"I'm so sorry," Emily said through the phone with tears coming down her face.
"No, you don't get to do this to me without even an explanation!" he shouted, not form anger, but hurt. She knew. She knew she was breaking his heart. She was breaking her own heart, but this was the right thing to do for the both of them.
"I ... I told you why."
"Tell me again."
"I ... I just think we need space."
"But where is this coming from! You haven't explained that." She heard him cough and sniffle, and she shut her eyes harder and put her hand over her mouth.
"I think you need to do your own thing for a while. Do you and discover yourself and I'm going to do the same," she said, mustering up all the strength she had to not break as she spoke.
"Emily ... please baby, don't do this. I'll come visit you."
"No! No please don't."
"Maybe it's the distance. Once you see me you'll realize that this is crazy and we can get through this."
"Please! Please don't Damien. Damien I don't want to see you."
"That's fucking bullshit and you know it."
"It might be ... but I don't want to see you. I just need space."
"How much space?"
"I don't know... but I just need to be alone and so do you. You need to be able to live your life without me. Without me in the back of your mind. Without me holding you back."
She heard silence on the other side of the line. She looked at her phone to make sure he didn't hang up on her. He didn't.
"I want to be with you."
"I know. I want to be with you. And maybe down the road we can be together, but for right now. We need to be apart. And I'm sorry, truly sorry, that I am doing this over the phone, but I would not be able to do this while looking at you. I would break down and be with you. But you ... we need a break."
He heard him sigh and whisper a curse to maybe himself or the situation, but she knew she had broke through. This was the end of them.
"I love you," he whispered and she wanted to reach out to him and play with the curls on top of his head and kiss him.
"I love you so much. But this is for the best," she said. She held on tighter to her blanket and wiped away her tear.
"Can we still talk?"
"Yeah, of course. But we do need some time apart."
"I know."
Silence pierced through them. Neither wanting to be the first to hang up; to truly end this. She ran her finger through her hair and bit down on her lip. She swallowed her tears away and let out a breath.
"I'm gonna go now."
"Okay," he said softly. She looked around her room and noticed the polaroids of them and their friends. She had them on her cork-board since they first started dating in sophomore year ... and now five years later, it was time to put them in a box.
"Please," she said with such conviction in her voice, she was afraid that this was even her. "Please remember that I do love you. I just think this will be best for now. But I will always love you. You and I ... are always going to be infinite."
"I love you Emily. I always will," he said. She looked down at her phone and whispered a goodbye before ending the call. She then collapsed onto her bed and cried herself to sleep.
YOU ARE READING
The Homecoming
Romance"It's been three years. Three years since Emily Kim saw him. He was there ... standing right in front of her. All the thoughts that were running through her head before erased when she saw him. He was right in front of her." Emily Kim is back in he...
