Show Me Love (Nathan Sykes and Ariana Grande)

Walk Away

JAY’S POV

 

       I paced up and down in my room, holding my phone. It’s been thirty minutes and I still hadn’t called her. What do I say? Hi Elizabeth, it’s Jay. I need to tell you something? That sounded like I cheated on her. Hey Liz, it’s Jay. Meet me in five? That sounded a little forceful. Hey girl, me you, my house at seven? I sounded like I wanted to get her in bed.

           I slammed my face in the pillow in frustration and threw my phone beside me. I decided to go down and look for Ariana’s help. I flung my door open and ran down the stairs where I first found her and Nathan. “Where’s Ariana”, I asked, looking at all the boys around the room. Nathan was the first to answer, “She went to party with the girls”, and he scoffed. He seemed a little bitter about it but I just shrugged it away. “Why didn’t you come with them”, I asked Max. The Max I knew would never miss a part, “They didn’t let us come”. I nodded.

          I ran back up the stairs and to my room. I looked at the clock. It was already nine. It would be a miracle if she even agreed to see me. I shut my eyes and clicked on her contact. I didn’t notice what I was doing until I heard the phone line start to ring. One ring, two ring, three ring; my finger was hovering over the hang up button and I almost pressed it when, “Hello”, a voice said over the line. I gulped, “Hey Elizabeth”. She giggled over the phone and I couldn’t help but smile, “Hey Jay”.

          I took a deep breath, “Um, I was…uh wondering if you could m-meet me”. She was silent for a second, “Uh, it’s a little late don’t you thing”, I gulped again. “Well, it’s kind of important”. She said, “Well, ok. Where do you want to meet”? I mentally slapped myself for not thinking this through, “The Park where we went to on our last date”. We had shared four dates since I first met her and all went quite smoothly. “Ok, I guess. Well, may I ask why you need to meet me at nine at night”, she laughed. I looked down as if she was really there, “Well um, I need to tell you something”.

          She paused, “Well, I guess I’ll see you in twenty minutes then”, she said. I said yes and we said our goodbyes. I hung up the phone and threw it on the bed. I fell next to it on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. What am I going to do?

          I went into my closet and picked out two shirts. I walked to my only mirror and held up the shirt to my chest. “Nope”, I thought and threw it to the ground. I held the other to my chest and let it fly to the closet after my decline. I searched the closet more thoroughly and still couldn’t find the right shirt. I looked to the clock on the wall and saw that I had already spent fifteen minutes. I gasped and pulled a random shirt off of the floor and pulled it on. I picked up my only pair of clean dark jeans and pulled those on too. I checked my hair in the mirror and moved it around a little. I ran down the stairs and the boys looked at me, “Someone’s in a rush”, Tom says, not even looking up from the telly. I shrug, “I’m meeting up with Liz”, I say, pulling on my sneakers.

          Nathan was the only one not watching the football game and looked up from his phone, “Are you going to tell her who you are”, he asked. I nodded and he smiled, “Good mate”. He looked back at his phone and smiled. I knew that smile; he was texting Ariana. I rolled my eyes at him and waved goodbye to the boys.

          The park was only a couple blocks away from our house and I started to walk. “I’m not who you think I am”, I tried to say, but I realize that sounds really bad. “I didn’t exactly lie to you, but I am not really who I said I was”, I groaned at how stupid I sounded, but I was already by the park. I spotted Elizabeth’s blonde hair on a bench and before I could run over to her, I couldn’t help but stare at her. She was so pretty. She was wearing a knee high pink floral dress and matching flats. Her hair was loose around her. I jogged over to her and she smiled at me. She got up and hugged me and I hugged back, “Hey Jay”. I said, “Hey Lizzy”. She smiled at her nickname and pulled back. She sat back down on the bench and I sat down beside her. I looked up to the stars and tried to fumble with my words. She cleared her throat and looked at me, “So what did you need me for at nine o’clock at night”.

          I sighed, “Well, I have to tell you something”. She sighed then too, “I knew this would happen”. I looked at her with surprise, “Huh?” She locked eyes with me, “You’re breaking up with me, aren’t you”, I was frozen with shock that she would even think that, “You’re going to say that it’s you not me and that you just don’t like me anymore and you found someone more prettier, curvier, skin-“, I cut her off, “Elizabeth, I don’t want to break up with you. I really like you”. She smiled, “I really like you too”.

          I looked back up to the sky. I couldn’t look into her eyes again, which sparkled under the stars. I knew I would feel guilty, “I……I”, I started, but I just couldn’t finish the sentence. Her eyes were begging me to continue. I sighed “I’m…… I’m not who I said I w-was”. Her head snapped up then and looked right at me, eyes confused, needing an explanation. “I’m not really a recording manager”. Silence surrounded us and I could almost feel her shock.

          I wished she would say something, anything! Yell at me, scream at me, at least she would be talking to me. I turned my head to see her face and saw her eyes staring at a nearby tree, more silent than I’ve ever heard her. I gulped and looked away. “Then what are you”, she asked. My head turned sharply at her sudden voice. “Are you like a cashier or a mail carrier? Or do you even have a job”, her voice was getting louder and louder. “I have a job”, I said. She looked mad now, “Then why did you lie”, she said through gritted teeth. She looked up and met my eyes. Her blue eyes were filled with anger. Ariana was right.

          Silence again fell. “I’m in a band”. Her eyes turned to slits, “Are you trying to lie to me again?” I shook my head, “No, no; just”; I started then realized I had a picture on my phone.

          I pulled my black phone out and unlocked it. I scrolled through my pictures until I finally found the right one. I pulled it up and handed her the phone. She looked at it closely, her brows furrowing. “That’s you”, she asked. I nodded. She held the phone up close to my face, comparing between the picture and me. “That’s Ariana’s boyfriend. She showed me a picture of him”. I nodded again.

          She handed me back the phone and looked away, “So you’re in a band, ok”. Silence fell upon us again. Again, I wished she would say something. She was about to get up and leave but I stopped her, “Just hear me out please”. She sat back down, “You have two minutes”. I took a deep breath, “The day I met you in that bar I liked you right away. And then you asked me what I did for a living and I panicked. All of the girls that I dated have just liked me because of the money and the fame. And I didn’t want you to think of me like that. I wanted you to like me for me”, I said.

          “You shouldn’t have just assumed that I liked you just because of that”, she said, breaking eye contact. “Elizabeth, I know and I’m sorry”. Our eyes met again, “Why couldn’t you just tell me; that day at the bar after our conversation before I was about to leave”?

          “It never came up. You liked me the way I was and I didn’t want to ruin that. And, how would you like it if I just said ‘Oh wait, I’m not really a recording artist’”, I said. She snapped her head up and her eyes met mine. But this time her eyes were full of fire. “And you couldn’t tell me on our second date; third? FOURTH”, she seethed. I stared at my lap.

          “I understand that you were afraid to tell me the first time we met”, she said, started to get up. I stood up beside her, in hope. “But I don’t see why you couldn’t tell me in the past month that we’ve known each other. All of the time we have spent together, you didn’t say a thing. Every minute we were with each other I believed something you were not”, she said, not meeting my eyes. “But everything else is true about me”, I tried to reason. She turned away, “I can’t, Jay”.

          “But Elizabeth”, I said. “I’m sorry”, and before I could stop her, she walked away.