After Him

Part 1

Hardin POV 

"I'll call you when I get there," she says. 

There's no way in hell that I'm going to be able to stop her now. She's made up her mind and I can sense with every gut feeling inside of me that this isn't like all those other times she's decided that she wanted nothing to do with me. She's leaving, saying that we need to work on ourselves individually before we get a chance to be with each other again. I don't know what she means by that. Why can't she see that that's not what I want, not what we need? I want to stop her. Hell I want to tell her not to leave me, beg her to stay, yell at her to get back in the house, and just shove her bags out the car trunk, but deep down I know that nothing I do will be able to convince her not to leave me. 

She gives me a goodbye kiss and with that I tell her to be safe and pray that it won't be long until she finds herself back to me again, back in my arms where she belongs. 

"Bye Hardin," she says. 

As soon as she whispers those two words, she gets in and I force myself to stay still. Her small white car rides out of the driveway and I just stare. I just stand there like an idiot and just stare while she fades out little by little, until she's out of sight. The smaller her car gets, the tighter my heart aches. 

5 minutes. 10 minutes. 30 minutes pass and when I finally realize that she's not coming back, I head back into the house. I can't help but look around and see pieces of her around every corner and every step I take. All the laughter, all the teasing, all the dinners I went to for her, the wedding I went to for her, the sex, hell even the fights we had are etched into every living space of this house. Literally everything leads me back to a memory I had with her. Without her here, I don't feel like I belong here or with anyone in this house for that matter. She was the bond that kept me attached to the real world, a world where I had a father, a brother, conversations over dinner, a reason to wake up to, a purpose. 

Instead of going to my own room, I stop by the guest room, her room. I still can't wrap my finger around the fact that she's gone. I lay down on the bed and look at my phone to see if she's left me any messages or calls. 

None. 

Fuck I miss her already. 

I sit up and just as I'm about to hit play on her playlist on my phone, I hear a knock on the door. It's Landon. 

"What the fuck do you want?" I say. 

"Look, I'm here to apologize." When he realizes that she isn't here, he asks, "Is she downstairs?" 

"No, she left," I say, forcing myself to lay back down on the bed so that I don't get into another physical fight with him. Then again, I really don't have the energy to do that. Not when all my attention and every nerve in my body is drained from having said goodbye to my girl. 

"What do you mean she left? Left where?" 

This prick is really getting on my nerve. I sit back up and take a deep breath and say, "What the fuck did you say to her? She didn't tell me what you said but whatever it was, I hope that you're happy to have gotten it off your chest. She came back crying after she said she wanted to talk to you, then she packed her shit and left me. So congratulations, Landon. I hope you're satisfied." My words come out harsh and bitter but I can't seem to control them. 

The look on his face is ridiculous.  It looks like he's about to cry and he opens his mouth and closes it again, obviously at a loss for words. 

"Just get the fuck out. I don't want to talk to you," I say. 

"..I..I'm so sorry, I didn't.." 

"Landon, I'm really trying to control myself so just get out and leave me the fuck alone. Now." 

He wipes his face with his hands and then searches for his phone from his pockets. I'm assuming he's gonna try and call her. 

I would and could put all the blame on Landon for causing her to leave me. Hell I could put the blame on my sperm donor, my fake father, my stupid ass mother, on the douchebags I once called my friends.

But what would I get out of it? Going back to who I was, the kid who blamed everyone and hated everyone is not going to get my ass closer to her and I need to get closer to her. Her words play out in my head over and over and over again."If you love me, you will listen to me and do this for me. If you can't, we will never have a future together. If we don't take the time to make sure this is what we want, we will end up taking everyone down with us, even more so than we already have." 

I will do this for her. I will work on my anger and my trauma and try to become a deserving person of her love. 

I check my phone one more time and see that she sent a text. 

Hi, I just got here. 

How was the drive? 

It was long but the radio kept me company(: 

I miss you already. 

I can see that she's typing but it goes away after a few seconds. Minutes pass and she still doesn't reply. I think about messaging her again but I'm treading very lightly and don't want to push her. Instead, I try to force myself to sleep to keep the calm that she pulled me back into and hope that we will be able to survive this. 

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Hey guys!This is my first chapter of my own version and I'm not very sure if I'm doing this right but I just hope everyone enjoys! Votes and comments definitely help a girl out(:  (Of course all credits go to the original writing.)