“Between you, me and the wall,” Oliver paused, swigging his drink and swallowing the bitter burning liquid slowly, “I don’t know what to do.”

“Har har… I dunno man, it seems to me we’ve hit the end of the road.” Colt chewed on the nail he placed in his mouth, thumbing over the grooves in his hammer that laid there from excessive use. His eyes distant, glazed over as if his mind was in a different place.

Oliver thought over his words quickly, “It’s not like we’ve got anything better to do together anyways my fellow, I think it’s time we turned our separate ways.”

“High time..” Colt turned his gaze to fix itself upon Oliver, “You really think we gotta stop all this? Over what, a simple dispute that could have been er I dunno… easily fixed?”
Oliver frowned, shaking his head disapprovingly, “we wouldn’t.. The company wouldn’t have worked out Colt. It’s not in my best interest to lose money.”

Colt chuckled, turning his head downwards towards the bar table, bringing his hand to cover his mouth and drag down his chin. “Yer always sayin’ stuff like that, why couldn’t” he paused “can’t you see what’s best for the both of us.”

Oliver’s brow furrowed, he sucked air between his teeth and set down the glass he was clutching, his knuckles white. He cleared his throat and adjusted the worn scarf around his neck, the one that Colt had given him. Colts eyes softened and he turned his head to gaze at the other end of the bar. Oliver took a cream folder out of his bag and flipped through the business papers he had tucked away inside. He slid the dissolution agreement in front of Colt and watched his expression drop, and with that he stood up and politely tucked his stool back under the bar. “I need.. To grab something, I’ll be right back. You can read over that while I’m gone.”

“B… but pardner I can’t.. This has.. Come back wait I-”

It was too late, Oliver had shut the door behind him and had rounded the corner to make his way presumably to his car. Colt took a second to breath, blinking rapidly against the growing tears that he shouldn’t shed. He yanked his cane that had been resting on the stool beside him and studied it instead of the paper, not wanting to think about what was literally right in front of him. He turned it over in his hand and let his fingers graze over the etchings that he had engraved into it because he thought it looked pretty. ‘Stupid cane.’ he thought, ‘im gon’ have to throw you out.. Yer gonna remind me of what I coulda had.’ He chuckled to himself and rested his forehead against the cool wooden surface. He had always caught himself being too sentimental, keeping things too close to his heart when he related them to a person, to someone that he had enjoyed his time with.

He took a deep breath and glanced at the paper, a bunch of professional nonsense printed and signed by Oliver. He squinted his eyes and brought the paper closer to his face, digesting every, single, word that laid on it. Divisions of company assets and responsibilities strewn across the paper with careful thought and detail. Colt felt the anger bubbling up inside of him, the thought that someone that he had been so close with for so long to just.. Abandon him like this. To just leave him over money, he couldn’t understand.

The door slammed open snapping Colt out of his train of thought as Oliver waltzed back through the room “apologies my friend the wind is strong today, now what do you think?”

“I think this is some poor excuse to leave me in the dust, Oli.” Colt grunted, pushing the paper away from himself. Oliver took a second to think, humming at the idea that Colt had so confidently blurted.

“No Colt. It’s simple, I cannot make our company partnership work, your line of woodworking simply doesn’t pair well with my line of construction. You’re not thinking about building skyscrapers, you want to go play out in the woods with the fairies.” Oliver grabbed his drink he had left on the bar, swishing it around slowly. “I don’t want to have to do this but I know what’s best for me and my company.”

Colt slammed his hand against the bar, he caught his breath in his throat and choked back a sob he didn’t know he was holding. “Fine, whatever Oli.” his future was ruined, his career, his everything “It wont matter in the end anyways, ill figure it out.” He grabbed a pen from his bag that he had left on the ground and neatly signed his name, trying to keep back the realization that this deal, this separation had doomed him and his company.

“Youve always been one for the dramatics.” Oliver coldly remarked, taking the paper away from Colt once he was finished signing it.

“You don’t realize how far you just put me under.” Colt mumbled bitterly, bringing his cane to the ground and sloppily making his way towards the door, “Good luck with your life and career, Oliver.”

Oliver didn’t turn his head to watch Colt walk out the door, he instead stared down at the papers in front of him, a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth.