Excerpt: Digging in the Shallows

Chapter One: You are depressed and it's pissing off the world. Get laid, damn you!

-two months later-

Gabe stirred his little red swizzle stick through the black coffee in the styrphom cup sitting on the table. He hadn't put anything in it, but he stirred anyway. Force of habit from the days -two months ago- when he'd put tons of sugar and creamer in. Now, the bitterness seemed to reflect his life. He sigh. A long, sad, and depressing sound. In the chair across from him, there was a groan. A short, frustrated, and aggrivated sound.

"Dude!" the man behind the groan barked, "When are you going to get over it?" Pacey was as impatient and hot headed as his red hair color would lead one to believe. He picked up his own coffee and drained the last drops before making a perfect shot into the waste basket near the entrance. The air was still warm, so they sat on the outside tables of the cafe to enjoy.

"You don't get it," Gabe whined. "She was perfect..." Patty had been the perfect girl. a perfect ten gemstone in a dirty coal mine. "There's just no one else that could ever be the same."

Pacey's long fingers crushed a defenseless napkin in their grip as he tried to get a grip. He'd had to listen to this non stop for two months since Patty left. His idiot best friend wasn't doing anything about it aside from whining more and more every day. Patty was perfect. There's no one like Patty. My life can't go anywhere without Patty. I wish Patty would come back. Pacey had to restrain himself several times from clocking his own friend. What a way to end a fifteen year relationship. Then again, sometimes, a friend did need his ass kicked.

It was time for Pacey to put his foot down.

"That's it," he said difinitively. He put both hands palms down on the table as he stood up to make sure he was towering over his still seated friend before he started shouting orderes. "This is going to stop. Today. Seriously, you're pissing me off. You're going to ask out the next girl who walks around that corner." He pointed behind him because that was the corner closest to them. He slid his chair around so he was sitting next to Gabe and they both could see the corner.