Given the Chance

Chapter Seven: A Week

Chapter Seven: A Week

"YOU DID WHAT?!"

I cringed away from the phone, hiding in Bryson's bathroom. Bryson was still sleeping, but Max had asked me to call him since he hadn't heard from me last night.

"Bryson and I made up..." I spoke slowly, looking at myself in the mirror. The bruise on the side of my face was fading quickly. "I went to his place last night to get my stuff back and we kinda just... Fixed it."

"Dammit Talia!" Max was still yelling, and I frowned. "I told you not to go without me!"

I shrugged, even though he couldn't see it. "Don't be like this," I whispered. "Please Max. This is what's best."

Max gave a dark laugh. "That is such bullshit and you know it, Tally."

We fell into silence. He was breathing heavily against the phone, obvious frustration noted in his breath and attitude. I put the lid of the toilet seat down and sat, absently picking at my nails.

"Tally..." Max slowly spoke. "Is this because of what's going on between you and I?"

I resisted the urge to tell him every bit of truth I had to give, but I wasn't going to be a home-wrecker, risking everything for something that might be bad in the end. "No," I lied. "Besides, there isn't anything going on between us, Max. Not anymore."

I heard my best friend sigh. "Tally, don't do this..."

I felt tears being to form at the corner of my eyes, but I forced them back. "Don't do what, Max? You're cheating on your girlfriend. And I'm letting it happen."

Max's voice got desperate. "Tally, please. This could be something. This could take us somewhere beyond anything we've ever known."

I gave a dark laugh. "Or we can crash and burn and start to hate each other," I whispered. "And dammit Max... I don't wanna hate you."

Max was quiet. "Then don't, Tally."

I was being torn apart. Max and I were just friends... Why did it hurt so bad to have this conversation?

Max spoke again. "Talia?" his voice uttering my name in such a desperate, longing tone had me fidgeting. I didn't want things to end, but they had too. Didn't he understand that?

"Max," I whispered. "I'm sorry. But we don't have a choice."

Before he could respond, I hung up, feeling tears finally spill from my eyes and run down my cheeks in streams. My chest hurt, my face slowly burying itself in my hands. I felt sick, sick at my stomach, sick in my head. I wanted to lay down and sleep for days.

"Talia?" there was a knock at the bathroom door. I quickly wiped my eyes and face, taking a deep breath. "Talia, are you okay?"

I hiccuped quietly. "Yeah, sorry," I spoke shakily. "I don't feel good."

I heard Bryson sigh. "I need the bathroom, Talia. I have to get ready for work."

I stood, slowly coming to the door and opening it. Bryson didn't even look at me as we changed places and he shut the door, locking it. Soon after I heard the water begin running, and I felt even sicker than I had before. I walked over to Bryson's bed, collapsing, feeling the energy drain from my body as my phone began vibrating rapidly. I ignored Max's call and turned my cell phone off, letting my eyes slip closed.

I was asleep again before Bryson got out of the shower.

* * * * *

I kept my phone off all day, the weight of the world weighing heavily on my back, even after I woke up from the hellish world of unrestful sleep. I rose slowly, feeling sickly and craving human interaction, someone who could make a lack of sleep feel like the least of my worries. But nothing came of my cravings; I slept some more, greeted Bryson when he came home, took showers, made meals... I let myself slip into nothingness, going through the motions of life without any life to give.