Mental

Chapter 31- Reunited

"Hey."

I stood frozen. This was the closest I'd been to him in months.

"I'm just here picking up some books for Francene's birthday. She loves to read." Harry said, holding up two books in his hands. I just nodded, still not being able to say anything.

I walked past him and over to the register. He walked up and placed the two books down on the counter. "How have you been?" He questioned, his voice was so calm. I just stared up at him, not wanting to talk to him at all. Because I knew if I did... "Hello? Earth to Madeline..." He waved his hands in front of my face.

"Sorry. I'm fine." I smiled slightly, placing the books into a bag. "22.99." I told him as he handed me his card.

"When did you start working here?" He asked, leaning on the counter.

"Uh, a couple months ago." I stared down at the pin pad wishing the transaction would hurry up.

"That's cool." He mumbled. I could feel him staring at me. "What time do you get off?"

"Uh..." I hope he wasn't trying to ask me to hang out. "Normally around 9."

"Do you want to go grab some coffee?" His voice was so calm and it was starting to annoy me. I tried to keep my temper down but I was getting more and more frustrated with his presence. He's acting like he didn't just beat the shit out of Liam right in front of me the other day. He's acting like we didn't end on the worst terms ever. I fucking slapped him and he told me to rot in hell. This was the first conversation we've had since that night.

"No. I don't." My voice was threatening to erupt but I kept my cool. I bit down on my lip as I pulled his card out and handed it to him.

"So what? We're just not going to ever talk again?" He asked, his tone sharp. He was getting annoyed. He thought that I would just walk back into his life as if we didn't both almost destroy each other. We were toxic to each other.

"Yes! Harry we're not good for each other. I'm finally getting my life in the direction I want it and I will not have you ruining it." I sighed, my face getting hot.

"Oh, I ruined your life?" He let out a deep chuckle, throwing his head back. "That's funny! I'm pretty sure you're the one who was doing all the drugs and drinking and partying and breaking out of fucking mental hospitals!"

"Leave." I muttered, my teeth clenched. I worked so hard to be able to control my anger and I wasn't letting one conversation with Harry ruin all of my hard work.

"What? We can't talk about anything that happened?" He asked, the veins in his neck protruding slightly. 

"Talk about what? I was a completely different person a few months ago. That wasn't me, Harry. If we were 'dating' then we're over. Not getting back together. I don't know what we were and I'm not even entirely sure of what we did and why we did that. Thank you for being there for me when I needed you, Harry. But, I can't do this anymore. We're no good for each other." My heart felt like it was breaking a little. I don't think we were 'breaking up' but I can't just forget about the good Harry did for me.

He helped me at my lowest point. He took care of me and let me stay with him. But, he was also the reason why I spiraled. He was the cause of a lot of bad things. And for that, I have to move on. 

"You're unbelievable, Madeline." He laughed, running his hand threw his hair. "Fine. Whatever. Have a nice fucking life." He roughly grabbed the bag out of my hand and stormed out of the store before slamming the door. A loud bang sounded through the book store followed by dead silence.