Who Are You?

Chapter 12

Maddie's POV

Things were going great, and I messed it up again. I'm tired of messing everything up. I can't do this to myself anymore.

As I walk home, wallowing in self pity, I look into the window of my favorite diner.

Penny is standing at the counter cleaning glasses when she sees me. She rushes over to the door and unlocks it, even though the diner is closed.

She locks the door back after I enter and embraces me in a hug.

"What's wrong sweetie? You look so sad!" She exclaims, pulling me to sit down at the counter.

Penny is a middle aged woman, who happens to be one of my best friends. She owns the diner, and I often come just to talk to her.

"Something happened with Liam," I sigh.

"Oh sweetie, what happened?" She asks while cleaning the glasses.

"Well, the past few days, we've been talking and we went for pizza and then I tried to kiss him and he pulled away, but then tonight I went to his house and he kissed me and then told me to leave when I told him to stand up to his dad and I'm just so confused," I say starting to cry.

"Oh dear, don't cry over him, if he yelled at you, he doesn't deserve you!" She says rubbing my back.

"But I want him! I know he didn't mean to yell! I pushed him too far!" I sob.

Penny drops her cup and looks me in the eye.

"Sweetie, when I was your age, I liked this boy named Bill, and he was my everything," she starts.

"Isn't your husband's name Bill?" I ask.

"Shh! Don't spoil it!" She says giggling, "So Bill and I didn't start off very well, he hated my guts because I pointed out the flaws he denied. I told him what to do if he didn't want to be broken anymore. But he didn't want to listen, so he yelled at me. Bill and I took some time apart, but then he came back to me, realizing I was only trying to help." she says rubbing my back.

"Do you think Liam is like Bill?" I ask her.

She nods and smiles at me.

"Liam sounds a lot like Bill," she says, "Do you want a milkshake to make you feel better?"

I shake my head and smile at her, "No thank you, I've got a beautiful boy to apologize to," I say.

I grab my coat and head back into the cold, waving goodbye to Penny.

My head shouts for me to go home, but my heart commands me not to. A shout disappears into the air, but a command lingers longer than any lost love ever could.

So for the second time today, my feet carry me to a forgotten boy, forgotten by all, including himself.