Glimpse

Part Eight

Part Eight

"Hey, I really need to talk to you." Bryce says, walking towards the stairs immediately.

I look over my shoulder to find Nicola, Nora and Tyler watching me. Nora and Tyler share the same encouraging look while Nicola looks slightly confused. I get it, she has no clue why Bryce and I want to even talk to each other.

"We can talk outside." I tell Bryce, coming down the stairs.

He waits at the bottom of the stairs for me, not giving me a whole lot of room to move past him. I walk out the back door, moving over to the table set up. I sit down, watching Bryce stand near the table. "Are you going to sit down?"

He shakes his head. "You know I've spent the last year and bit content that you moved on. I'll admit I thought we could rekindle something when I first got here last year but then you went ahead and pretended you didn't know me. It fucking cut me deep...I thought I'd hurt you or done something.

Then I realised you must've panicked. Whatever, I could pretend we didn't have history if you could. I was content, Emily. I was perfectly content until Nora opened her mouth and told me that...then last night happened..." he throws his arms up, turning to walk away.

I open my mouth to ask him to stay but he turns back around suddenly. "I've been telling myself all day that you don't really want me again...you just like the idea of me, I mean hell you keep telling me that so why can't it be true."

"It's not true, I was just saying that because I didn't want to face it...face you." I admit.

He stares at me before shaking his head. "I've always wanted to tell you how you stupid you were at graduation."

I frown. "What do you mean?"

"That's what I wanted to say. I wanted to tell you how stupid you were being for wanting to part ways purely because of distance. I wanted to do it, yeah we were going to be twelve hours away but I wanted to do it. To me you were worth it."

My eyes well with tears, I blink them away. "I was being stupid. I was scared that we'd go separate ways and that you'd realise you didn't want me anymore..."

"Are you kidding me? I was so head over heels for you, Emily...I was a lost puppy without you."

"Why didn't you say anything then?"

He finally sits down but he doesn't look at me. His head is bent down, staring at the ground. "I thought you were done with me. I didn't want to hold you back, so I let you go." He lifts his head, his blue eye shining at me sadly.

The sad look on his face makes me want to wrap my arms around him and promise I'll never do anything like that ever again. "I'm sorry for everything...breaking up with you, pretending to not know you and ruining your content-ness or whatever."

We stare at each other, and I wait for him to show me any signs on his face. He manages to keep his face neutral, unlike me. I'm sure all my emotions are crossing my features, I don't want to hide how I feel about him anymore.

I feel stupid for ever thinking I could pretend Bryce never existed. That I could just happily fantasize about him behind hidden walls, that's not healthy. I want another chance with him but I'm beginning to wonder if he even wants that. Sure, he wanted to talk but talking doesn't equal getting another chance.

He could just want to get all this off his chest and move on, like we should have done when we first crossed paths last year. We should've talked when he first got here, lay everything out there and not hide our history from everyone.

"I'm a horrible person." I whisper, pushing off the chair.

Bryce stands up immediately, grabbing my arms. "You're not a horrible person."