Turning Tables ✔

Part 7

JENNIE

"Do you know how long it took me to figure out you were gone for good?" Lisa asked seriously.

"Huh...?" I asked. "What do you mean? You didn't get my note?"

"Oh, I did. I got your very vague note. I thought you meant that you needed some time to think on things. I didn't think it meant that you were going to be gone for fucking good. I waited a week to even call you, trying to give you space. So silly of me, trying to think of your feelings. Why would anyone ever do that?"

"Lisa..." I whispered.

"There's no excuse. You know there's no excuse. And you hurt me so much." Her eyes shifted. "You can just go."

"What?" I said, not even trying to hide my panic.

"That's what you want, right? I know right about now you're wishing you never came over here. I know you want an out, a way to leave and never see me again. Well, I'm giving you one. You can go ahead and go."

That wasn't what I wanted at all, though. I wanted to be with her. Like, really be with her this time.

I couldn't imagine walking away from her and never coming back. Fuck, but that was going to be what I had to do, right?

I fucked this up. I fucked this all up long, long ago. And I didn't see how I was going to get her back after I hurt her so badly...

What an idiot I'd been.

"I don't want to go. I want to talk to you about this..."

"We don't need to play games," she insisted. "I'm giving you an out, and you need to take it. Before you make this harder on me."

"I'm not lying, Lisa, I don't want an out. I want to stay here. I mean, if you want me to go, of course I'll go. I don't have a choice but to go, right? It's your house, but... But if you'll have me here, I want to discuss this."

"And what exactly is there to discuss?"

"I... I don't know. Maybe there is a way we can repair our relationship..."

"Don't you think it's a little late for that? Don't you think whatever relationship we had, you killed it? I mean, not even just killed it, Jennie. But destroyed it. You broke my heart when you left."

I nodded. "I get that. And I don't deserve to have any kind of relationship with you, I know that. You've moved on. And maybe I would've moved on too, but..."

"But what?" she asked, trying to hide the fact that she was interested in this. But I could tell she was. And I was relieved that she, at the very least, wasn't ready to kick me out the door and never ever look back.

"But how could I move on? I've spent my entire life since high school just... trying to avoid thinking about you. Trying to avoid calling you. Trying to avoid my feelings. It's not like I ever addressed them and got closure. I just ran away from you. And now that I'm back, it seems obvious that it'd all hit me at once like this."

She bit her bottom lip. "Are you being serious, then?"

"Serious about what?" I asked.

"Serious about how you feel about me. This isn't just, like, a thing you're saying? You really have feelings for me?" Lisa asked.

"Yes!" I said quickly. "How could you question that? Don't you remember that night we spent together?"

I did, like it was yesterday.