“I got your text.”
378Please respect copyright.PENANA4rGx9FNkXx
My head whipped around at his voice, pausing me in the middle of my uncomfortable pacing.
378Please respect copyright.PENANAhxqIAY6QZt
“What do you want to talk about?” He held his arms out impatiently.
378Please respect copyright.PENANAAQIAKu8KDQ
I froze, not knowing what to say. We were the only ones on the porch. Everyone else was inside enjoying the party.
378Please respect copyright.PENANAWtG2YfSPla
But I couldn’t.
378Please respect copyright.PENANAEuVCKHswrB
“I leave tomorrow,” I reminded him.
378Please respect copyright.PENANA1kMZsZREfO
“I know,” he responded quickly.
378Please respect copyright.PENANA9lFRFRDogA
I clenched my jaw, almost mad. “That’s it? After all these years? You weren’t even going to say goodbye?”
378Please respect copyright.PENANAHi5hAEN23y
He leaned on one leg, looking anywhere but at me. “I don’t know what you want me to do.”
378Please respect copyright.PENANAAElVQWR22n
No. I wouldn’t cry. Not again.
378Please respect copyright.PENANAzHbqbM6ffj
He continued. “I was hoping you would leave and both of us could just forget.”
378Please respect copyright.PENANAyOEPtLfnFQ
“You would want to forget? You want to forget all five years?” I stared at him in disbelief.
378Please respect copyright.PENANAmvZulodzlq
He finally found the strength to look at me. “Maybe if we forgot each other we could forget the pain.”
378Please respect copyright.PENANAlwuBKSWi3D
I closed my eyes, breathing deeply, then opened them again. I decided to approach the conversation differently. “How were you hurt?”
378Please respect copyright.PENANAs5LkfH5umc
“You led me on.” He answered so quickly I’m sure he has had this conversation in his head just as many times as I have. “You acted as if you liked, maybe even loved me, then just left.”
378Please respect copyright.PENANALJk2DmIBtM
“I led you on?” The threatening tears were becoming harder and harder to hold back. “What part of what I did made you think I led you on? I genuinely liked you! Yes, maybe even loved you. If could have seen the way I smiled while texting you late into the night, or trying to suppress my laugh while calling you, you would know I didn’t ‘lead you on’. It was real. All of it.”
378Please respect copyright.PENANATyfrnfcItH
“Then why did you leave me?” He was now staring me down, which I decided was much more terrifying than when he wouldn’t look at me at all.
378Please respect copyright.PENANA08LEEgRulW
“I started to feel…” I trailed off, looking up at the sky. Neither of us were good at these sort of conversations. “I started to feel like it was fake. Because no one, never, would choose to love me.”
378Please respect copyright.PENANACmnUr2O4d7
“I did.”
378Please respect copyright.PENANAZ0VEer6kcm
Our eyes connected. I couldn’t breathe.
378Please respect copyright.PENANAcrPeuhHWgn
But I couldn’t go back. I couldn’t go back to all that pain. I couldn’t go back to all the tears and screams. Not after it took so long to escape.
378Please respect copyright.PENANAHanOeA9GCZ
“You know we would never work out.” I finally found my voice. “We would fight too much. About everything.”
378Please respect copyright.PENANATTOBRAzRGQ
“You don’t know that.” His voice was too calm.
378Please respect copyright.PENANAH9hfcXVnCl
I took another deep breath. We stood in silence for a moment before the screen door opened.
378Please respect copyright.PENANAckNE8foPK9
Bryce walked out onto the porch and assessed the situation. You good? He mouthed to me.
378Please respect copyright.PENANAwvxG1Wc0qF
I nodded swallowing.
378Please respect copyright.PENANAe2uWvJ7Evf
I took one last look at my argumentative opponent. Knowing he wasn’t going to say anything I stepped around him, continuing the silent treatment we had been giving each other for months now.
378Please respect copyright.PENANAIn14hdmH61
Bryce stood at the door while I stepped inside, his hand on my lower back, protectively.
378Please respect copyright.PENANARFh5MpoWdz
I stepped back into the room, enjoying the remainder of the party before I finally left, leaving all the hurt behind me.
ns216.73.216.34da2