Delirium

Chapter Twenty-One: The Talk

The drive back to her apartment was silent. Liv had turned the radio off, stealing any chance of noise from them. With the windows down, she and Dustin had the rush of wind to cool them and act as music. 

Liv rested her elbow on the door and used her knuckles to support her head. 

"Liv?" Dustin asked tentatively. "Are you okay?"

She let her hand fall from the window. "You knew he would be there." It wasn't a question, though she still looked at him to see him nod. "You wanted me to go there with you today. You wanted me to go there before you knew I had to work." Again, though there was no question, he still nodded. "Then when I said I couldn't, you asked me to pick you up. When I asked how you would be entertained the whole day, you said you would work on the translation by yourself. You lied, Dusty. You lied."

"I'm sorry," he apologized meekly. "If I told you I knew you wouldn't come."

She scoffed at his reasoning. "For good reason, Dusty. Did you see the way he reacted?" She parked against the curb and shut the car off. Instead of getting out, she fell back in her seat. "He hates me."

"He doesn't hate you," he disagreed.

"He walked away from me," she reminded him as if he wasn't there to experience it all. "He said he didn't want to talk to me and he walked away. That-" She couldn't find the words to describe how horrible she felt. "That hurt, Dusty."

"I know." His voice grew weaker. "I... didn't think he would do that."

She turned toward him. "What did you expect?" She asked, and actually wanted to hear the answer. "I broke his heart, Dustin. I broke his heart then never saw him again. What did you expect with us meeting again?"

He looked down at his hands, sitting on his lap loosely. "I thought he would see you and remember how much he missed you."

The honestly nearly broke her heart. "It doesn't work like that."

He looked up at her then. "Why not?" He asked. "I miss hanging out with both of you. You both were so happy together. Steve's been miserable."

She groaned and got out, taking the cold food with her. "I can't hear this, Dustin."

He scrambled to follow after her. "He hasn't dated anyone since you, you know." He slammed his door and jogged to catch up with her. He struggled with his backpack as he walked and put it on simultaneously. "He tried to date, but it would last a week then he would end it. If he didn't miss you do you think he would do that?"

She shook her head. "I can't care what he does, Dustin. I broke up with him. He has all the right to move on."

"But he hasn't," he screeched. "He hasn't moved on, and neither have you."

She scoffed at his ignorance. "You don't know that."

"You haven't dated either!" He called her own. 

She stopped on the steps to glare back at him. "What about Erik?"

Dustin stopped and grabbed the railing to hold himself up. "You said you kissed him then cried because..." he stalled to wait for her to finish it. When she didn't, he said, "you cried because you kissed him and realized Erik wasn't Steve. You wanted to kiss Steve."

Her frown deepened as he remembered everything she ever told him. 

She turned and stomped up the concrete steps. "That doesn't matter."

Dustin followed her closely. "That is all that matters, Liv! You miss him and he misses you!"

She shook her head and focused on turning the keys on the chain to find the apartment key. "We're over, Dustin. People don't get back together after they break up."