clumsy | l.h.

thirty-one

"give this one more try, everything will fall in line, we can paint this town" - Paint This Town / Anarbor

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-Violet-

My stomach growled and I sighed, wishing I had made the decision to order a pizza just a few minutes earlier than I did. I hopelessly looked in the fridge, but there wasn't much in there. Even though I had been here for a little over a week, there hadn't been much time to go grocery shopping.

Living alone was definitely proving to be an adjustment. I had never really considered how much Sydney and Ashton had done in the apartment, and now it felt like I could never get anything done. Especially having already started my new job, I hadn't even been able to finish packing yet. There were a few unmarked boxes sitting in the living room, serving as a makeshift coffee table for the time being.

Besides the stress of moving, things seemed to be going well. My new coworkers were all incredibly nice, and I already had a few upcoming projects and assignments that I was so excited about. I had even taken the time to walk around the city a bit, and it was beautiful. I still missed Boston, but San Diego would definitely do for now.

I had even started to forget about everything that happened before I left, at least a little bit. Every once in awhile, I would happen to scroll by a picture of us in my phone, and it stung despite how much I wished it didn't. I couldn't wait for things to pick up at work so I could distract myself and hopefully push the lingering hurt out of my mind for good.

I jumped a little when I heard a knock at the door, but smiled to myself when I realized my pizza was here. I was unbelievably hungry. Without even looking out the peephole, I swung the door open, ready to rip the pizza out of the delivery guy's hands.

Instead, I found myself staring at a familiar head of blond hair and blue eyes, looking at me with regret painted all over his face. A face I hadn't seen in three weeks, and one that still tugged at my heartstrings no matter how much I wished it wouldn't.

For a few short seconds, my mind forgot about everything, and I had an involuntary impulse to throw my arms around him. I was so shocked to see him, so thrown off guard that I didn't know what to think. But those seconds passed, and instead a frown filled my face. I went to slam the door back shut just as fast as I had opened it.

Luke's foot shot inside to stop the door, keeping it open just a crack, "Wait, Violet, Please."

I rolled my eyes and walked away from the door, "I have nothing to say to you, Luke."

He swung the door open, but didn't step inside, "I know, I just want a second to explain."

I kept my back to him, trying to find something to busy myself with. I plucked a random box off the floor and started unpacking it to try and ignore his presence, "I don't know what you think you could possibly say to me to make this better but-"

I was cut off abruptly by the sound of my own voice coming through Luke's phone, "I don't know if I'm ready to give that up, and I don't want to hurt him. Or myself, honestly. I just can't see myself moving across the country and abandoning him."

I finally turned around slowly, staring at Luke holding the phone up and stopping the recording. I furrowed my eyebrows, already knowing the answer to a question I was going to ask anyway, "What was that?"

Luke sighed, taking one tentative step inside the apartment, "It was a voicemail you accidentally left me, talking about the job. I knew about it, even though you didn't tell me. And I wanted you to take it."