SOUR

jealousy, jealousy

Duff POV

I had watched her get dragged back into the apartment with Tiffany, leaving Nikki outside. He eventually walked towards the elevator leaving me to head to the door.

Standing outside of her apartment, I debated on knocking on the door but she had looked so disheveled, like a wounded animal. Her body seemed frail in my t-shirt, her eyes broken. Even from a distance I could see that she was falling apart. I had been ignoring her calls and pushing her deeper and deeper into this shell of herself.

But now she had been overwhelmed by Nikki and I couldn't even think of bothering her and upsetting her more in the situation.

After I set down the flowers I moved out of the apartment building thinking of how I needed to make this up to Y/N.

When I went home I tried to call her, thinking maybe if we could plan something on the phone it would at least mean that we would be able to talk. Maybe if we could talk she'd feel a little better about everything if I could apologize for being a bonehead. I'd tell her I'd wait forever and love her everyday.

The phone rang busy the first time. So I waited ten minutes and tried again. It was still busy. Forty seven minutes later and I was still getting the busy signal. It was a terrible game of phone tag. I did feel nervous about the fact that I couldn't even leave a message but I comforted myself knowing I had left her the daisies.

Monday rolled around and I had band practice, which kept me from being at home all day and trying to call Y/N on repeat. That didn't mean I didn't try her before I left the house, on my car phone, when I got to the practice space, and outside on the payphone outside.

Every time I was getting this busy signal which was strange because she had been calling me for a week.

On Tuesday afternoon I still hadn't heard from her so I made my way over to the apartment after band practice. The sun was starting to come down by the time I climbed the stairs, another bouquet of daisies in my hand. The outside area of her door which had been a flower graveyard had been cleaned up and I smirked at the idea of all the flowers Nikki had bought her in the trash. He was the type to buy red roses and think they were romantic or classic instead of thinking they were dated and old fashioned. He didn't know she liked certain flowers or she would look up what flowers meant in this old fashioned Victorian flower book she had gotten from some thrift store shelf. He didn't know these little details of her life because he only saw this image of her that he wanted.

I knocked on the door, pressing my ear to it when I didn't hear anyone moving around. A sick feeling filled my stomach and I was using my key to open up and let myself inside.

"Y/N? Are you home?" I asked, pushing my way inside. I set the daisies down on the counter, peaking into rooms for any sign of here but there was nothing. I could see in her closet there were empty hangers and I had this sick feeling that she had already left and was on her trip before I got to talk to her.

My heart sank as I walked around the bedroom, the smell of her perfume lingering in the air like a reminder she had been here and I had just missed her. The few strands of her hair on the brush on her vanity. I could see her jewelry box was open, a few pieces that I had given to her sparkling out. Her engagement ring, sparkling in the box, was a stab in the heart as I was reminded she didn't wear it anymore.

I didn't realize I was picking it up until it was in my hands. I remembered going to the jeweler for this ring. The nervous excitement knowing that I was going to ask her to be with me forever. The absolute joy I had designing something that would be hers, that would show that our souls were linked. The way she had slipped it on when I asked her to marry me. The way she looked at me in that moment, I knew that I had wanted her forever. And I had known she wanted me.