Music Made Her Leave (Completed)

10. She Left

All night I had been the perfect platonic Prom date: commenting on how nice she looked in her dress black dress with white detailing sequence (nice was an understatement, she was so breathtakingly beautiful that it everything inside me not to press her against the wall and kiss her), dancing with her whenever she dragged me onto the floor (I thought that only choosing to dance to upbeat songs would be the best choice but it only made it harder to keep my hands off of her), and hardest of all, I plastered a smile on my face like nothing had ever happened (yesterday's outburst left me seething).

The night was coming to close and she pulled me from my seat once again as soon as a slow song played through the speakers. Once again, she wrapped her arms around my neck and I snaked mine around her waist. Unlike before, she didn't rest her head on my shoulders, Aileen looked me in the eyes and gave me a grateful smile.

"Tonight was amazing," she said honestly.

My jaw clenched and I nodded. "I'm glad you had fun," I agreed curtly.

Aileen pouted slightly, "What's wrong? You didn't have fun?"

I kept my face blank to the best of my ability. Deciding to take a chance, I tentatively brought one hand up her cheek. "Anytime I'm with you I have fun," I whispered.

"Colton-"

"Please don't go," I begged before I could stop myself. "Please, Aileen. I don't think I could live without you."

She sighed and shook her head. "I thought we said that we weren't going to talk about this tonight."

My eyes narrowed and pulled away. "Fine. We won't," I said coldly, pushing my way out of the middle of the dance floor. I stormed out the ballroom of the hotel out school rented and out into the parking lot. Just as I was about to get into my car, the sound of clicking heels and hurried call of my name made me turn around.

"Colton, wait," Aileen hobbled over as fast she could in her heels.

"What is it, Aileen? I thought you said that you 'didn't want to talk about it'," I crossed my arms.

She moved so that she was blocking the car door. "I don't understand," she argued. "Why are you so adamant on me staying? Don't you want me to do what's best for me? Even if that means moving to England for college."

My heart pounded in my chest and I was suddenly aware of us being alone in the parking lot. The moon was whole and bright, lighting up the street. Aileen's usually blue eyes looked icy under the dim light of the sky. Her eyebrows were drawn together as she waited for an answer from me. I had spent so many years coming up with reasons why I couldn't tell her how I felt but now I couldn't think of any of them.

"How can you not understand?" I heard myself say from far away. My mouth was moving but my mind stood still, thinking about the way Aileen looked when she was on stage the first time I saw her play. "You've been my best friend since we were five years old and you can't figure it out?" I thought of her with Mason and the way my heart felt like it was ripped out of my chest. "I've spent years watching you play the violin and give it your heart and in all that time all I've ever wanted was for you to give it to me," I said the words I had never been brave enough to before. "I don't want you to leave because I won't be able to go on with my life knowing that you love music more than me. I want to be the thing you love the most in this world because, for the last five years, you have been the only thing I have loved."

Aileen's chest began to rise and fall rapidly. "What?" she gasped in shock.

I was tired of pretending that I didn't have feelings for her. Tired of keeping her at arms' length because any closer would have killed me. Tired of holding back the desire to press her against me and kissing her until she was breathless.