A Purple Lollipop

She had made this reservation six months in advance. She had spent an astronomical amount on the perfect little black dress, not mention the shoes. She had spent time in the gym to look perfect in her little black dress. She had skipped dessert for a month. She had spent three hours getting ready, ensuring that she was head-to-toe perfection. This was her reward. This was her special night. She had picked the table towards the back, the one surrounded by candles and curtains.  The table that was now occupied by some ridiculous, spontaneous, disgusting couple who didn't make reservations or pick perfect black dresses who had, by sheer luck, stumbled in right after a cancelled reservation. Her cancelled reservation. She stood next to the hostess, squeezing her cell phone tight in hopes that she might somehow trigger a call. She knew the call would come. Her phone would light up, displaying his number on the screen. She would answer, casually of course. His voice would drift melodically across the line, "Forget it. Forget everything. Marry me."

But her phone was in her hand, cold, with a blank screen. In all likelihood, she would have stood there all night, staring, if the hostess had not finally asked her to leave. Dazed, she wandered to the nearest car where she leaned on the hood and tried to decide exactly what had soured her anticipated evening. Looking up to the scattered clouds across the night sky, she willed freak lightning to strike. She had not waited this long or planned this much to end up praying for deadly weather. Trading the sky for the ground, she sighed in resignation. They had been together for three years, to the day. The three happiest years of her life ending, not in a proposal but in a text message. Ive been done lot o thinkin and we just ant work out.Sry. He didn't even care enough to use proper spelling or grammar. It had actually taken her four rereads to decipher what exactly it had said. 

A hot tear slid down her cheek. The text message has said it all. Not only had he not cared enough to call, he didn't even care enough to make sure the message had been clear. She wiped the tear from her face and struggled to not think about what her makeup must look like. The message had been clear though. Nothing says I don't give a shit quite like an illegible text. She held her phone close to her face trying to will her anger through the plastic but ended up hurling it across the parking lot with something akin to superhuman strength. She heard a cracking noise and felt a pang of regret. This small crack was succeeded by a loud drumming of thunder. She jumped and threw her head back to peer at the sky. In the time that it had taken her to go from quite distraught to incredibly angry, the velvet blue of the sky had become a sea of dark clouds.

"Hey, lady! What the hell are you doing on my car?"

She jumped again, startled by the harsh voice coming from somewhere near the light of the restaurant entrance. Attempting to regain her composure, she called back, "Oh uh my I-I...I am, oh I am so sorry. I've just been having an awful-"

"What?! An awful night?! Your night is going to be a helluva lot worse if you've dented my goddamn car. Oh, what the hell?"

He was no longer screaming at her but at the cosmos. It had begun to rain. No, it hadn't begun to rain. The clouds had opened, giving way under the weight of all the water in the heavens. The man stopped his approach, turning his fury on the sky and she saw her opening. She sprinted around the now drenched man, up to the front of the restaurant. The doorman asked if she would like a cab to which she tried to answer yes without letting him see her face. She began attempting to wipe off what was sure to be a colossal mess of mascara. This task required so much of her that she was completely distracted when someone bumped into her.

"I'm so sorry m-m-m-am." A small boy, no older than eight was peering up at her.

"Oh that's quite alright. I'm sorry, I'm just waiting for a cab so I can leave."

"Why are you leaving? You're so pretty." He was smiling at her in the most angelic manner. She couldn't help but laugh.

"Well, I've had a bit of a rough day."

He was digging in his pockets. Out of one, he produced a small, individually wrapped purple lollipop which he promptly handed to her.

"Here you go. It will make you all better."

She laughed and took it, watching the little man get tugged away to a car. She held the lollipop to her chest and laughed again. He was right, she felt a little better already.