet up for ice cream? It’ll be my treat. You pick the time. Any time, and I will be there. Even though Amy was the one to block you, I know that I probably still hurt you. I am so very sorry. Please forgive me.

A watery smile broke open on Bonnie’s face as she wiped her tears away. So that was why. After some thought, she wrote a reply.

Don’t be sorry, it’s not your fault. I’m just glad you reached out and told me what happened. But since you’re offering, I definitely want ice cream. Specifically, Cold Stone. Let me take a look at my schedule before picking a time first.

As soon as she pushed send, Bonnie put her phone in her purse and got out of the car.

Bonnie would look at her schedule after quitting her job.

Summer wasn’t over yet.