| published! under the new title MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE | Eden knows she can't love Truman, the boy with the angelic smile and devilish eyes. Why? He's her best friend Katie's older brother, who she strictly promised she'd stay away from.
But when a...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
E D E N
I stared at the address for the rest of the day. I didn't recognize it, not even the street. When I showed it to Ramona, she only shook her head, saying the same thing.
I mapped it out on my phone. It was nearly an hour walk from my apartment, shorter by subway. The area seemed deserted from the map, old streets with no buildings aside from one. I sighed and shoved my phone into my pocket, then left my apartment to walk to the subway.
I wasn't just curious about what Truman wanted to show me. It felt like I was rooting for him, too. Like I wanted him to prove me wrong. To show me that there was this hidden part of him that was worth caring for.
Mostly, I wanted to know that he didn't give up on Katie when he left. Maybe then, I could trick myself into believing he didn't give up on us, either.
My Converse squeaked against the shiny subway floors as I sat down, headphones in. It wasn't busy at this time of day, not like the mornings or late afternoon when people were commuting from work and school. Now, the subway was dead. I sat back, turned up my music, and placed my feet on the seat in front of me, tugging my knees to my chest.
I opened Instagram last night for the first time in a while to see students from my Art class posting photos with Truman, the two of them smiling into the camera like he was some sort of celebrity. I rolled my eyes as I scrolled, deliberately not liking any of them.
They were swooning over him, and it pissed me off. He had a girlfriend, I knew that, and it wasn't jealousy I felt. I couldn't put my finger on what it was, though. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I was trying to move forward after the accident, but I couldn't. One foot was firmly stuck in the past, always at Katie's bedside, waiting for her eyes to open and tell me what it was we were doing next. Because that's how it always had been.
Katie made the rules, I just followed.
She decided how we would spend our weekends. She chose who we sat with at lunch. She forced me into that promise, knowingly deciding who I could and couldn't love. And I went along with all of it, without ever questioning why I was so quick to follow her.
Now, I was realizing that it was wrong. That I shouldn't have let her control me like that. That I never even saw it as her controlling me until this very moment, when everything suddenly seemed to make sense.
It felt wrong to think negatively of her, knowing her current condition. I pushed the thoughts aside, focusing on the music instead of the past.
When I was at the stop closest to the address Truman gave me, I walked off the subway and focused on the journey. The streets were dead here, unlike the busy intersections of Dundas Square that were always filled with people.
I pulled my bag tighter to my chest, contemplating calling Truman while I walked, but not wanting to feel like I needed him. Or worse, have him think that and inflate his ego.
