Flight or Fight? An Eddie Munson Love Story

Chapter Ten

"Okay, what did you want to talk about?" I asked her, half an hour later.

True to my word, I was there on time.

"I wanted to talk about what's been going on." She said.

"Which is?" I asked, with a shrug.

"Us." She said.

"There is no 'us'." I answered, as she sighed.

"I know that." She said, rolling her eyes.

"So what then?"

"I just thought maybe, after these last few times we've been around each other that we're not.... We're not exactly... we aren't behaving like......"

"Please just spit it out, Torvi. You're killing me here." I begged, interrupting her.

"Like we're friends." She blurted, finally.

"Oh?" I asked, genuinely surprised.

"I don't see you as a friend. I know that's what I said in the beginning and that's what I said I wanted from this but it was because it was a-"

"I know it was a flight response." I said, finishing her sentence.

"Do you want to still be just friends?" She asked, hesitantly.

"You know I didn't want to be just friends, you asked to be friends. I told you from the beginning that I was going to follow your lead. You always maintained that you wanted to be friends, and so out of the respect I have for you, I did exactly that. I followed your lead. And then lately, you've been acting really strange and now you're here, standing in front of me, telling me you don't see me as a friend. That's a lot to take in Tor." I argued.

"What did you want?" She asked.

"Honestly? I would have loved to have dated you." I said.

"Date me?" She asked.

"I really liked you Tor. I would have really liked to have seen where it went." I said, tiredly.

"Liked...? As in past tense?" She asked, as her face fell.

"From the moment I met you. I thought you liked me too." I said.

"I did." She said.

"Then why didn't you say anything?" I asked her, slightly exasperated.

"It was hard for me to give myself that chance. To give you that chance. I didn't realise just how much I wanted that chance until you first brought Chrissy to the bar that night." She said.

"I try to move on, and now you tell me this?" I asked.

"My timing is shitty I know." She said.

"You're not kidding." I scoffed, sarcastically.

"Hey, I know I've been pretty lousy about this whole thing but did you have someone who beat the living shit out of you on a daily basis?! Did you have someone who used to water board you in the shower when he thought he'd seen you look at another guy. NO. No you didn't." She snapped.

"That's NOT fair. You know I didn't mean it like that." I argued as she cocked her head to one side.

"Are you sure about that?" She asked.

"Well okay, maybe I did. But only because I feel as though I more than proved I am not capable of that, that I'd NEVER do anything remotely like that to you. That you could trust me, and that you'd be safe with me. I'd never EVER put my hands on you in the way he did. How much more could I have done to prove to you that I was worth taking that chance?" I asked her.