Before You

Chapter Twenty One.

            A week had come and gone.

Each day was a struggle, getting out of bed, pretending to smile, going to work and then coming home to start all over. The only thing making it all worse than it already was, was the fact that Jessica and Hunter had seemed to work things out.

It turned out the night that Hunter had a party that I'd thought he invited Jess to, he actually hadn't. She had just made plans with a friend from one of her classes to go out to see some show downtown. But, Hunter had called her the next day and the two had gone out twice this week. I'd had to sit by and listen like nothing was wrong while she talked all about how she could feel herself falling for him. Sarah watching me like a hawk every time his name came up in a conversation.

Hunter had only tried to call me one time three days ago at nearly two in the morning. I silenced my phone, knowing he was only calling me because he was drunk. It had been harder to keep myself from listening to the voicemail he left me when the day we were supposed to go to the Civic Center together came around. I'd spent the whole day out in the middle of my cornfield, but I found that a little of the magic of the place was gone now too. Hunter had changed my secret spot, making it the most beautiful place in all of the world for a night, but now it is only a reminder of his absence.

Today I had nothing else going on to distract myself from the fact that Hunter would be leaving in a few days. Odds are, I'll never see him again. By the time he gets home, I'll have moved back to school and who knows how going to war is going to change him. We had just been two people who ended up on the same path for a while. He seemed like a godsend then, and maybe he was...A person put into my life to steer me in the right direction, and to show me that I actually am capable of loving someone again.

But what good is the knowledge that I can love if the person I want to love isn't an option. He's just an unreachable idea.

"Tall black coffee, please." I muttered weakly, handing the barista my money. "Keep the change."

I moved down to the end of the line while I waited on my drink, trying not to pay attention to the other people in the busy shop. I couldn't handle going to another place in town and risking running into someone I didn't want to see right now, so I went a town over for my coffee. I was planning to see a movie, but since I didn't really care what it was I decided to just grab a coffee and then show up to the theater and whatever was playing at the time when I get there, that's what I'll see.

' I walked slowly, quietly enjoying the sound of the light drizzle bouncing off of my raincoat. The town was small, but well kept. Mostly known for the upper class citizens and nice mansions throughout the little city center. I kept to the sidewalks, winding my way through the little crowds of people rushing here and there, all trying to get out of the rain. I dodged their umbrellas and made it to the theater just as two movies were beginning.

My options were limited. It was either Star Crossed, a romantic drama, or Dead Line, a crime movie. It was easy to choose between the two. I couldn't sit through a romance, especially not one that even the title sends my mind directly to the person I'm trying so hard to forget.

I sat in the nearly empty theater, waiting for the movie to start.

When the 'Please Silence Your Cell Phones' screen came on, I almost laughed to myself. Not like anyone was going to be calling or texting me today. At least, not someone I wanted.

As was typical for me, I'd downed my entire tub of popcorn before the movie even started. When the lights went down, the universe was practically laughing into my face.