As Close As Strangers

Thirteen

"But what if she never got home?!" I yelled.

"Michael, you called her parents already! You can't keep bothering them!" Luke said.

"But Luke." I whined.

"She'll call if she's in any trouble." Calum assured me.

"She probably won't. I mean, you did break her heart twice in one day." Ashton said.

"Ashton!" Luke yelled, hitting him in the arm.

"What? It's not a lie." He muttered.

"I gotta call her." I said as I dialed.

The phone rang and rang until she finally answered.

"Hello?" I said.

"Michael."

"Hey, I just wanted to make sure you were alright after-"

"What do you not get?" She asked.

"What?" I asked.

"I don't want anything to do with you! Ever! Do you know how much trouble I'm in?" She yelled.

"I'm sorry, but I had to call your parents. They needed to know." I said.

"No, they didn't. They did not need to know! You didn't need to know! I'm worthless, remember?" She said.

"You know I didn't mean that." I sighed.

"I don't care anymore. Look, you made your decision. Stop calling me. Stop texting me. Stop. I don't want to talk to you. I hate you and you hate me. That's how this is gonna be from now on. Stop trying to fix what you broke! Just stop!" She screamed as she hung up.

Ella

I didn't care about sparing his feelings anymore. Heaven knows he didn't try to spare mine. I don't care anymore. I wanted to hurt him. I wanted him to feel like I felt. But why am I still in so much pain?

"Fuck!" I screamed as I kicked the wall.

Why do I hate myself? Why couldn't I actually bring myself to hate Michael?