Mr. Hollingsworth.

Ch. 40 Pennies.

    With closed eyes, and a broken heart, I had no idea how long I sat on the bench. But after a while, I felt someone sit next to me. My eyes snapped open as I looked over, it was Drake. I surprised myself by feeling a little sting of disappointment.

    "Hey, Alice what happened?" He asked, his eyes were dark with concern. He was one of my only friends at the office. Sighing, I rubbed my face. "You can tell me." Drake urged, rubbing my shoulder soothingly. Pushing my hair back, I looked at him. "You know Mr. Hollingsworth and I were dating?" I asked, he nodded. "Well I walked in on him kissing another girl." I answered, Drake's eyes hardened, he was mad. "I can't believe he'd fucking do that to you." He growled, it looked like he was ready to charge into Alexander's office and beat the hell out of him.

    Resting my hand on his shoulder, I gave him a warning look. "Don't, it'll just make things worse." I muttered, rubbing my eyes. He nodded, but when I say he went out of his way to help me avoid Alexander, it's an understatement.

    A couple days later, some delivery guy walked into my office, and put a huge jar of pennies on my desk. Without another word he left. Slowly, I pulled the note from the lid of the jar, and in Alexander's scrawling handwriting, it read, 'I've been thinking of you. I'm sorry, can we please talk?' I remembered when he asked if I wanted anything and I told him to set aside a penny every time he thought of me. All of me told myself I should throw the note away, but I put it in my pocket, and when I got home later, I put it in the jar with all the other notes he gave me. I also kept the jar of pennies, absently putting them on the top of my dresser, but I didn't have the heart to take it down. Even though he'd stabbed, no impaled me through the back, and now I was bleeding out on the floor, he still belonged at the top.

    Everyday he'd send me a jar full of pennies.

    When I walked into the office, the delivery guy was just leaving, and I stopped him. "Hey, can you give something to Mr. Hollingsworth for me?" I asked slowly, I saw Drake staring at me from the corner of my eyes, but with each penny filled jar, I knew that Alexander felt guilty, and I needed an explanation. So I pulled out a penny from my wallet, and wrote a small note on it. Telling him that I was willing to talk to him after work in my office. But in reality I didn't know if I was strong enough to look at him without crying.

    I felt sick by the end of the day, and when I saw Alexander, I realized I wasn't strong enough. Every time I looked at him, I just felt the betrayal. So I basically sprinted away from him, to my safe haven. The park. Except he followed me there.

    Trees enshrouded us, sunlight filtering through. He caught my wrist, "Alice!" He called, turning me around. Even though I had enough training to fight back, I didn't have the strength in me. "Yes?" I asked, my tone sounded hurt, even if I tried to sound strong. Alexander looked hurt too. "Let me explain, please." Alexander pleaded, "You kissed another girl, she was basically shirtless. What is there to explain?" I demanded, surprised by the bitterness in my voice. Angrily I wiped my tears away. He sighed.

    "Let's sit down."

    I noticed he let go of my hand once we sat, and I kind of wanted to reach out and snatch his hand back.

    "Look Alice, I didn't kiss her because I wanted to," he started, I looked at him, he was staring back at me, and it was hard to maintain eye contact. "Why then?" I demanded, Alexander sighed, "That morning I walked into the office, and she walked in and told me that I was needed somewhere, by the time I got out of my chair, she'd launched at me. Then she ripped her own shirt open and started kissing me. Before I could shove her off you walked in." He explained, I stared off, and let that sink in. The angry part of me didn't want to believe him, but he sounded so disgusted, so hurt, so lost, I knew he was telling the truth. All my mixed feelings were conveyed in one strangled word.

    "Oh."

    He looked at me again, and his intense gaze demanded mine, so I complied. "I promise I'm not lying, and I don't care if I have to give you pennies for the rest of my life, because I'm always thinking of you. You're the only girl I care about, the only one. I love you so much, it physically hurts my chest, just seeing your smile makes me feel like I've just been given everything I've ever wanted. You're everything I've ever wanted, everything I've ever needed. You never judged me even at my worst, and you stayed beside me at my best. I love you so much and -" I cut him off by clamping my hand over his mouth.

    "I believe you."

    Alexander's eyes widened slightly as I removed my hand, "You believe me?" I nodded, now I was just livid with rage at that whorish secretary. He surprised me when he started crying. "Alex?" I asked in concern, wiping away his tears for him. He caught my wrists, and held my hands against his face. He looked so happy, so relieved. "Thank you," he breathed, I leaned in and kissed him. When I pulled back, he smiled, "I know we've only known each other for a year," Alexander started.

    I nodded, silently urging him to continue.

    "But I have something to tell you."

    I nodded once again.

    Alexander inhaled, and this time I was willing to listen.