ghost of you

3 - confrontation

cliff's pov

The past couple of weeks have actually been the funniest ones I've had since him going missing. Mavis was a special person, that's for sure. And the amount of Dominic that just shined throughout her is what made me keep coming back. I just wanted to be near her and hear her talk again. The only scary part is, is losing someone like that again. "I'm leaving, Cliff." His words still echo in my brain from that night as I cover my ears to try and not hear it. That conversation is one I've always hated. One that's always triggered my fight or flight. I've never thought about it through and through since it happened. I never LET my brain think of it again, is a better answer. But, sometimes my mind makes its own choices. Like choosing to torture me and to relive that mistake I made again. And as I fall asleep, I realize that tonight is one of those occasions.

••••••••

"So, what did you wanna meet up here for? Don't tell me this is another one of your life lesson things, because ya know, I'm really tired and-!" "No..it's..not about that." He mumbles as we stand right outside of his house, which was in town, only two houses away from an alleyway. "Okay, then what is it?" I ask with a smile, it slowly fading as I realize he isn't with me, "Dom, hey. Is everything okay?" He sighs, looking down, "I-um..I'm really sorry. I know that I mean a lot to you and I didn't want to tell you so soon, but I just found out and-!" "Hey hey hey." I softly say to him as I see how sad he is, "It's okay. Just tell me what's going on." He distraughtly looks up at me, "I'm..I'm leaving, Cliff." I weirdly look at him, "Like a vacation? I don't see how that's sad-!" "No, I mean..I'm moving. And I'm not coming back." Dominic explains and my shoulders sag as I nervously laugh, "Hahah, okay. You got me good, now tell me what's really going on-!" "Cliff-!" "Please, c'mon-!" "CLIFF-!" "TELL ME YOU'RE NOT MOVING AWAY!" I beg him as I put my hands on his shoulders and he shakes his head as he sniffs, "I'm sorry." I gently shake my head as I realize what this means. "No no no no no, what about the photography club? What about your friends? What about us? I don't want to lose you-!" "I know I know." Dominic pulls me into a hug, keeping me from having a panic attack. "I know you're upset and I know you're scared, but it's gonna be okay. We can still contact each other and it'll be like I never left. But, this thing is a really big opportunity for me and that's why I chose to." He explains and I immediately jump out of his arms from the last sentence. "Wait- YOU chose to leave? I thought it was because you were forced to, but now you're leaving everything here BEHIND because you found something better?!" I yell at him and he sighs, "Cliff-!" "What the hell?!" I storm off and he groans as he follows me, "CLIFF-!" "I can't believe you! Even after you know how I feel!" I project and I try to walk faster, but he grabs my arm and pulls me towards him in front of the alleyway. "C'mon, I don't like when you run away from me." He mumbles and I slit my eyes at him on the verge of tears, "I don't like it when you run away from me either." He hugs me again and I give up on leaving, resting my head on his shoulder as I loosely hug him back. "I know. And I should've told you, I really should've. But, I just- I didn't think I was going to make it in and then it happened and now..this is happening. I don't know what to do and I'm just as confused and scared as you are right now." Way to make me feel guilty. "I want what's best for you, but it's so hard to root for you when I'm not even gonna be with you." I whisper and he lifts up my face to his, "Hey; you're always gonna be with me." We do nothing but stare at each other for a moment. Even after everything we've been through, it felt like the longest moment in history. And I didn't mind that it was. I wasn't gonna be seeing his face again for awhile, so looking at it for longer than usual didn't bother me as I thought it would. And neither did Dominic's lips as he kissed me. I thought I was dreaming when he did. There was no way that he was kissing me. And there was no way that I was kissing him. But, I guess I couldn't say that when we clearly were. And when he clearly told me he was never coming back. I suddenly release the kiss and push him away from me, angrily. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Why would you kiss me like that when you're leaving?!" I yell at him and he furrows his eyebrows at me, "I did, because I wanted to you to know how I felt before I left-!" "Well, did YOU EVER THINK that maybe it just MADE YOU LEAVING WORSE?!" I scream at him, not caring at how loud I was now. "You KNEW I was attached to you even BEFORE this and now you KISS ME and expect me to be FINE after THAT-?!" "GOD, YOU JUST CAN NEVER BE SATISFIED, CAN YOU?!" He yells back at me and I flinch when he reciprocates the same feelings I do. I've never seen him be that angry before. "IF YOU WERE A GOOD PERSON, YOU'D BE HAPPY FOR ME LEAVING TO ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING I WANT TO DO! AND I'M NOT SURE IF ANYONE TOLD YOU THIS, BUT I'M NOT GONNA HOLD OFF MY DREAMS FOR YOU." He yells and I push him again, "IF I WAS A GOOD PERSON?! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO SAID YOU'RE SORRY TO ME ABOUT YOU SUDDENLY LEAVING AND THEN YOU KISS ME TO MAKE ME MORE ATTACHED-!" "THEN PRETEND THAT KISS DIDN'T HAPPEN, CLIFF!" We scream at each other and I scoff, "Fine." Dominic shakes his head as he walks away. "Yeah. You can take your stupid ass dreams and that stupid ass kiss with you. And you know what? I'm not even gonna fucking MISS YOU WHEN YOU'RE GONE. Maybe I'll finally realize that I'm better off WITHOUT YOU!" I yell to him, before turning and stomping away. Not even knowing how much of a mistake I made.