Page 4 of Waiting Game

He frowned at me, the frustration growing plain on his face.

“It doesn’t have to be like that. You can stay too. You can go to University, live your life. Live it with me. Here.”

I shook my head.

I had no plans of sticking around any longer than I had to.

He knew that.

Antoni knew that.

As much as they both tried to talk me into staying - I couldn’t bear it.

I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I had in some way contributed to all the bad that was in the city.

I didn’t want to be a Santino.

All that I ever wanted was my own life, my own name, my own reputation.

Not the one that came attached to the name that I was born with. I wanted to do good in the world, and not just cause pain and suffering.

I opened my mouth to ask him one more time to run, but Antoni and Larissa reappeared.

“What’s that in your hand?” Antoni asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s a cigarette,” Larissa pointed out the obvious.

I rolled my eyes and jumped down off of the back of the tray to finish my cigarette in peace. Ren and Antoni laughed at something as I sat by myself on the rocks near the creek.

On the way home, Ren reached back once again for my hand.

I ignored it.

There was no point in delaying the hurt anymore. I knew that he was gone.

I didn’t say goodbye when Ren dropped us off. I didn’t speak to Antoni as we snuck back in, though I caught the concerned glances that he kept shooting my way. There was no point in hiding it from him.

There was nothing to hide anymore.

Ren had given up.

I laid in bed and cried until the sky was tinged orange with the sunrise. My door squeaked open again and I covered my face with a pillow.

“Go away, Antoni,” I mumbled.

A warm body got under the covers with me, pulling me against his torso. I lifted the pillow from my head and turned around, curling into the familiar chest.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

Ren sighed, pulling me in close.

“I couldn’t leave things like that,” he said into my hair.

“You graduate in four hours.”

“I know.”

I leaned in close, kissing his soft lips gently.

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