Always

29|better

AMARA

It had been three days. Three days since I had even messaged Sage. The most that happened was that every night before going to sleep, I'd tell him not to call me. Right now, I was contemplating whether or not I should call him with my phone in my hand, my finger hovering over the call button.

I couldn't not talk to him forever, he was still my fiancé. But what will I say? That question was probably the only thing that kept me from hitting the button. Before I could decide, Layla came bursting into my room. For some reason, she looked out of breath.

"What's the matter?" I asked, concerned.

"Did you not hear?"

"Hear what?" "Sage was attacked in a small warehouse of the Koreans. He wasn't hurt though. The bullets had the Mexican mafia's symbol on them."

She said something else, but I didn't hear. All I could hear was a ringing sound in the back of my head. Without wasting another second, I got up from my bed, grabbed the keys and rushed outside, ignoring Layla shouting my name. I didn't have time for that, she knew it. I got in my car and sped up, probably going over the speed limit. All I knew was I had to reach out to him as soon as possible.

-------

I got out of my car quickly when I reached his house. I almost barged in, then I thought I should probably knock. So I did. A couple moments later, Sage opened the door. We stood there for sometime, just looking at each other, when he finally decided to invite me inside.

"Water?" He offered. I shook my head no.

After that we sat on his couch in awkward silence. I decided to break it.

"You know, you shouldn't just open the door like that to anyone."

He chuckled slightly. "Yeah, I'll remember that."

Silence again. I took a deep breath.

"So...are you alright?" He seemed a bit taken aback by my question. "Uh yeah. I mean sure, why?" I gave him a weird look.

"Why? Really? It's not like you got attacked. Not at all." I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

"Oh, um, yes I'm fine. I mean they didn't really do a lot of harm. So, that's why you're here?" Was that the only reason I was there?

"Well, partially." I admitted. I decided we had to talk everything through. "I think you know what the other part is."

His head instantly dropped. "Yeah."

I was deciding how to start, or what to say first. Do I apologize? Do I accuse him? Do I ask him to apologize?

Luckily for me, he spoke first. "Listen, what happened that day, I'm really sorry. It's just-" He sighed.

"That was the first time someone had kissed me, and I didn't know what to do or how to respond. I was shocked. I think I just, how do I put it? Stopped working? Malfunctioned?"

Both of us chuckled at the last part. "Why didn't you tell me that earlier then, idiot?"

"I wanted to, I even tried stopping you, remember? But you never gave me a chance to explain." The situation was so pathetic, it was funny. I started laughing. Then, I pulled Sage into a hug, still laughing. He was stiff for a second, but this time, he melted. And also started laughing along with me.

"I'm sorry, I should've heard you out. You know, given you a chance to tell me why you malfunctioned." I said as we pulled apart.

We laughed at that stupid joke again. "But no seriously, I'm sorry I never gave you a chance to place your side of the story." He smiled and pulled me into another hug. I took that as an 'apology accepted'. I smiled.

Things were finally getting better between us.