Forever Always Ends(unfinished)

2 || unexpected arrival

I was about to turn around and bolt out of there. Who did this guy think he was, my personal stalker? No thank you. However, when I took a step back, he took a step forward. I frowned and narrowed my eyes.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," he laughed cheekily. "Don't worry, I'm not some creeper or anything,"

"Then how do you know me?" his lazy smile returned at this. "Okay, so get this, I have this friend who got into a fight yesterday, yeah? And he had to come here to get his hand checked out because he messed it up punching this dude, and.. Well, you see-"

"What does this have to do with how you know me?" I interrupted him, crossing my arms impatiently. He sighed and ran a hand down his face.

"Look, pipsqueak, when he came here, he found out your dad was in this hospital, and..." the moment he called me that, my heart immediately started racing. Nobody called me that anymore, not for six years. Nobody except for him.

I inhaled a shaky breath, trying to calm my jumping heart, and interrupting him again. "Nico, why did you call me that?"

He furrowed his eyebrows confusedly. "What do you mean..?" he asked, and my breathing got heavier as I cautiously watched him. He seemed to realize what I was talking about because a guilty look crossed his face.

"Shit, Piper, I'm sorry. It's just that he always talks about you, and when he does, he only calls you that. When he found out you were still in this town, he got really excited. You know, he really wants to see you again and-"

So.. He was here? In this hospital? "No...no, how? I don't want to see h -- oh my god," my breaths became rapid, body leaning against the wall as my eyelids fluttered. I felt a giant headache coming on.

"Hey, what's wrong? He said you'd be happy to see him, why are you-" my eyes snapped open and I sent him an icy glare. The anger I had been holding in and building up everyday decided to let out, just a crack.

"Happy? To see him? It has been 6 years since he literally vanished into thin air. Do you know what he did? He left without a word to me. All this time, I thought he was dead. The day of my eleventh birthday, I went over to his house to get him so we could go to the park and celebrate. And guess what? The door was wide open. The house was empty. No furniture, no cars, no him. I went home and cried in my room, feeling so alone. And you know what? Because of him, I still feel so alone. He made me like this!" I ranted on, emotional voice raising.

I usually couldn't talk about Benjamin so openly. It was only normal for me to get upset if someone brought him up. The only thing I could do was think that the worst had happened to him, but all this time, he was still around here somewhere. For some reason, he didn't have the audacity to at least tell me when he left. And that made me furious.

I could see Nico processing this information. Of course Benji wouldn't know what an impact his leaving made on me. Maybe he was just so insensitive that he had never given a second thought about how I felt.

"Piper, I'm sorry, I didn't know. He's probably done getting his hand checked out by now, though. I don't know if you want to see him, but-"

"I don't. Tell him I don't want to see him, ever," even I was surprised at how harsh and blunt my words were, but I'm pretty sure that was the truth. He hurt me, right? So he doesn't deserve to think everything is fine with me.

Nico sighed, his mouth opening several times as if thinking of the right thing to say. Before he could say anything I cut him off.

"Don't worry about it, Nico. It's really nice of you to try and help out your friend, but Benji and I will never be like we used to be. We're history."