Page 55 of Perfect Tragedy
I’m about to announce my presence when he says, “What are you doing out here, Sienna?”
The shock of him knowing it’s me and him using my full name, stops me in place. “How did you know it was me?”
He laughs without humor and finally turns to face me. A breeze blows stirring the hair at his forehead as his eyes meet mine. “Do you really think you could ever be anywhere near me and I wouldn’t know it?”
Taken back by that statement, and unsure how to respond, I ignore it, “How are you doing?”
He laughs again, “What a loaded question.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I’m - I’m worried about you.”
He looks away from me and I’d give anything to go to him and put my arms around him, but I can’t.
“Seven years,” he begins, “is a long time. I wasn’t sure if I’d see you at all.”
“Why wouldn’t you? Of course I’d be here. We were… are… friends.”
“Is that what we are?” He asks and again I find myself tongue-tied. “Where is he?” he asks and my brow furrows.
“He? Who?”
“The boyfriend,” he says.
“Jesse?” my voice cracks in surprise at the question.
“I don’t know what the fuck his name is,” he says angrily. “Why isn’t he with you?”
“How do you even-” I stop because of course the answer is Jack or some gossip monger who wanted to be sure he knew, but his tone and the fact he would even care to know about me is surprising. “There isn’t a boyfriend.” He looks at me in confusion. “Not anymore.”
“What happened?”
“It’s a long and rather uninteresting story,” I offer.
He nods then begins to walk toward me and I realize he’s going to walk past me and back into the house. His limp again makes me curious as to what happened. When he passes me, I blurt out the first thing I think in an effort to stop him, wanting more time with him.
“Jack told me.”
He stops. Turns. Looks at me and waits.
I swallow once. Twice. The look in his eyes unreadable.
“Told youwhatexactly?”
“He told me…just told me…that he told you not to pursue a relationship with me. That you had feelings for me. You know… before.”
His eyes hold mine and I know a million thoughts run through his mind. I can see them even though I can’t define them.
“It doesn’t change anything” he shakes his head.
“What? It changeseverything.”
“No. It doesn’t. I wasn’t good enough for you then anyway, and I’m certainly not good enough for you now. So no, it doesn’t change anything.”
“Blake-”
“Just drop it, Si.”
“I can’t,” I tell him and the emotion behind those two words can’t be contained.
