I Can't Get Up

Chapter Twenty-Two: So Selfish

Chapter Twenty-Two: So Selfish

"You can't just waltz in here like that, say a simple sorry and expect me to forgive you! In fact, forgiving you at this point is impossible!"

I push her arms off of me and try to push her away from me, but her shoes must have very good grip or maybe she just has really amazing leg muscles. While, I continue to try and push, she stands there with her arms crossed over her chest and an annoyed expression.

"Would you stop harassing me?" she puts both of her arms in between mines and pushes them open with no effort at all.

"How did you do that?" I rub the part of my arm that she pushed. It hurts more than it looks.

Her blue eyes sting into me, "Well, for starters, you need upper body strength. Next, you have to work out regularly. Oh, wait. Nevermind, you'll never be able to do such a thing, why try it when you know you're gonna fail?"

I roll my eyes, even though I know that it's true.

"Hallie, the point is that I think we should just get out of each other's life. It's best for the both of us," I declare sadly. This used to be my best friend.

Her eyes soften immediately, "That's not the way to deal with life. Whatever it throws at you, you have to persist and never give up."

What is she, a therapist?

"Why do you even care so much about silly old Celeste?" I spit at her.

Hallie runs her fingers through the ends of her blonde hair and clicks her tongue, "Do you not realize what I have to deal with? Carter tells me everything that happens to you in order to make me feel bad. You look like a price of burnt toast because of me. You passed out because of me. You lost someone you love because of me. I can't take it anymore!"

I take this the wrong way.

"Oh," I place my hand on my hip, "So wanting me to forgive you is just a scheme to make yourself feel better. I see how it is."

"What about you, Celeste? Have you seen yourself? All you care about is your stupid little life problems. You don't even ask if other people are doing okay. Would a simple 'how are you' be that hard? It's as if you only want other people to feel pity about you. I'm going through hard time, Carter's going through hard times. Dove is going through very hard times, heck, she's pregnant!"

Her yammering actually is making sense.

Am I the bad guy in this story?

Her eyes narrow like when she is thinking of another way to break my life into a million puzzle pieces. "I'm apologizing because what I did was wrong and I shouldn't have done it to anyone."

"Miss Perfect finally sees reality? Well, sometimes reality doesn't play through as well as you think it will. There is no possible way for me to forgive you, Hallie. You went out of your way to ruin my life twice." I feel my voice rising and cracking when it reaches the top.

"The guilt is eating me alive," she groans. "I thought you had no emotions," I retort. She gives me back a sarcastic laugh, "I'll get you to forgive me, Graham. Just you wait."

Hallie turns on her heel and gives me a face-full of her hair, before flouncing through the doorway.

I cover my eyes with my hands and try to was that conversation from my brain, but Hallie's voice is continuously penates ring through any thoughts I try to use to cover it up.

That's not the way to deal with life. Whatever it throws at you, you have to persist and never give up.

"Celeste?" This time, Hallie's voice is not in my head.