The wrong happy ending

hard feelings

NPOV

I try to listen to the words around me but my brain just tunes them out into static. My eyes blur away the horizon line as I keep walking down the stone stairs of my high school. Like ants rushing towards sugar, the students spread out to the parking lot and buss stops, all in their own direction, continuing their own life, their own worries... My eyes narrow as I spot an unmoving, all too familiar face. I stay standing right on the stairs, the chattering around me goes on.

"You know, to never want to see me again, you sure run after me a lot," I call out to him and he grants me a weak sliver of a smile.

"I can't help it," Will's fingers tap against the metal stair railing, "I need to talk to you."

I switch my backpack to my other shoulder with a bitter scowl as I try not to wince in front of him.

"I don't care about what you need." I try to ignore my straining muscles under the weight of my schoolbooks. Lately, it seems to get heavier with every passing day. My eyes are sewn into Will's face. Unnoticeably it became a small competition between the two of us, who would break eye contact first. The little bit of joy I felt before walking in on him melts like snow in the sun. My limbs feel like lead in skin.

Everything, seems to get heavier lately.

Frustration grips at me and I sling my backpack against the ground.

"I don't know what is left to say to you Will. I try to give you these perfect words, these healing little things that could smooth all the bumps I've made even again, but every time I open my mouth only ugliness comes out of it." I gesture angrily at my lips, "So I search and wait and dig a bit deeper in myself but they're just, not, there. I don't have the right words, I'll never do probably. So, what on earth, is there left to say?"

Heat flares up in my chest as the words keep bubbling up without stopping.

"What is, Will?!"

Will opens his mouth to respond but I immediately cut him off.

"You, told me to never come back and I didn't... But look who's standing here before me, again, coming back to me, again." I cross my arms while glaring him down from the stairs where I'm standing.

"Needing me... again."

His face never folds into an emotion. He takes a cautious step forwards as if approaching a wild animal.

"You're right." he raises his hands in surrender, "You're absolutely right."

Without wanting, I feel myself falter, even for just a split second. This chilling feeling slides over every inch of my skin and covers it in goosebumps. For a moment, I'm completely engulfed in the blueness of his eyes and find myself utterly lost in them.

"I did come back because no matter how mad I am at you, I can't have you running around while you're obviously hurt."

He swallows thickly while taking another step towards me. I refuse to let my feet move even an inch from their place.

"Definitely not if I'm the cause of it. Even though," he points a finger at me in warning, "you made a big mess of my life with your lies."

I nearly fling myself into the metal railing due the sudden step forwards. "And I've apologized for them over a thousand times." I can't bite back the raw frustration in my words. My finger points just as accusingly back at him, my eyes glare daggers into his soul. Will just carefully wraps his hands around my shaking finger and pushes it down again. He doesn't even bother to make a comment over my horrible, fingerless gloves.