text: Logline: A man is devastated after his girlfriend of ten years, wants to take a break, after a year, will everything be the same? \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Lena Delgado and Dennis Dixon have been dating for ten years, ever since they went to an 8th-grade middle school dance together. Today, Dennis arrived at their shared apartment, and there was a moving truck, packed with boxes to the brim. Dennis enters the apartment where Lena has been waiting for him. "We need to talk," Lena says. "Sure, what did you want to talk about?" Dennis asks. "I'm moving out, and I think we should take a break," Lena says. Dennis is surprised; he thought their relationship had never been better. "What? Why do you want to do that?" Dennis asks. "I want to see other people and have different experiences," Lena says. "I don't get it; I thought we were in love?" Dennis asks. "It's not about love; it's about experiencing different things, you should too, go out, see other people," Lena says. "But I love you? I thought we were going to be together forever?" Dennis asks. "We still can be, I just want to take a break," Lena says. "How long of a break do you want to take?" Dennis asked. "Well, I haven't thought it out that far, but, why don't we set it in one year, we'll take a break for one year, and then we'll come back, and re-evaluate," Lena says. "Why are you doing this? Why are you hurting me?" Dennis asks as he begins to tear up. "Look, this has more to do with me than it does you," Lena says. "I think it has a little to do with me," Dennis says. "One year, give me one year to figure things out, and then we'll be together again," Lena says as she picks up her coat and exits the room. Dennis didn't wholly understand why Lena decided to leave, but he held out hope that after a year, she would be back, and they would pick up where they left off. Dennis fell into a depression, he took a week out of work, started to exhibit antisocial behavior, and didn't return any phone calls. One day, out of concern, his Uncle Barry came by to check on him. After several attempts to knock on the door, Dennis finally answered. "Where have you been, you missed your sister's birthday party?" Uncle Barry says. "Lena and I took a break, I've had a tough time dealing with the separation," Dennis says. "Oh, I didn't know, you got to get back out there, plenty of fish in the sea, no need to get hung up on one," Uncle Barry says. "No, we're getting back together in a year, it's just a break," Dennis reiterates. "Look, I've been in a lot of relationships, and a break is never just a break. Trust me, Lena is not acting like this is just a break, she's out there looking to replace you, you should be doing the same thing," Uncle Barry says. "What about the old saying, If you love something set it free, if it returns it was meant to be, if it continues to fly let it soar, and believe there's something better in store," Dennis says. "That's hogwash, that's just a fancy way of saying that you broke up," Uncle Barry says. "No, I refuse to believe that, we'll be back together in a year, you watch," Dennis says. "Take my advice, move on, get back out there, she is," Uncle Barry says as he heads to the door, turning around one more time to say, "just pick up my calls!" "Alright, I will," Dennis says. Dennis was determined to live his life with the belief that Lena would be back and in love at the end of the year. He didn't join any dating sites; he didn't even change his relationship status on social media. One time, while out at a bar with a couple of friends, they connected with a group of three women. They played pool, darts, and drank the night away. It was the most fun that Dennis has had since the breakup. At the end of the night, one of the women asked him, "Do you have a girlfriend?" "Yeah, I'm sorry," Dennis said. "Oh, that's too bad; we could have had a lot of fun," the woman said. On the drive home, one of his friends questioned why he told her that he had a girlfriend when he didn't. "Lena and I are getting back together, she said one year," Dennis said. "Dude, have you even talked to her since she moved out?" His friend asked. "No, but that doesn't matter, we were meant to be together, it's destiny, just you watch," Dennis says. Every so often, Dennis goes to see Doctor Cantar, a chiropractor who works on his back. One time, while sitting in the waiting room, a woman by the name of Eliza was frantically looking through her purse and all around the waiting room, Dennis has no choice but to interject, "Are you looking for something?" "Yes, I lost my phone, I can't find it anywhere, that thing is my life," Eliza says. "iPhone or Android?" Dennis asks. "What?" oh, I don't know, ah, iPhone," Eliza says. "Why don't you