Page 30 of Mariposa
“Goodbye, Adam.”
“No, please don’t hang up,” he blurts.
“Why are you calling me?” I whisper into the speaker over the sound of weights hitting the racks, blaring heavy metal music, and muffled conversations.
“I-I’m calling because I miss you, and I’m so fucking sorry,” he rushes out with desperation laced in his tone.
It almost makes me feel bad.
Almost.
Approximately a year later, and he misses me? Now? We’ve gone months without hearing from each other. Night and day, I grieved the person I thought I would spend the rest of my life with, and he…issorry?
I chew the inside of my lip. “I’ve gotta go.”
“Hear me out, please.”
“No.” My voice is strained.
“Please.”
Walking to the empty squat machine in the corner, where it’s shockingly empty, I hold my breath. Even though I’m silent, he gets the message.
He exhales a sigh of relief.
“Thank you.”
I don’t reply.
“I-I want you back. Maybe I can do this. No, I know we can do this.”
My fingers yank the hair tie out of my head. My long hair falls past my shoulders. Scratching my sore scalp, my eyes narrow at my running shoes.
“Why? Why now?”
“Well…you blocked my number,” he retorts.
I did.
But he could have found a way if he really wanted to speak to me.
“Not hearing your voice has been,” he pauses, “excruciating. I can’t focus in school. I look around the halls on campus, praying it’ll be your shoulders I bump into. I miss stopping by your house after work to have dinner together. I miss you, My Flower.”
Flower.
His term of endearment for me.
It used to transform my mood into warmth, but now? It does the complete opposite.
“I’d rather wait for you than not have you at all.”
I scratch my scalp, annoyed.
“I can’t do this right now. I’m graduating in a few days.”
“I knew you would graduate. You’re so determined. Whatever you want, you go and get it. I admire that, Violet.”
I rear back. Where was his support when I needed it?
