As The Pages Burn

Chapter 15

Lucas awoke the next morning to Angela still sleeping peacefully next to him, feeling his heart swell at the content expression on her face. He pulled her closer and buried his nose in her hair, hoping and praying that they would never have to part ways again. He thought again about their last fight which had been forever burned into his mind by that point, and yet he still couldn't remember what it had been about. He did recall, however, that it had been something small and insignificant that had torn them apart so suddenly.

He felt the dread rise in his stomach as he thought of the moments leading up to the argument and decided to just forget about it as he felt Angela stir in his arms.

"Good morning," he said in as lighthearted a tone as he could manage.

"Hmm," she replied groggily, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She looked into his eyes and smiled. "Good morning, you. How did you sleep?"

"Much better than I have in a very long time, thank you. And you?"

"Also very good thanks," she said, kissing his lips softly. "Have you been awake for long?"

Lucas smiled. "No, I just woke up a few minutes ago. I thought maybe we could go somewhere today if you'd like?"

Angela frowned and glanced out the window above her bed. "Where? It's raining outside, maybe we should just stay in today."

"Well, I know a few places. I was thinking of going home so I could get changed and then I could come and pick you up?"

Angela thought about it for a while. "Well, I guess it would be nice to go out for a change. Sure, let's do it." She sat up, then immediately lay back down again as a sharp pain in her head made her dizzy.

Lucas chuckled. "So, I guess mixing various drinks wasn't such a good idea, huh?"

Angela groaned and rubbed her temples. "Yeah, I guess not. Maybe next time I won't mix it up quite as much."

Lucas laughed. "Yeah, don't worry. Next time I will be there to make sure you don't do anything quite as stupid as that," Lucas said, making it sound like a promise he had every intention on keeping.

"I'm going to make us some coffee," Angela said as she climbed out of bed and put on her robe, then went to the kitchen and turned on the coffee maker. Lucas joined her a while later, smiling at her as she made a very unattractive face.

"So, how do you feel today? Still a little sore?"

Angela frowned. "Sore?" She thought long and hard until the events of the previous night came back to her, widening her eyes and clamping a hand over her mouth as she recalled all that had happened. "Wow," she finally said after a long while, various emotions showing on her face as she processed everything.

"So, I guess I shouldn't have brought it up, huh?" Lucas said, awkwardly switching his gaze from her to the wall and back again.

"What the hell happened last night?" she asked after a moment, her expression horrified.

"Well, as far as I can tell, you were trying to prove something to me and ended up getting hurt because of it." His mood quickly shifted as he thought of the condition he'd found Angela in.

"Well, I wasn't really all that hurt, I was more like drunk out of my mind, I guess."

"No, your dress was all ripped to shreds and you were full of dirt, and your underwear..."

"I fell down in the woods a few times, and that dress was very delicate. And you probably thought... Oh, my God, Brian!" She dug in her purse for her cellphone and pulled it out, then typed a quick apology message to Brian.

"What are you doing? You should not be apologizing to that dick!" Lucas took her phone away from her. "After what he did..."

"Wait, what do you think he did?"

"He... You know, he... he raped you," Lucas said, his voice barely a whisper.

"No, Lucas, he didn't. He may have been a bit out of line in the restroom, but he was only trying to help me stand up in the woods after I kept falling down."

"But what about your panties? You said you lost them. And when I got there, he was zipping up his pants."

Angela laughed. "Once again, very delicate fabric that got torn to shreds. And he was only urinating. I told him to go to the men's room but he didn't want to leave me alone out there. Oh, the poor guy must be feeling awful today. Can I have my phone back please? I need to explain the situation to him."

"Sure," Lucas said simply, handing the phone over as the pieces of the previous night started to fit together more and more. "But you said he hurt you."

"Well, maybe he hurt my feelings somehow. I was drunk, Lucas, I could have said and done anything."

"Right," Lucas said, frowning. "Anything."

Angela glanced at him and saw his contemplative expression. She put her phone down on the counter and walked toward him. "No, I didn't mean that, Lucas. Everything I told you about how I feel is true, I wasn't just saying that to get you to stay or anything."

"You said you didn't trust me. Did you mean that?"

Angela sighed and looked down. "Lucas, I don't know what I meant when I said that. Maybe some part of me still didn't trust you." She reached out and tried to touch his hand, which he pulled away.

"Right. You know, maybe I should just go because clearly I cannot be trusted when I'm with you." Lucas went to the bedroom and started putting on his clothes, a cornucopia of emotions showing on his face as he tried desperately to keep his thoughts at bay.

"Please, don't go, Lucas. I'm begging you. Can we just talk about this?"

Lucas sighed and looked at her. "It won't matter what I say right now, because it never mattered what I did, right? You never were going to trust me fully." He donned his jacket and headed for the door, ignoring Angela's pleas as he walked down the hallway, down the stairs and out of the building. He got into his car and started it, his emotions finally getting the better of him as he turned the volume of the radio up and screamed at the steering wheel, slamming his fist into it as he felt the tears rolling down his cheeks, trying desperately to see a light at the end of the deepest and darkest tunnel he'd ever been in.

Angela sat on her sofa, trying hard not to move at all, knowing that moving at that point would only remind her of him and bring all the feelings of hopelessness back to the surface. She tried calling Lucas' number again, but was only met with his voicemail once more. She felt the emotions engulf her again as her tears overflowed and matted her hair to her cheeks.

A knock on the door a while later gave her a sliver of hope as she walked to the door, eagerly throwing it open, only to be met by the last person on Earth she thought she'd see. "You," she said, her voice filled with rage and disbelief as her face contorted into a mask of pain and fear.