We Were Blue // Completed

1//

"And with those eyes you could've set the sky on fire, but you chose to burn me instead"

-Unknown

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One year later...

"Always leave first, always." Her words were a jumble of slurred syllables just barely making it past her lips and her eyes were half closed, squinted so I could just barely make out her dilated pupils. Mama's not one for advice and to this day it's still one of the very few pieces of guidance she's given me.

If only I had listened, maybe then I wouldn't be standing in front of the twin brother of the boy who stole my heart and refused to let it go. Even when he crushed it into a million pieces by leaving the country a year ago- without a word. It's my fault, really, I should've left before he had the chance, just like my mom told me all those years ago in a drunken haze. But that's the thing about being in love, you become blinded and soft and want to believe you can beat all the odds against you. Yet the reality is, you can't no matter how hard you try.

I drink Roman in, taking note of how much he's changed these last three years away at boarding school and half wondering where the boy I used to know went, cause he's not standing in front of me. His eyes travel over me, slowly, and much more startling than I remember them being. They're the color of fresh ice blanketing a deep lake- almost too light to look human. They cause every feature to appear sharper, from his high cheekbones to hard jaw line, a perfect mix of angles and edges that design his face.

His eyebrows pull together like he's trying to recall something as he takes a single step in my direction. I hold my stance, even though every nerve in my body begs me to back away because he reminds me so damn much of his brother it causes my stomach to do somersaults.

"Felicity." Inhaling sharply, I numbly nod my head despite the fact it's more of a statement than a question. They sound so similar yet so different, funny how everything about him makes me think of Damon. His eyes hold something I can't decipher, something deep and meaningful and I immediately decide I rather not know anyway.

Squaring my shoulders, I level his stare with one of my own. "Roman."

He leans one arm against the wall and shoves his hands deep into his pockets. "It's been a while. I almost didn't recognize you." And I wish you hadn't I think bitterly to myself. I continue examining him, taking note of every single similarity between him and Damon and hating myself more because of it. When I heard they were coming back home I had really wished it was just another rumor, but no such luck this time.

After countless ignored phone calls, I tried to convince myself that I didn't give a damn whether I ever saw Damon again, but now with it being a very real possibility I'm beginning to realize just how much of a lie that was.

He licks his lips as silence overwhelms us, dripping with one common subject on the very tip of our tongues. "I don't know what to say." A shallow chuckle escapes me at his words. After all what is there to say? I was his brother's girl, Roman and I barely socialized before he left; we didn't know each other, we weren't friends, so what would there be to say?

Clenching my jaw, I stare down the hall over his shoulder. Classes go on behind closed doors, where I should be, so why am I out here with Roman instead? "It's okay," I answer after a few long beats. "It's not your fault." Not your fault your brother couldn't love me like I loved him.

His eyes are dark, like he feels the anger, the pain, I've felt this last year because of his twin. In reality it's simply an illusion, brought on by the shadows caressing his irises. He swallows thickly as I shift on my feet, suddenly feeling the urge to flee.