The Million Mile Hallway

Chapter 26 - Jason

Louise's friends were weird. Funny, but weird.

I didn't know if it was a good idea, walking Louise home like this, but we were going to the same place anyway so we couldn't really avoid it. Just like I couldn't seem to avoid her.

When she'd text me the night before, I thought about ignoring it. Sticking to my plan of trying to ease her out of my life. But in the end, I did say I'd be there for her if she needed to talk so I couldn't really go back on my word could I? As it turns out, she only really wanted to see that I was alright, and to apologise to me. She didn't have to but I appreciated it all the same. It's amazing what can come out of a conversation when you aren't able to interrupt each other or to longingly stare into each other's eyes, losing what you were thinking of saying as you do. It only lasted five or ten minutes but I felt as though we'd gotten a month's worth of tension out of the way.

I'd meant what I said about Holly too. Sure, I was surprised to see her with Brandon. I was more annoyed at myself though, for not figuring it out the night before when he was telling me about her. From that morning on I made a decision to listen to everything anyone said to me, no matter how drunk they were. But the thing is, I've come such a long way since she broke up with me. I live by myself for Christ sakes. And I'm considered one of the most useful people at work, and I've even managed to make Scott proud of me. Probably the biggest achievement of all. It took me a while to realise the other reason I didn't care, or at least a while for me to accept it. It was Louise. She made me see that I was ok just being myself. Holly had made me feel as if there was something wrong with me, like something about me made me unlikeable, or someone that you wouldn't want to settle down with. That's why I shut myself off. I didn't want anyone else to be burdened by me. But Louise liked me for everything I was naturally. Even when I didn't realise it, she saw something in me. People will say that because she's only sixteen that she's easily influenced or whatever but I want to give her more credit than that.

I was out for another run when I saw a group of teens in the distance. Some people may have been scared of the large group, but I wasn't. Not because I'm fearless, but because I used to be in a group like that, and I know their weakness. All these bad boys that think they're tough only do so because people don't challenge them. They fear them without any reason to. I knew that if I just jogged past them then there wouldn't be an issue. I wouldn't be "the guy that got mugged".

However I stopped when I saw someone who looked a lot like my neighbour. I then recognised the shiny blonde hair of her friend Lily that I'd seen all over Louise's Facebook page. I hid behind the street corner like a cheap hooker as I tried to figure out what was going on. Louise and her friends didn't seem like the type to be hanging out on the streets after dark, especially with a huge mob of guys. I wasn't entirely sure what was going on; all I could tell for sure that it was definitely Louise. I was glad to see that she was smiling. It'd been too long since I'd seen that.

Her smile disappeared almost as soon as I noticed it as I heard one of the guys insulting her. As soon as the sound hit my ears, it stirred an emotion in me that I was unsure I'd felt before. I'd been angry before but never quite . . . enraged.

I marched straight over to the kid and basically told him to back off. That's the polite way of putting it anyway. As much as I felt that I did the right thing, there could probably be an argument made for the fact that I shouldn't be threatening sixteen year old boys. But I was pretty sure that the dude wasn't going to go telling anyone. He didn't strike me as someone who'd like the fact that he'd been punked out to be common knowledge. I told myself that it wasn't just because it was Louise; that I'd have done it for anyone, but I didn't really believe it.

So there I was, alone with Louise again. The electricity between us made it feel as if the last few weeks hadn't happened.

"So where were you tonight?" I asked.