SHE

Chapter Twenty-seven

"Audrey! Come on, that's enough of you crying under that blanket" Amelia said as she grabbed onto her blanket tightly, Audrey's continuous sniffling could still be heard under it.

She had called Amelia, explaining everything to her and hearing how distraught she was, the latter decided to check on her immediately but on arriving at the house, she found it a mess with empty beer cans and clumped up tissues.

Amelia decided not to bother her after confirming she was in the room, probably asleep and decided to do some cleaning instead, and afterwards making some food and hangover soup for her.

Surprised to find her still in bed after she was done with everything, this time, the shaking of her curled figure and sniffling sounds unmissable.

"Amelia" She croaked out from under her blanket.

"Oh finally! Yeah I'm here, talk to me and please can you take this off first?" Amelia said, pulling on the blanket again but Audrey had it in a firm hold causing Amelia to shake her head in resignation.

"Amelia what should I do?" She spoke again, Amelia finally released her grip on the blanket and took a seat next to her, and decided to release the blanket on the bed.

"There's nothing to do but to let it go and heal with time. Yeah, you did the right thing all along by letting your feelings show even if you didn't exactly say so. He gladly understands, but unfortunately he doesn't feel the same way, trust me that's still better than not trying at all because you might end up blaming yourself forever for not doing anything. It's better than him not being upfront with you and ending up playing with your feelings. So please, just cheer up, okay? I'm sure there's a long line of men fighting over you, if only you'd just look their way" She joked lightly, referring to how Audrey tends to brush off a lot of advances made at her.

The blanket was finally lifted, Audrey's head poking out of it and Amelia gasped at the sight of Audrey's swollen and red rimmed eyes.

"Oh my God, look at you. Do you really like him that much?" Amelia asked sadly, immediately regretting the fact that she did as Audrey suddenly burst into another round of tears, she quickly pulled her into a hug.

"Oh God" Amelia muttered, her hands starting to pat the other's back comfortingly.

Audrey burrowed deeper into the other's neck, remembering how she'd been so excited when Knox asked her to meet for dinner. A date, she'd thought it to be and she dressed up to the nines, she also couldn't believe he offered to pick her up, her hopes climbed higher and higher as the night went on, they finally arrived at the fancy restaurant, she was smiling from ear to ear, Knox returning a small smile whenever their eyes met.

When they finally got seated, with food placed on their table, she finally spoke.

"Surprised you happened to be the one to invite me out tonight" He replied with a smile that did not reach his eyes and Audrey did not miss the awkward air surrounding him since he picked her up.

"Is something wrong? You seem a bit off tonight" She said, fork and knife with the steak in front of her.

"Oh really? Well, I- it's just...." He paused for a while.

"Whatever it is, you can talk to me" she encouraged, dropping her cutleries as she noticed his hesitation.

He looked up, to find her already looking at him expectantly. He was still having an internal battle with himself, wondering how he could break it to her without hurting her.

"Audrey" Her eyes lit up at the mention of her name.

"You know, that's the first time you called my name" She beamed making him chuckle.

"Ah, it is? How did I do? Good?" He joked making her laugh airily.

"Don't be silly, anyone could pronounce the name Audrey. But it sounds nice....cause it's you" She muttered shyly.

He cleared his throat "I'm sure someone else could call it better than me" well, that was fucking dumb, he cursed at himself silently.

She blinked at his words, not quite catching what he meant. "Mhm, but what if I told you...... that you're the only guy who makes hearing my own name sound special?" She said in a whisper but he caught it, there was a beat of silence, Knox unsure of how to reply to that.

"I'm sure.... there'll be someone who would make it sound more special...maybe you just haven't found them" He threaded, eyes sincere as he held her gaze.

"But what if I don't want anyone else to do that, just you?" She asked, she finally began to understand where he was going, albeit struggling.

"But you need to, you need to give someone else a chance to do it better. Someone other than me, someone better."

"What if I want it to be you?, Why can it not be you?" Audrey did not want to hear whatever he would say after that, already feeling her heart wanting to beat out of her chest.

"Because I'm not.... I'm not for you. You might think I am right now, but trust me, you will find the right person" He spoke. A thick blanket of silence falling over them as they stared at the other.

"I guess, I should stop beating around the bush now, Audrey" He took a sharp breath.

"I like you. I really do. But not.....like that. I think you're a great lady with a beautiful personality and I enjoy your company, but I do not want to give you the wrong impression by letting it drag on for too long before letting you know that I like you, but as a friend. I mean, you're beautiful.... and any man would be lucky to have you-"

"So, why can you not be one of them?" She questioned, a blank expression on her face but she could very much feel the dam threatening to break.

"Because you deserve the reciprocation.... Because you deserve someone better"

.
..
"I don't need to blame him right? I mean he's not at fault, I did everything myself, he didn't lead me on or anything" Audrey said sadly as she grabbed her cup of coffee from the dining room where she was sitting with Amelia who had helped in preparing the coffee.

"Yeah you don't need to blame him for anything, and it's his loss for losing such a gem '' Amelia tried to joke, which really made Audrey smile softly.

"Does he.... maybe have someone?"
Amelia's mind suddenly trailed off to the times she witnessed Knox and Emma.

"Well! Girl I think it's better for you not to know because I'm also not sure" Amelia said after tilting her head, letting out a smile after remembering the fact that Audrey and Emma never get along.

"Why though? Tell me about it?" She asked Amelia who was now up from her seat, about to leave the dinning.

"Trust me Audrey,it's better you don't know for now" She said with a smile before entering the kitchen to prepare something to eat for both of them while Audrey just drank the rest of her coffee slowly, unable to stop herself from thinking about Knox.