Take Me Home | ✔

Chapter Forty-Two

dedicated to Harryssmirk1 for her lovely support (she is so freaking nice), and her hilarious comments that never fail to make me laugh !! x

VIENNA'S POV

I'VE NEVER WANTED TO DELIBERATELY HURT SOMEONE so badly in my entire life. And now that I have, I've never felt so guilty in my entire life.

For the past year, all I've wanted was for Elliot to feel the way I felt that night. I wanted him to be that dented Styrofoam cup. And so for the past year, I thought, that if fate existed and somehow managed to get us in the same place together again, I would give him a piece of my mind and a taste of his own poison. I convinced myself that yelling at him, and telling him hurtful things, and giving him the cold shoulder, was the right thing to do. After all, he had done the same to me, without reason, without explanation.

But if it was the right thing to do, why does it feel so wrong?

I had insulted the very thing that broke him. When did I become so heartless? When did we even start acting like this?

And so I dropped the box of Christmas lights I was holding and ran into the house after him. When I got inside, I didn't know where he was. The living room was empty, and the only person in the kitchen were Angie and Tess.

"Vienna?" Angie was in the middle of chopping some vegetables. "Is everything alright?" Behind her, Tess was wide-eyed at my appearance, and I imagined myself looking like a deer in the headlights, looking guiltier than ever.

"Have you seen Elliot?"

Angie's face fell for a moment. "He went out, for a while."

Her eyes flickered outside to the backyard, to the barn. I stepped towards the back door when Angie stopped me.

"Vienna, honey, I don't think you can see him right now," she said carefully, like she was speaking to a bomb.

"Why not?"

"He took off on a ride for the afternoon. It would be pretty hard to catch up to him now," she spoke. "Did you want me to give him a message?"

I could feel my stomach plummeting down to my toes. "I'll wait for him."

"Okay, honey," Angie said, her eyes studying my face observantly. "But I'm not sure when he'll be back."

"But he'll be back though, right?"

Angie didn't seem so sure now. She frowned at the question, the answer not certain. "I don't know, honey."

What? What did she mean he wouldn't be back? Did I really push him to leave his family for the holidays before Christmas even started?

Tess then cleared her throat, "Uh, what Angie means to say is, that Elliot loves his horse, and the trails are pretty long, so he might not be back as soon as you think." She got out of the kitchen, walking towards me precariously. "Um, Vienna, why don't I help you unpack?"

She was speaking quite loudly, louder than usual, and was guiding me upstairs.

"What?" I whispered to her. "I already unpacked—"

"We'll be right back, Angie," Tess threw her an artificial smile before ushering me up the stairs, almost pushing me up the steps. When we were out of Angie's earshot and in my guest room, Tess pushed herself back against the door, blocking my exit.

Tessa eyed me, firmly. "What happened?"

"Tess, it's a long story," I started, sitting on the edge of the bed and hanging my head down.