Miles Away | Nick Mara

Ten

We got back to the house at around 10:00 PM. We were all pretty tired; all the shouting and screaming had drained our energy. As soon as we walked through the door, everybody collapsed onto the living floor or the sofa, complaining that they were tired. Brandon had called earlier to say that he'd spend the night at Charlotte's, so we shouldn't wait up for him.

Around 10 minutes after we'd come home, Nick got up and walked outside onto the front porch. I watched as he grabbed his phone and headed out the door.

"He does that sometimes to clear his head," Austin explained.

I nodded and smiled. A few minutes later, I stopped scrolling through Twitter and decided to join him outside.

A gentle breeze brushed past me as I walked out. He sat on the step of the porch, looking at something on his phone. When he heard me walking towards him, he turned it off and looked at me. I sat beside him.

"So today was fun," I said with a smile.

He nodded. "It's been a while since we've actually been out of the house."

I looked out towards the sky with a sigh. The sun was beginning to set; flashes of color appeared all over the sky.

"I know what Edwin told you." He said slowly.

I blinked and looked at him. "Oh."

"He's not wrong, I guess." He breathed out slowly. "We probably could've worked it out."

"Maybe," I said. "But there were still some things that we couldn't fix."

"Yeah." He paused. "I gave up too quick."

"We both did." I said with a sigh.

"You seemed fine." He avoided my eyes.

I turned to face him again. "With what?"

"After we broke up. You seemed fine. The other guys said that you seemed fine."

I laughed sadly. "I wasn't fine." I paused. "I was still in love with you."

He met my eyes. I could see the reflection of the sunset in his eyes.

Just as I was about to say something, he quietly said: "I think am still in love with you."

I didn't know what to say. I blinked a few times, looking out towards the sky, trying not to meet his eyes. It was so quiet I could hear him breathing from beside me.

"I'm sorry," he said after a while. "That was weird. I shouldn't have said that."

"No, it's okay."

I sat still next to him, trying my best not to love or breathe too loud. A minute past, then two, then three... We sat on the steps for a while, staring at the sky and avoiding each other's eyes.