Lewis
Lewis didn’t know what he was doing in her house, he knew it was way too soon for him to even be in the same room as her, school was an exception; he wasn’t in the same room by will.
He would have rather just done the project himself, then face Hayley again after the encounter in the classroom. His feelings were fresh in his body, overwhelming some. He could barely look in her direction after History. Thank God he had made up with Nate; he couldn’t imagine life without him. As a matter of fact, he could hardly imagine his life without Hayley in it. And that is when everything came crashing down on Lewis like a ton of bricks. He realised that he honestly needed Hayley in his life, she was his best friend after all, he didn’t need to be her boyfriend, he just needed things to go back to how they were, before that Friday night when she showed up on his doorstep. He actually never asked why she did in the first place. He needed to be at Hayley’s house to do the project that afternoon, he really did not want to go anywhere near her house. Who knows what feelings would drive him from manual into autopilot mode? He would just have to wait and see.
Mrs Bennett opened the front door to her house and let Lewis in. He took a deep breath in and stepped inside. Everything looked the same, smelt the same but he didn’t feel the same, he felt so awkward standing in his ex’s house with her mother breathing down his neck. He gave Mrs Bennett a brief smile and looked down at his feet nervously as she went upstairs to retrieve Hayley. She was not gone for long but Lewis didn’t raise his eyes off of his feet to meet her, as he assumed, cold stare.
His heart raced as he heard Hayley stomp her way down the steps, he thought he was going to have his heart implode in his chest cavity. He shifted uncomfortably.
“Well? Are you coming or not?” Lewis looked up from his feet, straight into Hayley’s eyes. Her eyes widened and then she turned her back to him and walked back upstairs, Lewis followed closely behind her, he felt like he had left his body and was watching from afar. The last time he had walked her up these stairs was when he took her to her room after they went to the country side. Hayley let Lewis walk into her room and she closed the door behind her. Lewis stood in the middle of her room and looked around. Nothing had changed in her room either.
“You haven’t changed anything.” Lewis whispered. Hayley frowned.
“It’s been two months.” Hayley stated blatantly. Lewis shrugged his shoulders, he knew it had only been two months but, you know girls, they go through different phases all the time. Hayley cleared her throat and run her hand through her hair. Lewis couldn’t help but notice how unbelievably awkward it was just standing in her room, waiting for better days he guessed.
“Let’s get started then.” She grabbed her bag and rummaged through it, she had never been the neatest person he knew. She looked back at Lewis; he noticed her staring at him but pretended he hadn’t seen her.
“Look, if you are just going to stand there and not help me you might as well just go home.” Lewis frowned at her; he could feel it, all his emotions going into over-drive. Lewis had turned off and Autopilot took over. Hayley walked over to him and stood in front of him, waving her hands in front of his face to try and get his attention. Without hesitating Lewis had the sudden urge to hold her in his arms, just to make everything normal again.
“Yoo-hoo, Lewis? Earth to Lew...” Lewis interrupted her by grabbing her wrists in his hands and held them tightly.
“Ow, Lewis, let go of my wrists, you’re hurtin...” Lewis lost control; he slammed their lips together, trying to get her to stop complaining and to try and fix everything. He clearly wasn’t thinking, and regretted kissing her because he knew that this would not sort out anything, it may have just made everything worse. He unknowingly brought her hands to his waist and let go of them, grabbing onto her waist to pull her closer. Hayley stood rigid. He knew this just messed up everything entirely. He willed himself to stop. Lewis groaned and pulled away from her, letting her go instantly.
“I’m sorry. I, I should go.” He turned and grabbed the door handle in his hand and then paused. No, don’t leave; you need to fix your mess. Say something. His conscience practically burst his eardrums as it screamed at him. He gathered all remaining courage left in his body, which was very little and looked over his shoulder only to smile shyly at her. Idiot! Don’t smile at her, you are meant to apologise here.
“Sorry Hayz.” He whispered and then left.
Lewis practically tripped down the stairs, he couldn’t see anything through his blurry eyes, tears welled up and as he brushed past Mrs Bennett he tried his best to hide his face.
Lewis paced up and down the bridge and eventually stopped and leaned over the side, looking into the murky water. His mind was racing. He run his hands over his face and breathed out slowly, trying to calm himself down. His phone in his pocket vibrated and rang out loudly. Lewis fished it out of his pocket and answered without checking who it was calling. He put the phone to his ear.
“Hey this is Lewis.”
“Ah, Mr Parker, this is Doctor Avery, from the hospital. I’m afraid we have some bad news, is there anywhere that you can sit down? I think it would be best if you sat.”
Lewis pulled himself up onto the railing of the bridge. “I’m sitting.” He mumbled into his phone.
“I’m terribly sorry Mr Parker, we tried everything to keep her awake until we could call you to come and say goodbye.” Lewis started trembling; he knew what was coming next. He shut his eyes, waiting for the words.
“Mr Parker, your mother has passed away... she is with the angels now, Son. It was for the best. She did manage to leave you a note, feel free to come and fetch it when you see fit.”
Lewis couldn’t control the tears racing down his face, he hung up the phone and breathed in heavily, his chest heaving as he did so and let everything out. He sobbed. His eyes felt raw and his throat was dry. He was finding it hard to breathe. He clenched his phone in his hand and then flung it onto the ground, watching it smash into millions of pieces. He let out a wail and rested his head on his arms on the edge of the bridge, crying into them.
He felt a soft hand on his shoulder. He lifted his head and through blurred vision he saw Karla smiling softly at him, although it did not meet her big, worry-filled eyes. He threw his arms around her and buried his head into her shoulder. Karla rubbed his back soothingly and whispered words of comfort to him.
