when we collided [e.s.]

Seventeen

I suck in a sharp breath. "What are you doing here?" I whisper, frozen in place. Where's Ed? Did Ian get to him first? "Oh, Audrey," Ian pushes me forcefully to the ground. "Ian you don't know what you're doing," I breathe, scooting back against the wall as quickly as I can. "I think I do," He smiles, wrapping his fist around my neck and pulling me to my feet. His fist raises up above his head and I wait for the connection...

"Audrey!" My eyes shoot open. I lift my head from the table and take in my surroundings. I'm sitting in a booth at Celeste's and Ed is standing next to me, one hand on my back. There's a silence, and then I just burst out crying. "Where were you?!" I sob, wrapping my arms around his neck. "Audrey I've been here the whole time," he says, his warm arms wrapped around my torso. I'm in it before I can escape it. I let go of Ed and hug my arms around my waist to try and catch a breath. It was so real, I wasn't ready. Not today. "Audrey, relax," Ed cooes worriedly. My breathes are loud and wheezy, I'm hyperventilating. Panic attack. "Hold my hands," Ed commands. I wrap my hands around his and Ed shows me how to breathe again. A cold sheen of sweat sits on my forehead, I feel like throwing up. "Here, Sit down," Ed says, leading me by my hands over to the booth I was sleeping in. Ed sits across from me with a table seperating us. "Come here," I breathe, guiding his hands over to this side of the table and next to me. "You need space to breathe, Aud," he objects. "You're my oxygen," I cry. He sits down next to me and I lean my head against his chest and close my eyes. "It's almost 9. I'll drive you home," Ed whispers. "No. Just let me relax and i'll be fine in a minute," I breathe.

Ed's POV

It's killing me not telling her. I was the one who went after Ian, I was the one who provoked him to keep trying. He knew he was close when I fought for Audrey. So because of my morals and my stupid heroic fucking attitude that I've never seen before, Audrey goes down. "Audrey, I have to tell you something," I whisper just as her breathing returns to normal. "Ed, don't. It's okay. I'm fine. Take me home," she smiles, standing up. I smile uneasily back and pick her jacket up off the counter. There I go, wussing out again. "Audrey, wait," I say, stopping in my tracks. She turns around to look at me and I see the worry already setting in her facial structure. I can't put her through another scare like that. She needs a break. "It's nothing. I just, you forgot your scarf," I say, picking it up and wrapping it loosely around her neck.

I drive, Audrey sits shotgun with her legs curled under her arms and in front of her chest. Instead of going home Audrey suggested a movie, so we're going to the movie theater a few blocks down. When we get there I wait in the parking lot. I can't keep this from her any longer. "Audrey," I say, sitting in the dark of the surprisingly packed parking lot. I hear her legs shift as she puts them back on the ground. "Yeah?" I take a deep breath. "Remember that time someone beat me up and I had all those stomach problems?" I continue. "Yeah," she repeats. I close my eyes. "That night, I went to the drug store to pick up dinner and I saw Ian," I confess. "You what?!" She shrieks, sounding alarmed. "I know. I followed him out to make sure it was really him and we sort of... Fought," I finish. "Oh my god," she whispers, her voice shaky. I stat silent. "Why didn't you tell me?" She whispers. "I didn't want you to worry, or know that he was in town," I say. There's nothing, and then her arms are around me.