use, find my iPhone? Here, you can use the app on my phone," Dennis says. Eliza takes the phone and puts in her information, a map pops up, and it appears that the phone is heading to the south side of the city. "Oh my God, my phone is moving!" Eliza says. Dennis laughs. "It probably got stolen," Dennis says. "Yeah, but it's only a couple blocks from here, do you think I should go and get it," Eliza asks. "I don't know, the people who have it could be dangerous," Dennis says. "Would you come with me?" Eliza asks. Dennis pauses. "Come on, never turn down a call to adventure!" Eliza says. Even though Dennis had an appointment in five minutes, there was something about Eliza, a sweetness, a naivete that Dennis found appealing. Since his back wasn't hurting too bad this visit, he decided to help Eliza find her iPhone, and the hunt was on. Dennis and Eliza followed the app until it finally stopped at a sketchy flea market on the south side of town. They walked around the market, following the signal like the x marks the spot on a treasure hunt. Finally, they're close; it took them to a booth right in the middle of the flea market. Dennis and Eliza approach two men who are running the booth, "Hi, we're looking for an iPhone, we used the find my iPhone app to track it to this location?" Eliza says. "We have no iPhone here," the man says. "Come on, the find my iPhone app doesn't just randomly bring you to flea markets, hand it over guys, and we won't have to get the authorities involved," Dennis says. Eliza sees a bin of technology partially hidden under a blanket and interjects herself right into the booth, "Maybe I'll just have a look myself," Eliza says as she goes over to the blanket and removes the cover, she immediately spots her phone right on top, "Oh, would you look at that, here it is!" Eliza says. The two men quickly pack up their gear and run from the flea market, not before Dennis got a couple of photos of them with his phone. On the way back to the chiropractor's office, they called the police and sent them the images. Dennis and Eliza continued to be friends; they hung out occasionally and would get dinner if both of them were around. Dennis was upfront, though, telling her that he would be getting back together with his girlfriend at the end of the year. She was okay with that; she just wanted to be friends anyway. The one-year mark of the Lena and Dennis break was rapidly approaching, Dennis wasn't counting the days, because he didn't want to rush Lena in any way. Everyone warned him, they would say, "She's not coming back, she's forgotten all about you," a friend said. "I think she's dating the lead singer of a band," another friend said. "She definitely moved to Nova Scotia, I heard it from my cousin who is best friends with her neighbor's babysitter," a guy at the deli said. Despite all of the doubt surrounding Lena and Dennis getting back together, Dennis held out hope. Then one day, there was a knock at the door. It was Lena. "Hi, can I come in?" Lena said. Dennis opened the door, and they sat in the living room. "I think it's time to get back together," Lena said. Those words, Dennis had waited so long to hear those words, But they felt a little empty, though, something wasn't right. "It's going to be so great; we're going to move back in together, maybe we can even talk about getting engaged," Lena continues. "Why didn't you call? You didn't call me once while we were on this break," Dennis asks. "I didn't want to take away from the fun you were having, plus my phone was stolen, what a nightmare," Lena says. Dennis smiles. "Actually, I have this funny story about a stolen phone, we spent all afternoon tracking that thing down, I was scared, but she was brave," Dennis says as he reminisces. "Who's she? Are you two dating?" Lena asked. "Not really, we're just friends," Dennis says. "Oh good, cause she would have a fight on her hands, otherwise. So, when can I move my stuff back in?" Lena says. At that moment, Dennis had realized that the love that he once had for Lena had faded a bit, and he couldn't stop thinking about Eliza, "You have to go," Dennis said. "What do you mean, what about me moving in?" Lena asked. "It's not going to happen, Lena," Dennis said as he left her in the living room, exited the house, and drove to Eliza's place. He rang the doorbell, and Eliza answered. "Lena came by," Dennis said. "That's great, you were right, you were meant to be, it was destiny," Eliza said. "I told her to leave, I was thinking about someone else," Dennis said. "Who? Oh," Eliza realizes. Dennis smiles. "Do you have any plans for dinner?" Dennis asks. "Oh, I know this new place that serves meatless jerky! I put it in my phone, where is that thing?" Eliza says as she starts looking all around.