you're my sunshine ↬ joe mazzello [3]

real life!

it was after dinner. emilia and bartholomew had parted ways with antony and ophelia, the duos going opposite directions as they left the japanese steakhouse. the dinner had dragged on later than usual, ophelia thought, fingers itching to check her messages all night long. emilia and bartholomew showed no mercy as they teased her, telling her that her messages would still be there on her phone when she got home, and that joseph could wait. she chewed on the inside of her lip the entire time, trying her best not to grow irrationally angry with their little comments. antony grabbed her hand from under the table, trying to comfort her, but she smacked it away, giving him a questioning look.

which led them to their current situation.

ophelia was all too aware of her phone tucked in her back pocket, growing more impatient with each little vibration of it against her. antony walked beside her solemnly, eyes on the concrete as they walked the streets of pittsburgh. growing tired of the silence, ophelia allowed herself to bump into him, partially throwing his balance off. "what was that for?" he whined, looking to her with a knit brow and a sad mouth.

"come back to me."

"i didn't go anywhere."

"yeah, you did," she said softly. "you're acting weird. what's going on, balth?"

he let out a small groan, briefly squeezing his eyes shut. it hurt to hear her use the nickname she had specially reserved when they were together. "blanche," he breathed, stopping in his tracks, tugging a hand through his hair harshly.

ophelia grabbed his arm, tugging him over to a quiet spot, avoiding being run into by others walking about in the night. "just... talk to me, yeah? you're always so honest with me and you haven't said anything. and look, i'm sorry about smacking your hand away at dinner, but you know. you know that i can't be touched when i'm angry. but just... you've never acted this way towards me before, ant. not even when we broke things off and the media was up your ass."

"i don't like the idea of mazzello," he admitted with a sigh. "but i - i don't want to talk about it out here. okay? so can you wait until we get back to yours? please?"

swallowing the lump in her throat, ophelia nodded, taking his hand in hers as they walked the rest of the way to her apartment in complete silence, the only noise being that of the traffic. she fumbled with her keys as they reached the door, hands shaking for reasons she did not know. perhaps it was the prospect of the messages from joseph that theoretically awaited her. perhaps it was a bit of fear over what antony could possibly have to say.

she got the door open eventually, throwing the keys down onto the kitchen table as they walked into the small apartment. both kicked off their shoes, him going to the refrigerator to grab bottles of water for the both of them. she thanked him softly when he handed it to her, chugging half of it down.

"so," he began, sitting up on her kitchen counter. "i'm going to need you let me speak without interrupting me, yeah? because i want to get out what i have to say before the train of thought leaves. so here it goes: i don't like the idea of mazzello. i don't like that you had to catch his attention with a vulgar tweet. i know you've tweeted rather vulgar things before, but i particularly hate that tweet. and the way you guys connected - it just doesn't sit well with me, you know? i just don't think it's going to go over well with this mazzello guy. that's just how i feel about it."

"so you're jealous," ophelia summed it up, crossing her arms over her chest, the anger beginning to bubble in her stomach.

"no, i'm not."

"antony, cut the bullshit. you're jealous. our relationship is over, and i'm finally moving on to who could possibly become a romantic interest, and you're jealous about it."

"ophelia -"

"no, antony. i let you control me when we dated. but out of the kindness of my myocardium, i let bartholomew convince me to remain friends with you. i might have let you control me then, but you sure as hell aren't going to control me now."

"i'm not trying to control you!" his voice raised. he slinked off of the counter, towering over her angrily. "i'm just trying to help you to avoid a shitshow."

"do not raise your voice at me. your intimidation tactics won't work on me anymore."

"dammit, ophelia, why aren't you getting this? i'm just trying to help you!" ophelia flinched as his hands raised, eyes squeezing such as she felt the ghost of his hands hit across her cheeks. he choked as he noticed her reaction, heart convulsing in his chest as he lowered his hands again.

"i think you need to leave, antony," ophelia said lowly, voice wavering.

"ophelia, please. i'm trying."

"i thought we could be friends. i thought that after the therapy, you would go back to the ant i knew originally. but that's not happening. leave, or i will tell bart and emil about the abuse you put me through."

"i -"

"antony. get the fuck out."

he turned hesitantly, slamming the door behind him as ophelia slid to sit on the floor, finally allowing herself to breathe.