What Could Have Been but Never Was.

It was April 20th, 2021 when the huge argument had occurred. Astrid and Percy were friends with benefits until evening struck that day.

Astrid's POV:
it was approximately 6:00 pm in South Dakota. It was raining, but not to hard. Percy and I were out getting slushees from the local convenient store when suddenly I got a text from my mom telling me, "It's starting to pour rain. It's time to start heading home. Percy can stay the night, I already texted his mom!" I sighed and looked at Percy who was already drinking his blue raspberry slushee. "My mom said we need to start heading home. It's pouring rain and she already talked to your mom about staying with the night at mine". Percy nodded and we headed off. We were half way to my house on Flank Road when Percy stopped dead in his tracks looking down at his phone. "What's the matter?" I said confused. "So when were you going to tell me you didn't want to be friends with me anymore...?" Percy looked up from his phone and looked at me with his eyes and eyebrows narrowed like he was emotionless. "What do you mean Percy? Why wouldn't I want to be friends with you anymore?" Percy turned his phone towards me and I read the messages from Celeste. 'Astird doesn't want to be frequents with you anymore. She doesn't want to become anything bigger either. She wants you out of her life. I'm sorry Percy but Astrid isn't who you thought she was'. My every brows furrowed and I yelled, "She's full of shit! Why the hell would I say that shit Percy?" Percy scrolled down on his phone and showed me the screenshots of what I texted to Celeste. 'I don't want anything more with Percy. I honestly don't even want to be friends with him either. He gets on my fucking nerves and he's so aggravating!'. "Why didn't you just say something sooner?" Percy asked with with his eyebrows pushed together and dark gloomy eyes. "I didn't think you would find out. I wanted to keep this going but..." I said then pointing a finger back and forth. "This could have been something in your eyes, but in mine you meant nothing to me". "Nothing". When that sentence left my mouth I swore I saw the spark in Percy's eyes vanish into nothing but darkness and despair. I didn't know what else to say or what to do.

Percy's POV:
it was 6:00 pm in Dakota. It was raining, but not to hard. Astrid and I were out getting slushees from the local convenient store when suddenly she got a text from her mom. She sighed and looked at me as I was drinking my blue raspberry slushee. Astrid said, "My mom said we need to start heading home. It's pouring rain and she already talked to your mom about staying with the night at mine". I nodded and we headed off. We were half way to her house on Flank Road when I stopped dead in my tracks looking down at my phone. "What's the matter?" Astrid said confused. "So when were you going to tell me you didn't want to be friends with me anymore...?" I looked up from my phone and looked at her in the eyes with my eyes and eyebrows narrowed like I turned emotionless. "What do you mean Percy? Why wouldn't I want to be friends with you anymore?" I started to get mad and turned my phone towards her so she could read the messages from Celeste. 'Astird doesn't want to be frequents with you anymore. She doesn't want to become anything bigger either. She wants you out of her life. I'm sorry Percy but Astrid isn't who you thought she was'. Astrid's every brows furrowed and she yelled, "She's full of shit! Why the hell would I say that shit Percy?" I scrolled down on my phone and showed Astrid the screenshots of what she texted to Celeste. 'I don't want anything more with Percy. I honestly don't even want to be friends with him either. He gets on my fucking nerves and he's so aggravating!'. "Why didn't you just say something sooner?" I asked with with my eyebrows pushed together and dark gloomy eyes.
"I didn't think you would find out. I wanted to keep this going but..." Astrid said then pointing a finger back and forth between me and her. "This could have been something in your eyes, but in mine you meant nothing to me". "Nothing".When that sentence came out of her mouth I couldn't do anything but just stand there. Still. No emotion just paralyzed from the shock and pain. It overwhelmed me. I couldn't say anything back. It was pouring rains and we both were soaked. "You meant nothing to me." "Nothing." I thought to myself. "Percy?" Astrid asked looking at me. I looked up at her. Lifeless. "I'm sorry Percy, but the truth hurts. This wasn't anything more than a 'distraction' to me. A distraction from the world. From the beginning all the way up until now. The end. You meant nothing to me." She said looking right at me. "Oh." That's was all I said after what she said. 'Oh.' "You should go home Percy. Go home." I started to get angry again and looked at her in the eyes and preached, "Why did you think for a second it was okay to treat someone like they are more than 'just friends' and then them just ending up being completely nothing to you!?" "I didn't want to break that over-loving heart of yours. It was easier to put on an act and lie then to just tell you how I really felt". Astrid said like she was the victim. I just stood there in even more shock than I ever thought I would have experienced. "I would have rather you told me the truth then have you fiddle with my heart strings for me to be nothing". I said furrowing my eyebrows. "You know what Percy? You are better off dead. You don't belong here. Nobody needs you and nobody ever will. I want you to know that you are way to much of an over-lover and you will never be enough". I just looked at her with my eyes wide and eyebrows stiff. "All of this because you didn't want to come clean and set the truth straight?" "I DIDN'T WANT TO HURT YOUR "PoOr LiTtLe HeArT". Astrid said in sarcasm. "Oh." I said with such pain in my voice. "Go home Percy. I hope I never see you ever again in my life." She said walking away. She took all my power. All my strength. All my passion. Every little thing I gave to her, she took advantage of. I called her mom to tell her I won't be staying the night. "Hey Percy!! What's going on?" "I won't be making it tonight. I'm sorry". "Oh that's a bummer!! If you ever need anything call me". "Ok thank you Mrs. Samson". She hung up and I just stood there looking in the distance wondering where I went wrong and what could have been but never was. After a few minutes I felt someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around and was face to face with Apollo standing there with a half smirk on his face thinking I was trying to mess with him but his facial expression changed when he saw my face. "Hey hey! What happened?" I looked at him with my gloomy eyes and tears started to form. "I meant nothing to her Apollo". "Nothing". I said with complete pain. "Come here Percy". Apollo graves my wrist and pulled me into a hug. I hugged him back and cried. I cried hard into his shoulder. He just held me humming, trying to calm me down. "You'll be okay Percy. I promise you that". Apollo said. I pulled myself together and looked at him. I softly smiled at him and he looked at me smiling back. "Let's get you home and into some comfortable clothes, aye?" Apollo said trying to brighten the mood. I nodded and we got into his car. After I got into the car everything was a blur. All I can take form that interaction is to never put your heart, soul, effort, and time into someone that you mean nothing to.

Epilogue:
Years after:
Percy started to get better but just as he was getting better his best friend Apollo got into a servre car crash. The police were called and then paramedics got to the scene of the crash and put Apollo in the stretcher and rushed him to the hospital. On the way to the hospital there are train tracks. The ambulance was just getting to the tracks when a train was passed by. The ambulance turned off their lights and sirens because they knew they would never make it to the hospital in time to save Apollo (soul train). Percy fell into a deep depression state where he had no other place to escape to and wasn't getting any better. He thought his only way out of this state was to take his own life. Percy took his life on the Fourth of July. When Astrid found out she couldn't get the thoughts out of her head telling her that she should have given him a chance and maybe. Just maybe he wouldn't have done it. She thought she was at fault for Percy's death. When Celeste found out about Percy's death it took a huge toll on her. After Apollo's death she couldn't get out of bed for weeks. She didn't go to school, she didn't shower, she didn't eat, she didn't do anything. When Percy's death came up Celeste couldn't do it anymore and took her own life on her birthday (her brith date: 3/23/2006).