I KNOW PLACES | George Russell

32. loves a fragile little flame

London
Wednesday

George's pov

I walk into the flat with hands full of groceries. The brunette gets up from the couch to help me put them away. "Can I talk to you about something?" I ask suddenly in the middle of our task.

"Yeah, course." She smiles and continues to put the groceries away. "Ariella." The seriousness of my tone causes her to stop everything she's doing and look at me fully, giving me her undivided attention. The smile that was once present on her lips has been wiped away by my own words.

She nods shortly, telling me to go on. She looks nervous and I hate that I'm the one who's making her feel like that.

"Last week when I went out after the race, a group of girls joined us." Her face turns pale, all the colour draining quickly. There's no doubt she's thinking of the worst.

She stays still and waits for me to continue. "There was this one girl who started flirting with me." I watch shamefully as she takes a deep breath, anticipating my next words. "I didn't flirt back, not at all, and then she tried to make a move and I rejected her. Trust me when I tell you we didn't do anything with each other." It's a desperate plea for her to hear me out, to believe me as I tell her the truth.

She stares at the floor and nods. Her silence causes every inch of my body to become overtaken with worry. The emotion grabs ahold of me entirely and refuses to let go.

"Please say something." I beg, her silence is killing me more and more with each passing second.

It takes a beat more for her to finally speak. "Is that it?" Her whispers are barely audible. Her words are fragile, on the verge of break and it causes my heart to break for her. "Yes." I breathe out helplessly.

She takes another painfully long moment to say something else. And when she does, I wish it was silent again. I would bring back the silence if it meant her cursed words would go back into hiding, would never break to the surface.

"I think we should break up." She whispers, the shake in her voice making the tears she's holding back obvious.

Her words make my heart shatter, they make me question everything. Life, fate, love, everything.

Didn't she tell me she loved me not even three days ago? If she really meant it, why was she plunging a knife through those shared words now?

"No, love please. We really didn't do anything. I swear to you on my life." I shake my head frantically, desperately trying to get her to change her mind.

She also shakes her head but it's slow. "It's not about her. It's not about you at all, believe me when I tell you it's not your fault in any way." She can't seem to look me in the eyes, instead opting to focus on the blue and white flower patterned socks on her feet.

That was until I reach for her arm. "Love," She backs up before I can fully grasp her. "Please just tell me why." I'm practically begging her at this point. I don't deserve her but I can't stand to lose her.

She looks up at me. Her eyes are glistening from a thin sheet of tears that have welled up. "I-" she shakes her head and looks up to the ceiling. "It wasn't anything you did. Please don't think it is because it's not. It's entirely me. And you've been nothing but great to me." Her lack of explanation only further confuses me. If that's true then why is she leaving?

My head shakes once again. "Then why are you doing this?" I hold back tears of my own as I look at her through desperate eyes.

She takes a deep breath. "I can't explain it. Just know everything I said was true." No doubt, she's referring to the "I love you's".

She ventures away to the bedroom and comes back out with her stuff. "Love, don't leave. Where are you going to go?" I catch her arm on her way to the door. "I've got a place. Don't worry about me." She shakes her head and adverts her eyes to focus solely on my hand around her upper arm.

I breathe out a short laugh at the though. "I'm always going to worry about you, love. Are you sure this is what you want?" There's a small glimpse of hope inside me that the question might just get her to change her mind.

She looks back into my eyes. Hers are shimmering from the sheen of tears as she tries to hold the streams back. A hint of hesitation can be sensed in the dark brown void.

"Yes." Her confirmation causes me to drop my hand, allowing her to leave on her own accord.

She opens the front door with keys in her hand. "I love you." I let her know one last time while I still can. There's a stutter in her step, but the words aren't enough to make her stay.

The closing of the door behind her feels like an official goodbye.

I stare at the door for a long while, I'm not entirely sure just how long but part of me hoped she would walk back in and take it all back.

When all hope leaves me, my feet lead me back to my room, abandoning the groceries left on the counter. My room, the one we've shared all week, It smells like her, like tones of citrus and vanilla.

Her music still plays softly on the tv in the room. The song she played on our way to the beach in Italy echos lightly around the room.

"loves a fragile little flame it can burn out" The lyrics ring repeatedly in my ears, the truth in the words becoming all too real in this moment.

I think of everything the two of us have gone through together. Everything we did just so we could be together, the sneaking from day one all being for nothing.

The overwhelming emotions cause salt streams to pour unapologetically from my eyes, the warm liquid falls the length of my face and neck to create small puddles on my shirt.

(1064 words)
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A/N - I wrote this sitting with the entire extended fam😊

Sorry about this😔