Him & Her

Ch.24

Ch24

Elizabeth had run all the way home, ran up the stairs, into her room, and had just enough time to bury her face into her pillow before she exploded into tears. Her parents weren't home, so she wasn't questioned why she was home so early. She was glad she had an extra key to the house.

After a while of crying Elizabeth dozed off. She woke up to the sound of pounding at the door.

Elizabeth got up fast and stumbled towards the door in her room. She pause once she opened it, rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and ran down the stairs, taking two at a time.

She made her way to the front door and put her hand on the doorknob, but hesitated. "Who is it?" she asked in a loud voice.

"Oh, thank goodness, your still alive!" Elizabeth recognized Henry's voice.

She pulled the door open and Henry looked up at her.

"Well, you look horrible." he said.

Elizabeth walked back inside. Henry followed her and closed the door behind him. "I would've come sooner, but the teachers didn't believe me when I told them I felt like I was gonna throw up."

Elizabeth turned back towards him, biting her lip to keep from crying.

Henry held out his arms, "You look like you need a hug." Elizabeth ran into his arms and he hugged her tight. She felt safe in her best friends arms, no one could hurt her there, even if she was a bit taller than him.

"Hey," Henry gently pushed her away, "Right now, I would be telling you that I told you so, or that he's a jerk and you should forget about him, but..."

Elizabeth backed up a step, "But?"

Henry looked at her sheepishly, "Don't get me wrong! He's a jerk, the biggest one I have ever seen. But...when you left, he seemed so...devastated. Like he really does care about you."

"What did you eat?" Elizabeth couldn't believe it. Henry was usually the one who hated Cole and she would be the one defending him, but now the roles were reversed.

"Forget about it." Henry hugged her again.

But it only made her feel worse because she remembered Cole's hugs. How he always hugged her tight, like he was afraid she would slip out of his arms. So why did he say what he did? Why?

'She was stupid enough to believe that I actually like her.'His hurtful words echoed through her head.

She squeezed her eyes shut tight to prevent a tear from falling, but it escaped from between her eyelids.

Henry's hug didn't help at all, if anything it made her think that she was always there to hold Cole as he cried and in his times of need. But now, here she was, crying and needing someone to comfort her, and he was the reason for her tears.

•••

As Elizabeth was getting ready for bed, she heard a whisper, "Liz!"

It came from out her window, but thankfully she couldn't see Cole because of her closed curtain. She continued getting her bed ready, trying to block out his voice.

"Can we please just talk? Please, I'm really really sorry. I'll never do it again. I was stupid and selfish, but I know that I want nothing but you. I'm sorry." he called out to her.

Liar, she thought, you big fat liar.

"Liz! I just want to talk." he pleaded.

She sat down on her bed and sighed, why couldn't he just leave her alone? Suddenly, something flew into her room. It hit her curtain and fell beneath her window. It was a ball. A tennis ball.

"What...?" Elizabeth stood up.

Then, something else came sailing through her window, this time making her curtain fly and landing farther away from the window. It was a stuffed cat. Elizabeth walked over to her window to close it and something flew right at her, hitting her stomach.

"Ow!" Elizabeth kicked the second tennis ball away and tore open her curtain. "What do you want?!" she yelled at Cole, who stood with a stuffed duck in his hands. He looked pale and tired, but Elizabeth didn't care.

"Liz, finally." he said, dropping the toy.

"I don't want to talk to you." Elizabeth said, "I don't ever want to see your face again."

"Wait! Please, just listen to me." Cole pleaded. Elizabeth wanted to slam her window shut, but she hesitated. Cole went on, "I was stupid. And I swear to you that I will never do anything like that again. Just give me one chance, just one, and I'll prove to you that I wasn't lying. I love you, I really do. I can't stand you hating me, please Liz, please."

"Cole-"

"I'll tell them tomorrow! I'll tell everyone just how much I love you. I'm begging you, just give me one last chance. Please don't hate me." he interrupted.

Elizabeth looked into his eyes and said, "Shut up. Just shut up. If you really did love me as much as you say you do, then you wouldn't have said what you did. I don't know what to believe any more, Cole." he opened his mouth to speak, but she added, "And I don't hate you. I hate that I love you." then she slammed her window shut, pulled her curtain closed, and climbed into bed,

forbidding herself from crying.