Painful Love

s i x t e e n

"What's gotten into you today?" Asks Kimberly as Ethan took a seat next to her.

"Nothing." He replies playing with his food.

"You're in a awful good mood today." She says trying not to sound annoyed.

Truth be told, Ethan was more than happy today, mostly due to his brother. He still couldn't believe they had a conversation in the school hallways, just like normal people do.

In the other hand, Kimberly was more than in a bad mood. She didn't get any sleep last night due to her mother. She stayed at the hospital all night watching over her. She kept ignoring it, the words that kept repeating themselves like a track on repeat in her head. Maybe if she died already. They came to her head last night while she stared at her mother for hours in despair. Maybe if she goes away... she's not going to get better only worse. But she pushed them away immediately and has tried everything in her power to erase them.

"How's your mom?" Asks Ethan smiling.

"She's dying, like yesterday and the day before and the past two years." She says throwing her fork on the table. "But don't worry today she knew who I was before I left her room."

Ethan dropped his smile and was now frowning. He completely forgot about her problems and was only thinking about himself and Grayson.

"I'm sorry." Says Ethan grabbing her hand. "I forgot about that, but if it makes you feel better I know what it feels like to lose a mother."

"I know, I'm sorry I didn't mean to sound rude." She says fake smiling.

In that moment Grayson entered the cafeteria, alone. Ethan frowns noticing that Katherine wasn't with him, which is rare this days. Where is Katherine? He thought looking around in the room.

Grayson took a sit with his friends and noticed Ethan looking at him, but pretended he didn't notice. But he did, he saw them holding hands and Kimberly's sad face and as cruel as it sounds, he didn't feel pity for her, just hate.

"I need to go." Says Kimberly standing up. "See you later in class." She says and went to the bathroom.

Ethan just nodded and went back to eating his food in peace. Not noticing that Grayson left the room too. Grayson followed Kimberly to the bathroom quietly, not wanting her to notice.

Kimberly stares at her reflection in the mirror, trying to hide her eye bags with make up; but failed miserably. When she noticed Grayson entering the girl's bathroom.

"Grayson?" She asks frowning. "What are you doing here? In the girl's bathroom." She says turning around.

"I need to talk to you." He says locking the door behind him.

"Okay." She says confuse.

"It's no secret that I don't like you." Says Grayson crossing his arms. "In fact I really do hate you." He says raising his brows.

"I kind of notice." Replies Kimberly turning around to continue fixing her makeup. "Your not good at hiding stuff." She murmurs looking at him through the mirror.

"Really?" He says with a scoff.

"Yeah," she says smiling. "I can see that you're jealous"

"I'm jealous?" Said Grayson getting angry. "Of you?"

"Yes!" She shouts turning around. "Because Ethan doesn't spends time with you anymore, but he does with me." She says with a vicious smile.

"Bitch please." He replies laughing. "I see what he doesn't see. He's blinded with you and doesn't realize how stupid you really are. You're a hypocrite! Why don't you act this way in front of him? You're to scared that he will realize what an awful person you are and come back to me?"

"Well the only mistake I ever made was love you when we were young!" She says glaring at him. "You have change so much I don't even recognize you anymore."

"So what if I changed?" He says standing behind her. So close she could feel his breath against her neck. "At least I don't hide it. Everyone knows who I really am. You go around acting like a good girl, a saint, when in reality you're just another pathetic little whore."

"Stop!" She says pushing him away. "I really don't have time for this." She says turning to look at herself in the mirror again. "I have more important things to worry about."

"Yeah, like what?"

"Like my mother dying for an instant." She whispers looking at him. Hoping that he will feel sorry for her like everyone else that knew, like Ethan.

But he didn't feel sorry for her, he laughed. He laugh until he couldn't breath anymore.

"Welcome to the fucking club Kimberly." He screams staring at her death serious. "That's life, you live and die. There's nothing you can do about it but watch the people you love suffer. So just get used to it because it just gets worst."

"You're an awful human being." She says drying her face. "She's dying and you're laughing? You don't know what I've been through, watching her forget me and her own name." She whispers.

"You want me to pity you?" He asks grabbing her jaw. "At least you got a warning. You know she's going to die, so you can prepare for the worst to come. So what if she doesn't recognize you anymore? You get to spend her last days with her, making her happy." With every word, the harder it was for Grayson to maintain his voice. "I didn't get a warning and I didn't get to say goodbye. So stop fucking whining about life and realize that you're lucky to have this chance, a chance I didn't have." He says pushing her away.

He left, forgetting the reason he entered the room in the first place. He needed to go because if he didn't, he was going to hit her, like he did to Katherine in the morning.

Grayson needed someone, Ethan, but he couldn't go to him because he wouldn't understand. He pushed him away and now regrets it with all his heart. Maybe is time to come home and try his best to behave, just so he could be close to his brother once again.