The Brit & The Blonde

Chapter 20 - The Swings

"Hey, Harry!" Brianna walks into Harry's place, the door unlocked. "Harry?" She places the bag of alcohol on the counter and walks into Harry's room. "Harry?" The room is empty, shower dry.

Five Miles Away (At a playground)

"Empty playground... a bit ominous." Mac says as he walks up to Harry who's sitting on one of the swings.

"It felt right for some reason." Mac takes a seat on the swing next to him.

"So why did you want to meet? It sounded very important." He's nervous.

"Is there anything in you that still loves me?" He blurts it out, ready to get this done with. "I've been killing myself about the two of us. I just need to know if there is any way that we could try this out again."

"Harry..."

"Wait. I need to finish. If there's nothing left I will move on. I will lose your phone number. I will let you move on. I just need some finality in all of this." It's silent for a minute, the sounds of leaves taking over. "You can speak now." They both laugh.

"I'm in love with Charlie. I've moved on." Though he said it quite quickly, something in Mac hurt when he said it.

"Great." It takes the breath out of Harry, but he holds it together. "Thanks for... everything..." Harry gets up and begins walking away.

"Harry... " He turns to face him once more, their eyes meeting. "Thank you."

Harry nods, smiles, and turns around, continuing to walk away. As he walks a small tear trickles from his eye and down his cheek. He takes a deep breath a continues walking.

Mac sits there for a couple of minutes. He swings. He stops thinking. He just lets his body move with the wind. After a while, he stands up and walks to his car. He drives back to his hours, walks up to the door and in without any thought. He moves like a ghost.

"Hey, babe!" Charlie walks up and they kiss on the lips. "I've got to get going to that work event I was telling you about so don't expect me 'til late. Love you." He starts to walk out.

"I don't." Mac blurts out, Charlie turning around.

"Huh?" Mac turns to face him, slowly snapping out of his state.

"I don't love you. And..." He fully snaps out of it. "You don't love me. You love what I give you, and yourself. You love that I do whatever you want in there." He points to the bedroom. "You love that I am good at talking business with your colleagues. You love to show me off to your friends and your boss. You love that I make you look better. You don't love me." At this point he's no longer talking towards Charlie, but with himself. "You're just a self-centered, egotistical, nimrod who uses his looks and charms to make it in life."

"Mac!" Charlie is shocked by all of this.

"What? Do you actually know anything about me?"

"Um..."

"What's my middle name?"

"Uh..."

"What's my first name?" Mac throws him an easy one.

"Mac," Charlie says confidently.

"It's Angus!" Mac shouts, finally realizing what's going on. "My name is freakin' Angus! I can't believe I've been this stupid! I should've left you a long time ago!" It all snaps. "I'm sorry. I just used you to hide behind. Good luck." He says calmly before walking past Charlie and out of the house. "Lock up please."

Mac gets in his car and begins driving. He goes way above the speed limit and runs a couple of red lights. He arrives at Harry's apartment building, parks, and runs out. He goes in and runs up the stairs. He gets to Harry's door and just stands there. Taking a deep breath, Mac runs his hands through his hair. Putting his hand up, he knocks on the door twice. The door opens almost immediately.

"Hey."