Walk the Line

two

~And I try to refrain, but you're stuck in my brain and all I do is cry and complain because second's not the same~

Once Brandon's moved out and moved in with his dad, they hardly see each other anymore. He avoids going to the music room before school and at lunch because he knows Callie will try to find him there. He takes different routes to his classes to avoid walking past her in the hallway. It starts to get easier being away from her. The only time it's hard is when he comes to his moms for dinner, so he always sits on the same side of the table as her with someone in between them so he can't even see her. And he doesn't talk to her and he doesn't talk about her.

Sometimes, after dinner, he'll see her out of the corner of his eye walking towards him and he'll quickly start a conversation with the person nearest to him. He'll see her stop in her tracks. He'll see the disappointment and defeat in her face. And then he'll look away as she walks away.

And he hates himself for being so cruel to her, he hates himself for hurting her like this. But it's the only way.

So he doesn't stop and he doesn't give in. He just keeps ignoring, ignoring, ignoring.

And Callie doesn't understand why he's treating her like she doesn't even exist anymore, why he won't even say a single word to her. She'll call him but it always goes to voicemail and he never calls back. She'll text him but the messages always just sit there in her phone, unanswered.

And she doesn't understand because she thought he loved her, she thought he cared about her. And she knows the reason it's so hard for her this time is because she gave him everything, she gave him the most special part of her, confident that it would be worth it. And now she's tethered to him by an unbreakable bond, but he's still cutting and cutting and cutting.

But sometimes he misses the cord and hits her instead.

She finally gets fed up with bleeding and scarring and bleeding and scarring, so she finds herself at his door.

When he opens the door and sees her standing there, the look he gives her tells her everything she needs to know. He doesn't want her there.

But she still needs to talk to him because she still needs answers. So she asks him if she can come in.

After a few seconds of Brandon clearly mentally deliberating, he widens the door and lets her in.

He walks back so he's several feet away from her. She closes the distance just slightly.

He looks at her expectantly, as if they're in a business meeting and he's waiting for her to list off this week's sales.

She swallows, but her mouth is so dry that hardly anything goes down.

"Why...why are you ignoring me?" She finally asks and he just looks at her, devoid of any emotion. 

She looks down as she realizes he isn't going to give her anything.

When she looks back up a few seconds later, with a tear sliding down her cheek and the resolution she isn't going to leave him softly, she says, "Screw you, Brandon." His mouth gapes open. "You can tell me no to trying to make us work all you want but screw you for cutting me out of your life."

Finally, "Callie-"

"No, Brandon," she cuts him angrily. "I don't need to hear any of your stupid excuses! I need you! I need my best friend! And for some reason, you think it's okay to treat me like this!"

"Have you ever thought that maybe this isn't about you?!" He replies. "Have you ever thought that I'm doing this for myself?!"

"Oh, right, I forgot. I ruined your life-"

"No, Callie!" Brandon runs his hands through his hair agitatedly. "I can't be around you because it hurts too much!" He looks at the tears steaming in tiny rivers down her face and he starts to feel them in his own eyes.

"Gosh, Callie," he continues. He steps closer to her and hesitantly places his hands on her wet cheeks. "You have to know...you have to know I'm dying for you. You have to know I'm dying without you."

She lifts her hand up to wipe a tear from his cheekbone. "Then let me back in," she tells him.

He bends his head near hers and her breath hitches as she closes her eyes.

But he starts to shake his head against hers, saying, "No, no, no," over and over again. He pulls away to look at her, then whispers, "I can't."

His hands leave her face and he steps back.

She reaches for him. "Brandon, no," she tries, shaking her head. "Please don't leave me."

He pulls away from her. "Callie, please don't make this harder than it already is. Please just stop pushing me."

"Tell me you don't love me anymore," she continues, as if she didn't hear what Brandon just said. "Tell me that this,-" she gestures to him and herself, "- what we have, means nothing to you."

"Why are you fighting so hard for us now?" He questions. "When we can't even be together?"

"We can try, we can work something out-"

"But we can't. Don't you see that? We can't."

She looks at him, shattered, and all he wants to do is hold her to keep all her pieces together.

But he can't.

"So you're just gonna keep ignoring me then," she states.

"I don't have a choice, Callie." He gives her a pained look and she tilts her head back to try and hold in a new wave of tears.

It doesn't work, though, because when she looks back down at him, they pour out anyway.

"I should hate you so much for what you're doing to me," she manages out. "Gosh, I wish I hated you. But I don't and I can't. I love you and I will always love you."

"Callie, stop," Brandon begs. "Please. Just go."

She nods slowly as she wipes the wet away from her cheeks.

"I love you, Brandon," she says as she opens the apartment door. "I wish that was enough."

When she shuts the door behind her, she stumbles two steps then drops to the floor. She leans herself against the wall, weeping.

And inside the apartment, Brandon angrily throws the nearest thing across the room, which unfortunately turns out to be his phone, before sliding down against the wall in a sob.

And so a boy and a girl lean against opposite sides of the same wall, crying for the same thing, the thing they want the most, but also the thing they can never have.

Each other.

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A/N: Yoooooo so here's the next part! I've decided I'll update every Monday and Thursday! This story isn't terribly long (I do have it all written) so it'll all be posted in just a few weeks! This story is not detail-oriented. I keep it moving constantly. Lots of time passes during this story (okay like months pass, but whatever). So because I mostly just focus on the main turning points of the story, these main points (plot twists) typically happen every part so you'll always be in store for something crazy with each part! Anyways, thank you for reading! I hope you still like it!! Oh! And the song lyrics at the beginning are from "Is There Somewhere" by Halsey, so check it out!! And please comment and vote! Much love!!

~Kennedy