This Time Today

I Love You

*SHORT STORY*

 "I love you," she whispered into her pink cell phone. Nothing but music and the rustle of paper returned what she thought was an open and honest expression. "Did you hear me?" She paused. "I said I love you." She heard an intake ragged of air, tears formed in her eyes. Of course he doesn't love, how could he when I'm...me. She took the phone from her ear, finger hovered above the end button, when his voice cut through. "Why? Why would you say something like that when you know we could never be together? I'm your best friend's boyfriend!" His voice didn't sound like the one she fell for, this one was filled with anger, betrayal, disgust...and hatred. It broke her heart to even think of him hating her, and as his words echoed in her mind, sobs crawled up her throat. "I never meant to fall for you! I never planned this, Tate! The last thing I would ever want is to hurt Violet, you know that." She cried, just thinking of her best friend had her sobbing even harder. The silence she received was a deafening, suffocating type of silence, the type she could feel in her bones. "Tate?" She whispered through her tears. She heard him sigh from from the other side of the phone.

"What do you what me to say? That I love you? That you'll be more than a friend to me, because it wouldn't be true, I see you as a friend, a best friend, and I'm sorry that I don't feel the same way." He shuffled before getting comfortable. "Look, maybe it's better we stop talking. I don't want you to get hurt anymore." He muttered, her heart stopped, she knew she shouldn't have told him, she knew it. Her eyelids shut subconsciously as the tears became waterfalls, showing her deepest secret and deepest regret. "No, Tate, I'd rather have you as a friend then nothing, please don't shut me out." She pleaded. Her lips trembling as her eyes blurred in anticipation. It felt as if her entire world was hanging by a string, no by a thread, losing him would be like losing a major piece of herself. Her knees collapsed as she stood from the chair she was perched on. The moment she made contact to the floor her sobs became heard, her screams became roars, her body trembled like an earthquake settled in her bones. Her state left her so broken, she didn't even notice her mother's comforting arms wrapping around her, her soothing voice whispering that ever thing was going to be fine. Because in that moment, nothing existed except her broken heart.

"I'm sorry, but I just can't talk to you anymore. Goodbye." And just like that, her world came crashing down. The phone slipped from her hands as the emptiness set in. She lost one of the most important people in her life because she had to let her feelings get in the way. She felt like screaming, like ripping the world apart for this sick play on fate. It was just her luck the one guy she truly loved would be in love with her best friend. But her screams were trapped in her throat as if someone had shoved a burning iron down it. Her hands shook like her bones were trying to escape, she didn't even have the strength to wipe the tears way. Pathetic, it was the only word that popped into her mind, she was pathetic to let her feelings control her, to let her lose him.