Page 46 of Tell Me Everything
“I'll walk.”
He took another step. “It's a long walk.”
“I'll walk for hours if it gets me away from you.”
Every time I opened my mouth, I kept hurling boiling acid at his heart. Every word I said hurt him, and even though I was furious, he didn't deserve this. His eyes reflected his pain.
“I'm sorry. I just need to be away from you for a while. I'm really disappointed in you.”
“I understand.”
“Bye, Alex.” Without looking back, I left. I could hear his voice crack.
“Bye, Lena.”
Chapter 18
Elena
Slumped on my desk, I was staring out the window, ignoring my physics assignment. I'd been working on it for hours, and still, I didn't understand a thing. Of all the subjects, this one was useless to me. Someone knocked on my door, snapping me out of my thoughts. Or rather, the absence of thought. Seeing Alex standing a few feet away, my heart sank. I'd avoided him in the school halls for days after I’d told him I needed to be away from him. That was just over a week ago, but it had felt like a lifetime. Alex entered my room, leaving enough distance between us, as if he feared I would bite his face off. I spun around in my desk chair so I could face him. Dark circles bruised the skin under his eyes, and his features were drawn, proof that the last few days had been tough.
“Hey.”
“What are you doing here?” I asked instead of greeting him.
“You didn't answer my messages or calls, so I decided to drop by.”
That little pang of guilt that was never far away these days stirred again. It was true, I had ignored him. Truth be told, I was scared out of my wits and didn't know what to say. “Hey, Alex! You ran away from me to get drunk. When you were high, you told me you loved me, and I'd like to know if you feel the same now that you're sober?” Yeah, that didn't sound like a good idea.
At first, I'd been angry, but now I felt restless. If Alex had run away from me like this, there was a reason behind it. I really wanted to know if he felt the same now, but it terrified me too. If he didn't love me, it would crush me. But if he did love me, what would happen to us?
Seeing that Alex was still waiting for a reaction, I cleared my throat. What a mess. Wasn’t falling in love supposed to be wonderful? “Uhm, yeah. Sorry about that.”
I had no excuse. No need to pretend like I had one. Alex handed me a small white box, and I raised an eyebrow. Since when did my presence make him nervous?
“What is that?”
“A token of reconciliation.”
I opened the box only to find a cupcake with candy-pink frosting and lots of little sugar butterflies. I closed the box. “I don't like sweets.”
Alex ran a hand over his face, inhaling sharply. I could tell by the way he clenched his jaw that he wanted to strangle me. Or jump out the window. After all, I wasn't making it easy for him. Making him work for it a little was satisfying. Me sadistic? Absolutely.
“You've really decided to make me pay, haven't you?
I smiled. I really appreciated that he'd gone out of his way to get me a cupcake and had come all the way to my house. No one else would have done it. Not for me. “Well, since you made an effort to get to the bakery, I'll make an effort to eat it.”
His gaze softened when he realized I was pulling his leg. He breathed out a sigh of relief. “I really thought that you were going to give me a hard time.”
“Honestly, I did think about it, but I can see you've beaten yourself up enough already.”
“I'm truly sorry, Lena. I didn't mean to do this to you.” He ran a hand through his hair, all his self-confidence gone.
Had the last few days been as horrible for him as they had been for me? Not having Alex in my life for a week had been torture, and I couldn't help wondering if he'd felt the same.
“Do you think you can forgive me?”
“It depends. Will you do something like this again?”
