Liminal Space | A Stardew Valley FanFiction

Chapter 15

The stairs sang below me as I heard muffled movement behind the door, expecting to see Sebastian's fingers flying over a keyboard.

The part of me that still believed in him couldn't bear to register the purple head of hair that completely covered his face, the pale legs straddled over dark pants, the crumpled comforter that screamed we're getting it on!

"Oh my god," I breathed out, my words catching his attention and sending his gaze darting towards me. My heart slammed into my ribcage.

The light from the hallway filled his dark eyes as he frantically peered at me from behind her, beneath her. His hands were firmly planted on the sides of her shoulders, icy veins snaking across them and swallowing her whole.

"Get off," he commanded Abigail. She stayed frozen in place. "Get off!"

She scrambled onto her feet and stared at me like a deer caught in headlights, and I could feel the adrenaline flowing through her blood; I imagined a sick part of her to be deriving pleasure from it all.

"Sorry to interrupt," I muttered, turning around and quickly ascending back into the foyer. My legs groaned as I strained to take two steps at a time.

"Cal, wait," Seb called after me. I moved faster.

And then I was surrounded by fresh mountain air that was now thick with smog, with memory. My pace picked up and suddenly I was running—I was running as fast as I could, trying to get to Sam, to get to anyone. I might've screamed for someone had I had a name to yell, had there been someone who would hear and come running just as fast. Someone who wasn't chasing after me with his tail tucked between his legs and someone else's spit on his lips.

His hand grabbed my shoulder right where it had grabbed hers, spinning me around and rooting me to the ground. "Callie," he said again.

"Get off of me!" I screamed, pushing him away.

"I can explain—"

"Explain it to someone who cares," I huffed, turning to walk away. "I'm over this."

"Please just talk to me," he pleaded, crunchy footsteps following mine. "Please."

"You want to talk?" I shouted, my voice echoing. "Fine! Let's talk about how she means nothing to you, but you still go running back? That's nothing? Then what does that make me?"

"She came onto—you know what? I was wasted, and so were you!" he said, his volume rising to match mine. "You can't possibly expect everything to be fixed with one drunk kiss."

"I—" the words were caught in my throat. "I didn't. I expected things to be different."

"I did all of the apologizing last night," he was quieter now. "It's your turn."

"You apologized because you got caught doing the one thing I'd never do to you." I hissed, venom in my words.

"I apologized because—"

"Because you're a coward."

"Because I care!" He shouted, flinging his arms towards the sky—it was like he was begging someone to believe him. "Because I care about you, no matter how hard I try not to. No matter how many times you remind me it's not mutual."

"It is—"

"You've still never been able to say it," he snarled, turning his back towards me. "And I'm the coward?"

"You kiss me when you're drunk, you kiss her when you're sober. How am I supposed to tell someone who can only look at me when they're hammered that I love them?"

"Do you?" He yelled, charging back towards me. "Do you fucking love me, Callie? Or do you love the idea of someone loving you? Because it's getting really fucking hard to tell."

"How do your fuck-ups always come back on me?" I yelled. "You tell me to get over my grandfather's death, a week after it happened, and I'm the asshole. You kiss my best friend the second I turn my back, and I'm the asshole."

"I was your best friend!" he screamed, practically cutting me off. His face was inches from mine now. "I was your best friend through it all, not her. She came onto me, and I tried to get her to stop. I wanted to talk to you about last night, but here we are again, right where we always end up. If I'm bad for that, what does that make her? Or does your wrath only apply to me?"

"The tree fell over," I said quietly, unable to muster up the energy to shout. His face fell. "All that was left of it was the rock with your stupid name on it. Your name is scribbled on every piece of me, and I hate it. I hate how much you mean to me; I hate that I kissed you; most of all, I hate that I was going to stand by it. I couldn't tell you I loved you because it was only a matter of time before you betrayed me again. And somehow, some way, you managed to do it before I'd even figured that out." An almost evil laugh escaped my lips. "The only thing time has changed is your age. You're still the same, sorry asshole you were at sixteen."

"Fuck you," he spat, his breath on my ear.

"I bet you'll want to next time you're wasted." I replied, turning to walk away.

This time, his footsteps didn't follow.