picture us (d. dobrik) (book #2) Wattys 2018

Fix You

Audrie came back the previous day. She. Came. Back. There was still so much between us that we needed to talk about and fix, so I approached her in her room still in complete awe that she was back and I wasn't imagining or dreaming it. "Audrie, I'm here to propose-"

"What?" She looked at me in utter shock. "David, I just got back and I think it's way too early and too soon to propose to me. I mean, maybe if the timing is right and we still feel the way we do, maybe I'll say yes and marry you, but right now is still too new and too soon. We haven't even begun to fix our obvious issues."

"You didn't let me finish, but good to know you're not freaking out. I was going to say that we should have a lock-in. Basically, we would stay in this house for 24 hours and talk everything through. I'll get rid of Alex easily. He won't protest against this."

About an hour later, Alex was gone and word had gotten out that Audrie and I were going to talk about everything.

We were sat in Audrie's bedroom, her on the desk chair, me on the bed. I began to open my mouth when she blurted out, "I'm sorry." I was more confused than I had ever been, and I was confused a lot. "You're sorry?"

She nodded and bit her lip.
"I made the situation more dramatic than it needed to be. I ran away when I should have had more faith in you."

"Well why didn't you? I hate alcohol. She had to have slipped me something for me to even be convinced to cheat on you."

"I know you would never hurt me. I guess I'm just not exactly ready for a serious commitment. Or maybe I am, but I'm too scared. You didn't deserve how I reacted, and we didn't deserve to be blindsided by a whore."

I took my cap off, set it on the bed next to me, and ran a hand through my hair. She met my gaze before breaking it and looking out the window, her bottom lip between her teeth again. I sighed and got up to go to her.

"I'm sorry I let myself be fooled like that. It wasn't fair to you."
She scoffed. "To me? It wasn't fair to you, and you know it. Satan's mistress needed her fix of attention and she chose to break up a perfectly stable couple to get it."

"I guess a lot happened between us that we let blind us to what we really felt for each other. I loved you. I love you."

"I loved and love you too, but what if it's not enough for us to last the long run?"

I was shocked to hear those words come out of her mouth. At that moment, I wondered if our entire relationship was built on doubt.

"Audrie, you can't possibly be serious right now. Relationships are built off of trust and love. Without trust, there's no true foundation, and without love, it's just a pity thing."

"Well, I'm sorry that I'm telling the truth here!" She stood from her place, and I saw in that moment that she was finally allowing herself to to get it all out of her system. Every pent up emotion from that day was going to come out.

"I'm so sorry that I'm the only one who wants to point out the reality of the situation. But, David, we didn't even have faith or trust in each other when we let that bitch get in our heads. We didn't have any love when Alex trapped us in the apartment and we fought while I tried to get my stuff together. You want to fix us, and we have so many problems."

She was right. We had problems. The trust and love we had was fractured. We wanted to be together, but in order for us to do that, we had to find a way to fix us.

As the day went by, we began avoiding each other. I knew I had to apologize for everything I said the day she left.

Eventually the sun began to set and I found myself staring at Audrie who was staring out the glass door, the last rays of sunlight dancing on her face. She was always beautiful, but in that moment my heart ached for her. My heart ached for my best friend, my lover.

I walked over to her and got a closer look of the art that God was displaying in front of me. She had her eyes closed as she took it all in. I wrapped my arms around her waist and held her close to me. "I'm sorry for everything I said the day you left. You didn't bore me, not once. You held my heart, you still do, and when you said we were done, it was the worst feeling in the world. It was like part of me was ripped to shreds. I know we have a lot to fix, and I want to fix them. I want to fix us, myself, you. Because this thing we have doesn't feel like a one time fling. This was forever."

It felt like eternity had passed before her small arms wrapped around my shoulders. "You hurt me pretty bad, David. But if you think that we still deserve a shot, then I want to believe that too. Because I love you. Because maybe this is forever. We'll never know if we don't try."

She left a lingering kiss on my cheek and softly pulled away from me, and walked towards her room without another glance or word directed at me.