Incomplete

Incomplete chapter 18

It's been almost a month, right...? It usually doesn't take that long, I promise! Hopefully it was worth the wait? (We can only hope!)

Well, regardless, I now present to you:

Incomplete: Eighteen.

     "That was...your dad?" I saw Lyssa staring at the door, mouth agape. I couldn't stop shaking in her arms as the tears kept coming, and I closed my eyes tightly.

     I didn't answer her, and I heard a click as Chuck locked the door. I opened my eyes again to look out the glass windows, but my eyes were too blurry to see anything clearly. Instead they were drawn to a dark face, storming away angrily. Either my eyes were playing tricks on me, or he flipped me off as he went.

     Oh God, please don't make me go home tonight.

     I felt a small amount of pressure on my right cheek where I'd been hit, and I looked up to see Lyssa with a cloth in her hand. She noticed me and smiled weakly.

     "You're bleeding," she said quietly. I gently took her wrist in my hand and pulled it away from my face.

     "I'm fine," I told her, trying to smile. It hurt.

     Lyssa had this pained expression on her face, but she only nodded and faked a smile of her own. We both must've looked absolutely pathetic, but it meant everything to me to make her believe I was okay.

     So I stood up even though my head was fuzzy and everything was spinning.

     Lyssa stood up next to me, looking like she was ready to catch me if I fell. I smiled at her, a little brighter this time.

     "I'm fine," I repeated. She nodded, but didn't move from her position by my side. The pain didn't leave her eyes. I felt like crap - why did I ever pull her into my life? I knew she would get hurt. But no, I was too busy thinking of myself. I was too busy thinking about how great she made me feel. But what about how I made her feel? Maybe before, she was happy. But now she wouldn't be.

     She could never be happy with me.

     Not with daddy in my life. Maybe a few years down the road, this could've worked out. But now?

     I grimaced and took a few steps away from her. She followed me, and I glared at her. Her eyes widened.

     "Auden?" She asked. Her voice was shaking and strained. I normally loved how she said my name - but not now. Not when she was feeling like this.

     "Go home," I told her. Her eyes widened even more, and I glared at her - I can't believe I did that! - until she took a step away from me. She looked unsure of herself, and I glared harder. "Go home," I repeated, trying to add some bite to my voice.

     "No," she answered. But her voice was shaking even more. She didn't know what to do.

     Good.

     "I don't want you here, Lyssa." I tried to say her name as unadoringly as she had said mine. She winced - it worked.

     "But you need me here," she countered, still trying to persuade me to back down.

     "I don't need you at all." She set herself up for that one. I thought I was about to die. How could I ever say these terrible things to her?

     I wish she would just stop talking, walk away, and hate me. Hate me forever. Everything would be so much easier if I wasn't the one pushing her away. If I didn't have a chance with her.