We Come Alive 5

End Of An Era

Three mornings later, Clover woke up to a message from Dante asking for her to come over. He'd visited her a few times, but couldn't do it as much as he'd like since he was tied up with his activism group and family matters. Clover told him that she would be there in a few hours since she needed to get ready. After eating the breakfast her mother made her, taking a long shower, and getting dressed in a black sweatshirt, red shorts, and her favorite slides, Clover left.

She drove her mom's car over to Dante's dad's home and parked outside. She put her hair up in a bun and took a few deep breaths. Clover turned off the car, got out, and walked up to the front door. She knocked only to hear Dante yelling for her to come in.

Clover opened the front door and slowly walked in, listening to the door close behind her and the sound of the living room tv in the distance. Clover made her way through the familiar home until she saw her fiancé sitting on the couch.

"Couldn't get the door for me?" She asked, walking over to him and sitting next to him.

Dante shrugged one shoulder, leaning forward and turning the tv off. "We need to talk."

"About?" She replied quickly. "What's going on?"

Dante got up and stood on the other side of the coffee table from her. He took a few deep breaths, gathering his thoughts while pacing back and forth.

"I think...it'll be best for...both of us to...take a break."

Clover looked at her fiancé with a confused expression. "You have to be kidding me." She whispered. "You're not doing this to me right now."

Dante quickly rushed towards her and kneeled down in front of her. "I want you to understand that I...I do love you. I love you more than words can express, but...you're going through a lot and I can't be there for you right now so I don't want you to feel—"

"Alone?!" Clover yelled, tears forcing out her eyes. "You don't want me to feel alone so you break off our engagement?! That's what you think?!"

"We're young!" Dante defended. "We can get back together in a few years."

"Years?" She whispered.

When Dante didn't say anything, Clover jumped up and pushed him away from her. She walked away by a few feet and cried into her hands. Dante stood up and slowly walked closer to her.

"Baby girl, I'm sorry." He whispered. "I just think it'll be best."

The moment his hands touched her skin, she shoved him away and backed away from him. "Don't touch me!" She cried. "You visited me, what? Three times?! Three times and you think it'll be best if we break up. You decided that?! Dante, I've been there for you every single time you needed me and you can't even answer the fucking door for me!"

"Because you have other people!" Dante yelled back. "You have all these people who fix your issues before I can even know what's going on! You shut out the world and don't let me in! How the hell am I suppose to be there for you if you don't even tell me what's happening?!"

Clover rolled her eyes and wiped her tears off her cheeks. "The day you met me you knew what kind of person I was. I don't cry in front of people, I don't get upset in front of people. I don't let other people see me weak. So you expect me to..." she waved her hands around in front of her body, "come crawling to you so you can feel all happy and strong about yourself? Make you feel manly? Huh?" She scoffed. "I'm a football player and it's spring. I don't usually have the patience to deal with egotistical males this time of year."

"Egotistical?" Dante mutter under his breath. "I'm suppose to take your insults but if I say that shit to you, I'd have ten guys outside my door ready to beat my ass, right?"

Clover shook her head staring at him. "Tell me, right here, right now. Do you even love me."

"I proposed to you didn't I?" Dante shot back. "The better question is do you love me? Cause last time I checked, you're always having your ex-boyfriend be your knight in shining armor come save you everyday. You've never been in a normal relationship so maybe you don't understand that in healthy relationships, they save each other from mistakes or comfort when things go wrong."

"Don't talk to me like I'm a child." She fumed. "The real problem is when one person is always the saviour and the other is being saved. I don't need someone to tell me I'm pretty everyday! I don't need you to come to my rescue every-fucking-time! But I risked everything for you! My dreams, my future, my scholarships! For you! You, Dante! And you never recognize that but the second someone else wipes my tears I'm the worst person on earth!"

"How am I suppose to trust you when every time I turn around you damn near sleep with him?! How am I suppose to trust you when you're never loyal?!" Dante argued. "Everyone told me this was a bad idea! That you were a bad idea! That maybe if I give you an engagement ring that you'd stop choosing everyone else before me! I almost died and what were you doing two days before that? Laying in another man's bed. You damn slept with and I was gone for what? Two weeks?! I've tried so hard. I...I'm not done working on this and maybe we can re-try but not now. I didn't want to do this to you now but the longer I drag this on, the worst it'll be for you."

Clover stared at Dante in silence in a moment. Once he realized what some of the things he said, he regretted it. Tears streamed down Clover's cheeks as she felt her heart shattering.

"You don't love me anymore, do you?" Clover sobbed. "You don't."

Dante sighed, rubbing his hands over his hair. "Not as much as I use to."

Clover walked over to the nearest part of the couch and sat down. She doubled over as she sobbed into her lap. She could hear Dante get down on his knees in front of her to comfort her.

"I'm sorry. I love you. I promise." He assured her. "I don't know how we got here, to be honest. I don't know what happened. It's neither of our faults. You've had to have noticed it."

Clover sat up and looked him in the eyes. "I did." She admitted. "I just didn't know what to do. I don't want..." she cried. "I just wanna stay here with you as long as I possibly can." She sniffled. "But we're just never going to make it."

Dante leaned forward and brought her into a hug. Clover held on tightly as he accidentally made the heartbreak worse.

"You're all that matters to me, but what's best for you is for me to let you go do what you need to do."

Clover slid off her engagement ring and placed it in her hand. When she pulled back, she slid it into his hand and sighed heavily.

"I'm sorry." She sniffed. "I'm really sorry about how this ended."

Dante shook his head. "Don't be sorry. You didn't do anything wrong."