We Were Friends.

10. We Were Friends.

She awoke to him, watching her. He was no longer on the bed. He was sitting in his chair, next to his desk—cigarette in between his fingers.

She sat up, running a hand through her hair. She leaned back onto his headboard. Pulling her knees up to her chest, the comforter covering her.

He didn't say anything to her. He only watched her. She watched him too.

Their gaze was never leaving each other.

It was silent for a while. Neither of them speaking. He would take a drag of his cigarette, inhaling the smoke and holding it before letting it out.

She put down her knees, scooting closer to him.

He watched as she crawled under his comforter and out the other side, close enough to reach over and touch him. She sat down, her legs crossed under each other—the blanket around her body.

He took another drag, exhaling. He watched as she inhaled a deep breath.

Second-hand smoking.

She had her eyes closed.

He shook his head and put out his cigarette.

He stood up and walked over to his window. She watched him.

He finally cleared his throat, making it clear that he was going to say something.

Her head perked, interested in what she would hear.

"What are you doing here?"

She stayed quiet. She was thinking of what she could say. He waited for a response when she didn't say anything; he looked down at his feet.

"You come back into my life after leaving for no damn reason. You start speaking to me, reminding me of all these old feelings and memories." He paused, picking up his head and looking out once again, "I tell you to leave me alone, and you ignore my request."

She stayed quiet before dropping his comforter. She felt the heaviness of guilt take over.

"I wanted you to be with me, and you vanished. I needed you. Every day I hoped you would send me a message explaining why you weren't talking to me." He stopped, his breath was uneven, as he felt anger surging through him.

She walked towards him. Exhaling a shaky breath. "I'm sorry. I am."

"I thought I did something to hurt you. I blamed myself for the longest. I would look back and think of what I had done, and every time I did, I never found a reason that would've caused you to leave me like I was nothing." He raised his voice. He was not facing her.

"I didn't mean to leave you. I swear. I didn't want you to deal with all my problems. I didn't want to stress you with all my shit." She said quietly. "I had already worried you so much that I didn't want to-"

He turned to look at her, "You didn't want to what? Want me to worry even more?"

She looked away. "I didn't want you to be involved. I wanted to see if I could finally fix my problems by myself without having to involve someone else."