Duality

Chapter 7- Everything

The Audi slowed, the wet pavement making the breaks squeak a bit. My car was still at the school after yesterday, so Josh had let me borrow his. I sat back with my hands on the back of my head. The hypnotizing wipers glided back and forth over the windshield, pushing the rainwater to the edge of the window. I unbuckled my seat belt and turned to open the car door.

She was there.

The capillaries of rain running down the window distorted her expression. I couldn't see if her brow was furrowed or raised in expectation. I could only tell that she was soaked and had her hands propped on her hips. She wasn't wearing her usual baseball cap.

And of course, like an idiot, I rolled down the window. Rain coated the interior. Her brow was definitely furrowed.

"What," she said, curt.

"I'm giving you a lift to school," I replied simply.

"I don't need 'a lift,'" she snapped. "I can get there on my own, thank you."

I swung my elbow out the window and leaned into the rain.

"C'mon, don't pull that walking-in-the-rain crap again. Blythe-"

"Look, I don't need your charity. You can take your brother's stupid car to school on your own. Take Delilah for all I care." Her lips curled around the name. "Just leave me alone, Sawyer." And she started to walk away.

I didn't think, all I knew was that I couldn't let her just leave like that. I launched my torso out the window, grabbing her around the thigh. She turned, startled, and began fumbling with my hands, trying to pry them off.

"Sawyer, what are you doing?! Get your hands off me!"

My hands moved up her wet denim jeans until I had a firm grip around her waist. Her arms were flapping, trying to push me away. What was I doing?

I maneuvered from my position of 180 degrees to 90 and pulled her closer- until our bodies were touching. She was flailing and punching me, sobbing, screaming, all of the above.

"Get your hands OFF OF ME! What do you think you are DOING?! Leave me alone! I don't want to be any part of you, just go awa-"

"BLYTHE!"

She stopped then. Her fists frozen in mid air, her hair darkened from the rain and heavy against her face, eyes red and tired, an expression as if she had just snapped out of an unpleasant sleep drenched in a cold sweat.

"Blythe- I don't know what I did wrong."

I could see her eyes searching my own, darting back and forth a short distance, grey and green and dark blue, today. Then she looked down at my arms around her, my hands pressed against the small of her back and up her spine, holding her tight against me. For some reason I didn't want to loosen my grip. And I was glad I didn't.

She broke down then; went limp in my embrace. We stayed there for a while.

The rain never relenting.

Her standing, weeping.

Me hanging halfway out of the Audi.

Reconsidering...

Everything.

~~~

tbc...