❝In which two people call up a helpline in order to find someone just as broken as they are. ❞
"Does...does it bother you that my dad's in prison for murder?"
"Well, judging by the fact that I moved away from America to get away from the memory of a...
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"You gonna eat that?" Jess asked curiously, eyeing her friend with a concerned gaze as she watched her push the food around her plate. It didn't take a genius to work out that Maddie hadn't been in the best place for the past few days. For one thing, she hardly ever spoke, and, when she did, her answers were short and distant. Almost as if she was occupied with the thoughts inside her head. For another thing, she was vastly behind on schoolwork, which, although it sounded like a mundane teenage mishap, was incredibly rare for someone such as Madeline Pierce. She also smiled very little, which did not go unnoticed by anyone, because she was usually the type to smile at anyone who made eye contact.
Maddie shook her head in a negative response, pushing the plate of food away from her as the college cafeteria began to fill up with people. Every other conversation began to blend into everyone else's and it became impossible to pinpoint one distinct voice. But she could see Elliot entering the hall with one of his mates, laughing at something one of them said as he collected a food tray from the rack. And she found herself unable to look away. And, when he smiled at her. She smiled back. Because she had assured him that she was okay with it all, that of course they could still be friends. Because she knew that he cared for her. Of course he did. They had been friends for years, a breakup didn't even come close to severing that connection. He just didn't care for her in that way. And that was...fine. Okay. Fair. And she would remain his friend, because they needed each other. As friends. Or, at least, that's how she felt. And it was hope that forced her to believe the same of him.
And, when Elliot came to sit opposite her, the grin on his face hadn't changed. It was the same all teeth, all jokes smile that tugged at her heartstrings in the same way that it pulled on his cheekbones. Endlessly beautiful. But painful if left there for too long. And it made her wonder how cruel the world was, to have a heart beat faster for the crescent of a smile. Only to discover that you were only a planet in their eyes, stuck in a messed up orbit in which the planet circled the moon. Only for the planet to see the moon illuminated, lit up by someone else. Someone else who was destined to be their star. Their burning, guiding star that allowed them to light up the sky.
Unrequited love was blisteringly painful, and it broke each of its participants in a similar way. Always holding onto that faint hope, the slim chance. Refusing to move onto another solar system because of the gravitational pull that held them together. And always wondering. Always speculating. Always criticising. What was it that's stopping that person from loving me back? How can I change myself so that they feel the same way I do?
And this, of course, is incredibly dangerous, for living for someone other than yourself always is. But love is much like alcohol in that way. Addictive. Dangerous. Capable of change a person's entire demeanour. Eurphoric. Blinding. But enchanting, causing a person to only recognize their mistakes after they have made them.
