Between You and I

Chapter Eight

May 11, 2012: 28 Hours Before

Since I told my mom that I was coming home late, I decided to not go home since she'd pound me with questions. If I told her that I didn't want to talk about it, my dad would pound me even harder due to the circumstance until I spill. He wouldn't straight out ask, though. It would be like an interrogation for a suspect in some crime and the cross examination that happens in court in one go. So, I just had to act like everything was fine. Meaning: I couldn't go home just yet.

You wouldn't believe what I've been doing for the last hour or so. Absolutely nothing. Just laid down on the sidewalk around the bend from my house, doing nothing but stare at the stars in the sky, trying not to think about much. Although, not thinking much was another one of the many impossibilities made that are fused into the hard drive of my mind.

All that has been running around my head were all the moments I spent with Valentine and the last four years that she trampled on. Admittingly, I had the choice to forget about her, but forgetting Valentine was like trying to rip gum out of your hair, and you can't bring yourself to grab the scissors.

Especially when she gives you something to hold on to every now and then. A conversation, a prom dance, a tutoring session. All not very her, but then again, I really didn't think I knew her anymore. I doubted that she was still the girl I knew back then.

Sometimes, I even thought that she was just an all out bitch for doing this to me. For keeping me drunk on her and every time I started to get sober, she gives me another shot. Why did she have to be so confusing and mysterious and impossible and loveable and amazing-

"Daniel?" Great. Now I'm hearing her everywhere, and I'm officially going crazy.

"Hey Val. How's life?" I was laying on the ground, eyes shut, having a conversation with the girl my head dreamt up. How normal.

"Dan... Are you alright?"

"No. No, I'm not. You fucked up my life. But I can't stop you from running around my head all the time: it's ridiculous."

"What are you talking about?" The voice got louder, as if it was coming to me.

"I'm talking about how you left me in the eighth grade, but still always toyed with me afterwards. You know how emotional I can get." This was ridiculous. I probably looked like a retard, talking to some invisible person.

"Yeah, I know how emotional you can get..."

"Of course you do." That's when I felt a nudge to my leg, shocking my body into snapping up onto my ass and my eyes to yank open. There she was, sitting next to me with her lips curving up at the left corner, as if she was getting ready to flash her famous grin.

Of course I had a heartattack.

"GAH! AHHHHHhhhhhhh..... Ahhhhhhhhhh... Ahhh... Fuck... Nonono...." I clutch my chest.

"Calm down! Jesus, Dan, its just me." My heart felt painful as it went on with the speed of a million beats per minute.

"Nooooooo... Oh God," groaning, I buried my head into my arms and knees, Valentine laughing next to me.

"I didn't mean to scare you." She managed to choke out between laughs. Ahahaha, very funny. Scaring a person who was peacefully minding his own business on the ground at 10: 17 PM was the most hilarious thing in the world. Note the sarcasm.

"Good Lord," My voice was just a muffled blob of sound.

"What are you doing here?" It felt like the heat from her body was being absorbed into me, which made the tension in the air worse as her laughs died.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh," I answered blandly.

"And you almost ran me over."

"Yeah... How could I forget?" She giggled, pulling a small smile out from me.

The crickets grew louder, filling the awkward silence we fell into. I tried so hard not to notice, but she looked so badass in the leather jacket that went down to the bottoms of her ribs. Adding to the blood red modest V neck shirt and ripped denim shorts, she would be the girl you'd catch sneaking vodka into the school punch.

However, if you just looked at her face, she'd be the beautiful and intelligent girl you'd find doing her homework in the library, jamming out to Mayday Parade. That's another thing. You couldn't truly know her. Now that's an impossibility made for all of us.

"Did I really fuck your life up?" Her voice was really quiet, and she wouldn't look at me. There she was, after years, sitting so close that I could move a millimeter and touch her, looking and sounding like the person I knew and loved.

Shit.

"I don't really want to talk about that." Another awkward silence commenced as she pulled her knees to her chest and started playing with the shoelaces of her Converse.

We stayed like that for a while, just sitting and saying nothing. Until Valentine broke the silence with, "If I asked you to get in a car with me and I'd just drive to someplace we both have no idea about, what would you say?" This time, she looked up at me, her eyes filled with something I couldn't place. Hmmm... A road trip with the girl who left me hanging, then one night kicks right into my stomach of life for no apparent reason...

"Sure," I paused as I looked into her eyes, finally placing what they were filled to the brim with.

"Why not?" Need. And I'm not talking about sex either.

She just needs someone.