Josh's POV.
The events following my conversation on the phone with Chloe seem to happen in slow motion; the waiting; the doorbell ringing; walking towards the door... That one might have been the most difficult of all. What if I just stayed on my couch forever, and never made a decision?
But in a way, I have. And there's no going back.
Words are spilling out of my mouth in a frenzy, panicked, almost; flowing out of my pallet like a river. The lump in my throat won't seem to go away. It's hard to tell the person you love you're leaving.
Especially when they thought you were going to stay.
Seeing the mascara catching on Chloe's tears and trickling down her pink cheeks pulls at my heart strings. Even now she still has me wrapped around her finger, but I have to do this. For both of us.
She's screaming, about how she gave me everything - her heart, her mind, her body. I'm nodding, reaching out for her hand. She lets me hold her one last time.
Chloe's tears turn into sobs, and sobs quickly turn into hiccups. I pull her closer to my chest, and she buries her face into my shoulder. It would be beautiful if there weren't makeup and snot and salty tears all over me now. And seeing her like this makes my eyes watery, too.
I tell her it doesn't have to be forever, that I'm scared of the commitment; of how serious we are getting. That I think we should have time to be teens while we're in high school, and we don't act like teens anymore.
The tears start to fade away, the crying slowing to an unsteady breathing. She wipes at the tender skin beneath her eyes, removing most of the makeup.
"Maybe this is what we need for right now," she sniffles.
"Maybe we can try again. But for now, you're free."
"If I'm free, then why does it feel like my heart is weighed down here on your front porch?"
"Then don't let it be, Chloe. Let it soar, let it fly free for a while. Try out new feelings, new things. And then in a little while, maybe.. Just, just maybe. I'm not sure."
"I love you, Josh Hyland."
"I love you, too, Chloe Lukasiak."
Her lips leave a pink stain on my tanned cheek with a soft brush, but that's not enough for me. We need this one final moment.
I turn my head so that the two of our lips are touching, and for a moment, it feels like we're together still, forever. We're the two kids who started this thing out, fifteen.
But we're not those kids anymore, and Chloe knows that and I know that. So she runs down the steps and into her car.
I cry.
