DENIAL

07

In the back was a large pool, nobody was in the pool though because it was especially cold out. The water was a clear blue, glistening in the moonlight.

He always found comfort in simple things like that, how beautiful the moon looked in the reflection of clear water.

Luickly, he had a jacket on that shielded him from the cold and he sat down on one of the lounge chairs. He laid his head back and closed his eyes, he could still hear the faint music from the inside but he blocked it out and relaxed for a while. He just sat there and thought. And somehow,

Alea had crept into his mind.

He thought back to what had happened and the feelings of rage seeped back into him, he knew he shouldn't have still been thinking of it especially because it never did anything but upset him however, the words that were exchanged were burned into his mind, and then a sense of guilt filled him.

"You should be glad your mother's dead, so she can't see what a fucking disappointment you turned out to be." Words he said to her that day.

Her demeanor fell apart with just a sentence, her eyes fell apart in a way he'd never seen before.

He could feel the pain, the suffering, the guilt in her eyes.

But his own feelings clouded what was right and wrong and in that moment he didn't care.

Not even a little bit.

Now he was filled with so many conflicting emotions and feelings, he was angry.

He was angry that she assumed that he was ungrateful and spiteful to his parents without real reason and that it was easy to "make up" with them.

His parents had denied him the basic paternal love that was expected of them, trying to fix something that has been broken way before it ever truly needed fixing was damn near impossible.

On the other hand, he felt guilty. He felt guilty for bringing up her mother, he knew all too well what feeling like a disappointment and a failure felt like.

To call her out like that wasn't right, but for her to call him out like that wasn't right either.

The situation was complicated and he wondered if it even mattered, he wondered if they could make up despite all that was said, he wondered if they could've been friends in some alternative universe. He wondered why he cared.

He groaned at his thoughts, and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Leighton?" Suddenly, a voice appeared. One he knew all too well. "Yeah?" He replied dryly, not bothering to open his eyes to make eye contact with her.

"Do you have a minute? I'm sorry I- I didn't mean to disrupt you." Her voice was soft and sincere, not loud and annoying as it usually was.

He decided to open his eyes and he met her blue ones. Her blue eyes had a sadness in them that he couldn't completely understand.

To say that she was unattractive would be a lie, her long platinum blonde hair contracted almost perfectly with her ice blue eyes and her tight red dress that complimented her body well was hard for him to ignore.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Leighton asks, he gestures her to sit next to him and she does.

"Nothing- it's not important. I just.. I wanted to ask you something." Marissa says, her eyes shifting from his to the ground.

He already knows what's she gonna ask but he stays neutral the entire time. He grabs her hands in his,

"Okay."