Afterlife || irwin

[ 28 ] 1992

[ 28 ] 1992

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"On second thought, please take me back to the airport."

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Arthur almost immediately placed his hand on her shoulder and pushed her away gently. He wasn't sure if he had been giving her mixed signals or if he ever made her think with any words or actions that he was in love with her too. But he appreciated Michelle Jenner. She was just a girl who needed a lot of affection and she needed someone to listen to her. Arthur always felt that he was offering friendship, not love. Even after two years of training in the garden, he still hadn't forgotten Harleen and his heart still held onto the possibility of them getting back together in the future. 

"I have a girlfriend." He reminded her, and he felt a prick in his chest at the fact that he could actually see her heart break.

Michelle gulped back against the knot in her throat at the hurt she was feeling because he didn't want to kiss her, and she pushed back the tears that were threatening to escape. Perhaps she had lied to herself when she thought that Arthur Vega liked her. He was always serious around the other teenagers in the garden, but with her it was like he had a soft spot. He was always trying to help her out, and he was always there when she needed him. Perhaps she had confused his friendship with something more. 

She tried hard not to let her voice shake as she pointed something out which was painfully obvious to him as well. "You said so yourself that she dumped you for some rich university kid. She clearly doesn't deserve you, and clearly doesn't love you--"

He stopped her in her tracks, with a firm shake of his head. "Don't talk like that about Harleen."

The eighteen year old with platinum blonde hair and ice colored blue eyes heaved a sigh, and got back on her feet. She wasn't going to argue with him if he wasn't willing to listen to her. It was one thing for him to not have any romantic feelings for her. But it was another for him to live in denial about his precious Harleen. If she had dumped him and was dating someone else now, it was only fair for him to move on too. But he had it in his mind that this was all some kind of plot that her mother was planning to separate them. They were teenagers. Sometimes teenagers moved on from one relationship to another easily. 

He couldn't expect that he and Harleen would be together forever.

"This is my last night in the garden." She reminded him, the tears were beginning to sting her eyes now. But she knew she'd be damned if she was going to let him see her cry. Despite the fact that she knew she could be herself around him, she still knew that as her friend, she owed him enough not to make him feel guilty for not loving her back. "I don't want to argue with you. But if you ever realize that she isn't the right person for you, you'll know where to find me."

With that said, she walked out of the training room, leaving him there alone with his thoughts. She went back to their dorm and climbed into her bed, finally letting the tears stream down her face silently. Arthur came back into the room about an hour later, standing in the doorway first as he looked towards the eighteen year old girl in the other bed. Then he heaved a sigh and climbed into his bed. Both of them could not get any sleep that night.

When Michelle's alarm rang the next morning, it had been set up for her graduation ceremony. Since teenagers were always coming into The Garden at different times of the year, she was the only one in her class graduating then, and the ceremony lasted a half hour. It was there that she received a diploma for her two years of training as well as her very own Diamond Rose with her name engraved on it, which had been a present from Fernando and Ernesto. Arthur had been the only one who had one before his training. But the others that had gone through The Garden had not received one until after their graduation.