Prompt Challenges Accepted

Countdown

PROMPT: Write a story that involves a countdown. Start the story at 10 and end the story at 0. 

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10. 

"Don't go." Her voice was soft, pleading. She looked up at his broad figure from the queen sized bed they were supposed to share, but hadn't lately. 

She hated begging, but if she didn't, would he come back? 

9. 

I wanted to stay. I needed to stay. We were already on thin ice. 

But the fame and the alcohol and the drugs were making it hard for me to think. 

I gave her a sympathetic look. "Sweetheart... " I started. 

8. 

She raised an eyebrow at me. "What? An excuse?" She shook her head. "You're never here," she muttered under her breath. 

7. 

I took three big steps and sat down on the bed in front of her, the bed dipping under my weight. God, I hadn't seen her face up close in nearly a week. I almost forgot how beautiful she was- how beautiful she is. 

My lips spread into a soft smile as I took in her soft, feminine features. I looked at her eyes, unable to read her expression. I brought my hand up to her face and softly pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I love you. And I'm sorry I've been 100 miles away." 

It was the first time I had reminded her I loved her since the problems had arisen. 

6. 

She tensed at my soft gesture. She closed her eyes and I could feel her trying to relax, wished she would. I could only imagine what she was thinking. Instead of responding to what I said, she let her lips press against mine tenderly. The slow, hesitant kisses turned heated, aggressive, needy. 

She pulled away, let her eyelids flutter open, met my eyes with her shining ones. "Stay," she said throatily. 

5. 

I smoothed some of her hair down. "You know I want to." And I did. The touring and the constant flying to different countries was hard. Not to mention all the rumors that I had cheated on her in several different countries.

While on tour, I had ached to be with her. 

And I still did, even when she was physically here. 

But there was an old acquaintance's party tonight. 

There was always something pulling us apart. If it wasn't a tour, it was a song recording. If it wasn't a song recording, it was an interview. If it wasn't an interview, it was a livestream. If it wasn't a livestream, it was a photoshoot. The list could go on and the longer it went on, the more she was pushed out of my life. 

4.

"But you won't." She pulled away from me abruptly, stood up from the bed. "Go to the party tonight." She turned away from me, looked into the mirror, ran her fingers through her hair, her expression unreadable. 

3. 

I wanted so desperately to take her with me, spend at least some time with her, but there was a strictly guests only policy. 

"You'll be fine?" 

2. 

"Yes, I'll be fine." She turned to face me. Her expression unreadable, she sighed a long sigh like it exhausted her to say what was coming next. "I'll always be fine, even without you in my future." She shook her head, screwed her eyes shut like it was painful. "I can't keep doing this with you. It's like I'm always waiting for you to choose me, for you to make time for me, for you to show you care, but the only time you ever do is when you think you're going to lose me. You only get off on the power you have over me. And you know? I'm through with it." 

She laughed, but it had more sadness tinted in it than humor. "You used to be my everything and my rock and you made me believe in myself. I used to need you and I used to cry because I missed you so bad. You never needed me and now I don't need you anymore." 

1. 

It was true. Everything she said about me had been true; I had never needed her the way she needed me. 

2 hours later, I had lost track of how many drinks I had had and my vision was getting blurry and the only thing I could think was, Did I just lose the best thing that ever happened to me? 

0.

Six months later, she saw me in concert. I don't know what she was doing there, or if she came on her own will since we hadn't spoken so much as two words to each other. But standing there, laughing with one guy in particular made me realize a lot. First, I missed her laugh. It used to be my favorite sound, used to be the one thing that brought me back to earth. Second, she hadn't looked that happy with me in a long time and it was probably my fault. And last, I did lose the best thing that ever happened to me.