The Taming of the Shrew

Insanity

Elizabeth's POV

I pull away from Tom quickly, distancing myself from him. Nope. Fucking nope. I cant do this again. I cant. Tom looks at me confused, tilting his head curiously. I rip off his coat and shove it back into his hands.

"That was wrong. That was so wrong. I cant do this again. History just doesnt repeat itself. Im so sorry, Tom. Fuck." I turn around and begin to walk away from Tom as fast as i possibly can. A clap of thunder echoes around the street, followed by a flash of lightning and an even heavier downpour of rain. Im fucking drenched already and now im going to be electrocuted. Oh, and Tom just kissed me. Not like thats a big fucking deal or anything. I walk faster away into the rain. The sky has gotten dark with thick black clouds, creating an artificial night. Its not that the kiss was horrible. It was actually amazing. But i just cant get that close again. I cant go through the pain that came from that again. The rain drips off of my body and down my back. I am beyond soaked.

"BETH. COME BACK. YOU'RE GOING TO FREEZE." Tom calls desperately from behind me. I keep walking straight ahead. Dont turn around. Dont turn around.

"PLEASE, BETH. THIS IS CRAZY." He continues to call after me. Dont turn around, Elizabeth. Dont do it. A few minutes pass and i have made plenty of distance between Tom and i. I begin to slow myself down and take deep, soothing breaths.

"YEAH, WALK AWAY. JUST LIKE YOU DID A YEAR AGO." I hear Tom call angrily from behind me. My breath catches in my throat and I stop dead in my tracks. Did he really just say that? Did he really just fucking say that? I turn around, rage filling the inside of me and stinging on my tongue. His outline is faint in the distance, made into a dull projection by the rain between us.

"HOW FUCKING DARE YOU SAY THAT TO ME?" I scream back at him. I tear my way back down the street until im as close as i can possibly get to him without craning my neck. I glare at him, my eyes burning into his. He looks down at me, no trace of the Tom i used to know behind his expression. He looks furious and fed up and...lost.

"History doesnt repeat itself, does it, love? Well, i just witnessed it repeating itself so there goes that theory." He says quickly in a voice filled with frustration. I let out a small laugh of disgust. This isnt Tom. I breathe in a shaky breath and speak slowly and carefully in the most serious voice i can possibly conjure from my throat.

"I never want to see your fucking face around me again, you absolute prick. I cant believe you would bring that back up. I cant fucking believe you." I spit out at him. I've been here for not even one day and already, i've cried, i've been shocked, ive been pissed off, drenched, kissed, and screamed at. Everything from one year ago has been brought back up, and i've run into Tom. Just my fucking luck. I exhale, defeated. I just cant go through this.

"Im--im going home. I cant do this." I say quietly, fed up with today. Tom chuckles and shakes his head.

"You're not going home. You wouldnt go home. You cant." He says quickly; breathlessly. Tom looks into my eyes as though to search for some sort of humour in them to show that im joking. There is none. His face falls from his smug, anger filled expression, to one of defeat and disbelief.

"Y-you dont mean that, Beth." He says in a convincing tone as though im bluffing. I think he's trying to convince himself more than me. My hard outer shell falters for a moment but i quickly recover. I flick a piece of wet hair off of my face. I let myself go. I exhale and let my face soften.

"Im-im going back to New York, Tom. I thought i could get through this...but i cant. Look at us. We've only just reunited, not even for a day, and...and we're already fucking fighting. Its insane to even think that we could get through this." I say in defeat. Tom's eyes dart from my left eye to my right eye as though trying to find something behind my expression. He lets out a breathy scoff of denial.