Roommates

Chapter 1

The cool air in the kitchen crackled with tension, mirroring the fractured emotions between two young women. As the icy counter stood as a silent witness, the weight of unspoken words pressed against the granite, branding both women with the pain of their unraveling relationship.

The touch of the counter froze her hands as Evangeline struggled against her frustration and grief. Chloe, with her head lowered, looked at the floor, hoping for the courage to make her next move. She wanted to know how the night had turned upside down so quickly. How her plan had been challenged so easily. How she had caved into Evangeline's rebuttal so easily. She felt cowardly, but she needed to remain strong. There was a reason she was leaving.

The tear on Evangeline's cheek hung like a fragile promise. It was a silent testament to the shattered expectations between them. She dared to break the silence. "I thought you weren't going back to Utah."

"I changed my mind." Chloe's response cut through the still air. Her gaze remained fixed on the floor, afraid to confront the emotional tempest brewing in Evangeline's eyes. "Eve, I waited for you," she whispered. "For three years, I have waited and waited. I can't wait for you to decide if you want me or not anymore."

"I do want you," Evangeline cried out. "I have always wanted you!"

Her words unfolded like a tragic symphony, each word a painful note in a discordant melody of heartbreak. Evangeline was desperate to bridge the deep chasm between them, but Chloe, wounded by years of emotional tumult, resisted the plea. She couldn't afford to stay in this game with Evangeline anymore.

Chloe bit her lips, carefully choosing her words. "You don't know what you want, I know you don't."

"Yes, I do!"

"You don't know how to love people, Eve. People are just pawns to you."

Evangeline was taken aback. "How can you say that?"

"I know who you are better than anyone else in this world, and I know how you see girls like me." Chloe's slender fingers pinched the fabric of the baggy white tee shirt, hastily draped over her black panties in her frenzied escape from the sheets earlier. The room, dimly lit by the moon's gentle glow, bore witness to the tension etched on her fair face. "Doesn't tonight prove that?"

"Chloe," Evangeline struggled with a lump in her throat, her voice squeaking. In the muted ambiance, the air felt heavy with unspoken words and unresolved emotions. "I told you I loved you."

"You're having a bad day. You came home, and you were a mess, and I was here. I was here for you, just like always. You know, I had a bad day, too. Honestly, yeah, we both needed a distraction. I hate to think about it, but all I am to you is a distraction."

"You are not a distraction," Evangeline insisted, her words carrying a desperate sincerity that echoed in the shadows of the room. The faint moonlight traced the contours of their strained expressions, casting a melancholy glow on the unraveling scene.

"Then what am I to you?" Chloe pleaded, her voice breaking the silence like a fragile melody. The room, adorned with remnants of shared memories, seemed to hold its breath. "When your ex asked if we were friends, you told her that I was nothing to worry about. That I was just your roommate, and you didn't give a damn about me. Did you love me then?"

Evangeline needed to be honest, but she also had to tread carefully. She didn't want to have her heart broken again. Losing Chloe was too devastating to imagine, yet the scene continued to unravel out of her control. "My feelings changed."

"Well, mine didn't." After delivering that blow, Chloe took a step back, and the moonlight intensified the shimmering trails of her tears. "That day, you broke my heart in a way that I can never forget, much less forgive."