Reassurance

The cars whizzed by on the busy street as they waited for a break in the flow to cross. She stood next to two people she had just met, a grin on her face at their conversation. She briefly skimmed the other side of the road for her friend that had disappeared. A flash of black and blue caught her eyes and she backtracked to focus in on the person.1

She felt her heart stop and her stomach drop, the echo of her blood flowing pounding in her ears. She blinked a few times to make sure he sight was right and curled her fists as a wave of nausea washed over her and passed.2

He’s not supposed to be here.3

But he was. And now that he was, all she could see was the memory of the anger in his face as he told her to go away and leave him alone. She had been so pathetic.4

She felt her heart sink more as she crossed the street and joined her circle of friends. She supposed it wasn’t easy to share the same group of friends. So there he was, across from her. He spared her a glance, but didn’t say a word. She met his gaze and looked for something, anything , that would tell her that they were ok.5

Nothing. Because the truth of the matter was that they were not okay. And suddenly she knew she had to leave. He wasn’t supposed to be here, but he was. So now she wasn’t supposed to be here, and she had to go.6

She wanted to kick and scream, she wanted to curl up and cry, but couldn’t. She just picked up her bag and turned, hoping that maybe one day they’d be okay. She had done a lot of thinking and felt almost empty at the idea of losing him forever.7

Someone waved to her as she left and she just smiled. She felt sick, she felt, but she pretended nothing bothered her as she walked to the train.8

As she waited, she pulled a picture out of her wallet. Her prom photo. There they stood with his arms around her waist and her hands resting on his. She sighed as she looked down at it, tracing their silhouettes with a finger.9

“I love you, you know that?” she whispered, her voice cracking. She bit her bottom lip. “You’re too blind to see that… I was too blind to see that…I’m so stupid. So stupid.”10

“No you’re not,” a voice behind her said carefully. She blinked and turned around, mentally kicking herself for talking out loud.11

“He just needs to figure some stuff out,” her friend continued, “that’s all. Remember what your cousin said? It’s hard to pull your emotions out of a situation so you can focus on it and sort things out. And sometimes the presence of certain people make that harder, especially when they’re involved…”12

She nodded, unsure of what to say now. She looked down, grateful that her friend had followed her. A hand tilted her chin up and she smiled back at the pair of eyes watching her.13

“You guys will be ok, he’ll come back around. It’s you –he always does. Things will work themselves out, you’ll see…You said he was different, remember? Don’t change your opinion on him just yet.”14

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She nodded as the words sunk in. It was all the reassurance she needed.16

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FIN