Bittersweet

15

How could I see the bad in you
when I loved you all the way
down to your rotted core?

******
I quickly stepped away from Sameer almost tripping and falling back. I managed to correct my footing in time.

Was this just a little silly game to him? Did he casually just have girls jewelry laying around and then waiting for me to come around? What? To see it? And then suddenly he's doing things like this?

Being merely centimeters away and rubbing ice cream off my chin?

My eyes narrowed despite the heat radiating off my body because of his stupid touch. "What is wrong with you?" I managed to finally say.

Sameer's eyes darkened and his demeanor changed. "What do you mean?" He suddenly sneered.

I glared at him. "You can't do that. You can't just touch me." I tried to not sound hurt. I tried to not be affected by him and the way he was searching my eyes.

Sameer held my gaze and I watched as face turned stoney. He clenched his jaw and swallowed. "You're misunderstanding I-"

I threw my hands up in the air. "I'm always misunderstanding. It's always me. I am so over this Sameer." My chest began to ache and my mind reeled, screaming at me to stop while I'm ahead. But I couldn't. This was painful. "You're always playing a game. I'm so sick of you and I never want to see you again!"

Sameer's eyes widened only slightly but his sneer fell. He looked at me but it was a look of hurt. His reaction took me by surprise. This might be the first time I have him react to much.

I whipped around and pulled the heavy door open. I wanted out. This was too much for me.

Sameer luckily didn't have time to respond because then Henry came running, stopping me in my tracks. "What's going on?" A look of panic was evident on Henry's face. He looked between me and Sameer. "Is everything okay?"

I nodded even though I felt my throat closing. Sameer was confusing and It was hard to ignore the pained expression on his face now. It was becoming all too much.

Henry grabbed my elbow gently and led me outside where the air felt lighter. The door slammed shut but then Wazirah opened the door dramatically. She strutted over, heels clicking loudly. "What happened?!" She asked fiercely. "What did that asshat do?" She whispered-yelled at me and Henry.

Henry looked at her with great concern. "Can you calm down?" He then turned his attention to me. "Are you okay?" His concerned eyes met mine and I really hoped that my eyes weren't glassy from the tears that were begging to spill out.

I painfully swallowed. "Yeah." I managed to say softly.

"Do you want me to take you home?" He asked gently.

I nodded.

********

After a couple of days, Henry and I met up at the small library I had first encountered him when he came back. I had kept bragging about it that he decided he needed new books to keep his mind busy.

We both sipped our warm lattes as we browsed through the fairly new and terribly old books that sat comfortably on large bookshelves.

"Look at this vintage cooking book!" I waved it around so that Henry would look up from the book he was skimming through.

Henry made a disgusted face. "You're gonna contaminate our lungs." He then got closer and examined the book in my hands. "I think it's growing mold."

I smacked him with the book.