Three Years On

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Hey guys, pleaaase comment on this one, it's a big 'un! Two more chapters left after this one, so it should be finished by Wednesday at the latest :O I advise listening to the song on the side at the same time as reading, I know I've posted it before, but it's exactly the emotions of this chapter in a song. Enjoy!

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     Michael waited a long time for Debby to say something more than just his name. But she stood there, her figure a mast sticking up in the relatively flat backdrop, and they listened to the sound of the wind.

     When she still hadn’t said anything Michael just sighed, and turned back around to look out at sea. After another minute or two he saw her out of the corner of his eye, sitting down next to him. She wasn’t crying, though he could see by her face that she had been; she didn’t look angry, though he could tell by her silence that she was.

     They sat together without saying anything for a long time, but eventually Michael couldn’t take it anymore. ‘Are we going to talk about this, or what?’ he asked her suddenly. His voice sounded sharp and piercing after the silence.

     Debby turned to him and looked, really looked at him. ‘Can you just explain what’s going on?’ she said softly, it was as if she’d lost all force.

     Michael turned away from her. It would be easier to explain if he wasn’t looking at her face. ‘I overheard you and Beth talking. I heard you saying that you thought I was lying about us having had sex.’ He didn’t continue for the moment. He wanted to know more about how she was feeling before he explained completely.

     ‘I presume you ran away to here because it’s true,’ she replied. She was louder this time, but her voice shook as she said the words.

     ‘How did you know I was here?’ he asked her.

     ‘I didn’t. When Beth and I realised you were gone I thought that you’d gone further than here. I thought you’d really left me. I came out here to clear my head,’ she told him. Neither of them were even looking at each other, they just stared out at the expanse of deep blue sea stretching away in front of them.

     They lapsed into silence again and Michael chose this moment to look at her. Her eyes were still fixed on the horizon, but a steady stream of tears was rolling down her face. She was holding her knees to her chest, her arms locked tightly around them, and her hands clasped together, making her knuckles go white.

     He desperately wanted to take her in his arms and hold her, but he knew that she probably didn’t want him to even touch her. ‘Debby,’ he murmured instead. ‘I’m so sorry.’ She didn’t say anything, but squeezed her eyes shut, trying to control her tears. ‘I didn’t mean for this to happen,’ he continued.

     Suddenly she came to life, breaking her arms apart, turning to him and flailing them in the air, her eyes wild with fury. ‘Of course you didn’t!’ she screeched right in his face. ‘You thought we would just carry on forever! You thought I would always wrongly think I’d lost my virginity to you when I was fourteen!’

      ‘Debby,’ Michael said, raising his voice to make her listen. ‘I didn’t mean to lie to you, I jus-‘

     ‘You didn’t mean to lie to me?’ she interrupted him. ‘Oh, so you just accidentally made up that we had sex? Sure! That’s believable.’

     ‘No,’ he said firmly. ‘Listen to me Debby.’

      ‘Why should I listen to you?’ she yelled. ‘You’ve been lying to me for three years! Why should I believe you now?’ She was still waving her arms around in front of his face, so he reached out and grabbed her bare wrists firmly.