Begin Again

Chapter 16

Joe’s POV

“Joe,” Caitlin whispers. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

I sigh, taking a deep breath. “I’m so sorry, Caitlin.”

I look over at Savannah, who is standing there with a guilty look on her face.

It’s not your fault Savannah, I think. Please don’t blame yourself.

“How could you to this to me?” Caitlin asks, ripping my attention away from Savannah. “I thought you loved me.”

“I did,” I whisper. “Caitlin, I never meant for you to find out like this.”

“Save it Joe,” she replies harshly, putting her hand up to stop me.

A single tear runs down her face and it takes everything in my willpower not to wipe it away. I see her cast a broken look at Savannah, before she runs off.

“Shit,” I curse under my breath. Without sparing another glance at Savannah, I run in the direction Caitlin went.

Way to go Joe, you’ve probably broken two girls’ hearts today.

“Caitlin!” I call out, getting the attention of a few customers.

I ignore the weird looks they give me and run out of the mall. Spotting her getting into a taxi, I run over.

“Caitlin, please,” I beg her. She looks over at me, shaking her head, while more tears fall out.

I grab her arm, stopping her from going any further. “Can we please just talk?”

“Let go of me, Joe,” she demands, ripping her arm out of my grasp.

“Come on lady,” the taxi driver calls. “We don’t have all day.”

Caitlin goes to step inside the taxi, one more time but again I grab her arm. She sighs, turning around to face me. “You’re not going to give up until you talk to me, are you?” She asks, a small-smile playing on her face.

“No, I’m not.”

“Okay,” she replies, turning serious. “You want to talk, so talk.”

“Not here, where kind of in the middle of a car park,” I respond, slowly.

“Are you coming or not?” the taxi driver asks, honking his horn.

“You can go, if you want,” I inform him.

“Stupid teenagers,” he mutters, before speeding off.

“Okay, then,” I draw out awkwardly, “Are you ready to talk?”

“Sure,” she responds, wiping away her dry tears.

I motion for her to follow me back to my car. She gets in and I follow suit, then putting my seatbelt on. I start the car; wait for her to buckle up and then I back out of the parking lot and on to the highway.

The car ride is silent. The first silent car ride in ages, and that’s when I realise things are never going to be the same with me and Caitlin. It’s always going to be awkward.

I decide to drive to the local park, because if there’s anything I’ve learned from Caitlin in the past years is that the only real thing that calms her is swing sets.

She likes swinging back and forth on them. Personally, when I first found out about that I thought it was a little weird, but hey, I guess that’s what she likes to do.

When I pull into the parking lot, Caitlin doesn’t look surprised that I’ve taken her to the park. I guess, I see where she is coming from though, the park’s our talking spot like the beach is Savannah’s and I spot.