You and Me.

Chapter 13: Surprises.

Rain began to fall as Theo made his way home. He only started to move out of the studio when Shailene drove her car out of the driveway and disappeared out of sight. Throughout the entire journey of home, the words of Shailene rang through his head - asking him to leave, to stop being so close to her. He thought about the way she confessed to him at the springs the previous day. How it had made his heart accelerate and how he wanted to hold her and tell her the exact same thing. But at the springs yesterday, he masked his feelings of excitement. He looked at Shailene with a look of surprise and told her that he did not feel the same way and that all his efforts of meeting for breakfast and hanging out together was purely for the sake of developing the much needed chemistry for the movie. He knew he had broken her heart and at the same time his very own.

Theo sighed. All he wanted was to protect her from the complicated relationship he and Ruth were already having, with Ruth showing no signs of letting up from the breakup. If he was to involve Shailene in this already complicated relationship, he did not know how much hurt would eventually fall onto her.

Theo drove up into his driveway to notice a lady sitting at the stairs of his porch. A closer examination indicated that it was Ruth. Theo gave out a sigh of exasperation as he got out of the car and ran in the rain towards the shelter of his porch. Ruth stood up and gave him a wave. She was drenched.

“How long have you been here?” Theo asked, Ruth was shivering slightly.

“Awhile, I was waiting for you to come home.” Ruth answered, looking up uncertainly at him. Theo took off his own jacket and put it around her shoulders.

“Come on in, you need a change of clothes, you are going to freeze in this weather.” Theo remarked, opening his front door and signalling Ruth in.

Theo did not noticed that he had left his gate unlocked. He was dishevelled by Ruth’s sudden appearance at his front door. And neither did he notice the paparazzi lurking around his front gate, snapping pictures of both him and Ruth.

“Thanks Theo.” Ruth whispered, holding the t shirt and shorts Theo had passed to her for her to change into.

Theo nodded and looked away. Somehow, the appearance of Ruth after her absence in the house for the past week had unsteadied his resolve of breaking up with her. He felt like he wanted to lean on her again, to tell her what had happened with him and Shailene and how he wanted to fix things with Shailene so badly. And it was this very thought, that made him realized the fact that he did not have feelings for Ruth anymore. What was left was purely the friendship and the reliance he had developed for her over the past five years of the relationship they had. Shailene had become his present.

“Can I stay for dinner?” Ruth asked. Theo looked at the dripping wet lady whom travelled all the way from other half of the world just to see him and his heart melted a little. He told himself that they both can stay as friends even with such acts and grudgingly agreed. Ruth significantly brightened and made her way to the toilet.

Theo then proceeded to order Chinese takeout and realized that there was a missed call from Shailene on his phone.

Without hesitation, Theo called her back.

“Hello, Shai?” Theo inquired as the line got through. He had a very bad feeling about the phone call.

“Theo…” Shailene croaked and the weakness in her voice was enough for Theo to forget all about Ruth and head straight towards the front door.