The Color Line

Unfinished

Having a room on the second floor makes it so much harder to sneak out. I could just jump but I don't want to risk any broken bones. There's a tree next to my window. I may be able to get to it if I can jump far enough..

"I can't believe I'm doing this," I mumble to myself.

I open the window and shimmy out. I make sure to leave it cracked so that I'll be able to get back in. The jump to the tree won't be far, but I know it may hurt.

After a brief pep talk, I leap towards the tree, catching myself on a low branch. My hands burn and the jump knocks the wind right out of me, but I continue to lower myself to the ground using the sturdy branches.

Once I'm on the ground I take a minute to catch my breath. Then I start towards the place where Alex wanted me to meet him.

I have no idea why I'm even doing this. I feel dumb, but at the same time I'm curious as to what he wants to say to me. Will he apologize? Or will he find another way to make me feel like crap? If he does that I'd have no choice but to beat his ass.

I get to the same rock where I came to meet Alex a while ago. The memory of our little get together is still fresh in my mind, tugging at my heart strings. I have to quickly push the thought away before I start crying again.

I walk towards the rock where Alex is sitting. He turns around as soon as he hears my footsteps.

"Harmony..." He almost whispers. He stumbles over to me, pulling me into a hug. He's putting all of his weight on me then starts to sniff my hair before I realize what's wrong with him. His breath reeks of liquor which makes me gag a little.

"You're drunk," I push him off of me causing him to stumble backward.

"No I'm not," he giggles.

"I don't even know why I came here. I was just a drunk phone call wasn't I?" Before he can answer, I turn on my heels and storm off towards the street.

"Harmony wait!"

I keep walking.

"Don't leave!" He shouts. I swear he's going to wake up the whole town if he doesn't shut up.

"What do you want?" I turn around fiercely. "You've wasted enough of my time. I came out here to maybe give you another chance and when I get here you're drunk."

"Harmony I'm sorry..I-"

"Not you're not," I interrupt. "You're not sorry Alex. First you get me to care about you only to tell me that you've not once shared the same feeling. Then somehow you get the entire town to stand outside of my house, planning on what they're gonna do to us next. And now look where we are. You got me to sneak out of my house at one in the morning only to find a drunk bastard sitting it the middle of the woods. I can't believe I thought things would be fixed when I came out here. I at least thought you were going to attempt to fix this." When I'm done, my face is hot and tears are desperately trying to escape my eyes.

Alex just stands there, wide eyed with his fists balled up at his sides. My rant may have sobered him up a little. He looks angry but I couldn't care less. He has no reason to be mad. He's the one that caused all of this. He's the one who hurt me, not the other way around.

"Harmony.."

"What?" I hiss. I was finally able to suck the tears back into my face so now I can look at him with my deepest scowl.

"Just hear me out okay?" He asks. "I don't want to argue with you. I just need you to listen to me."

I shrug my shoulders, allowing him to speak his mind.

He stumbles a little, trying to regain his balance before he speaks.

"All those things I said to you...all those dumb things I said... I didn't mean it...any of it. The truth is that.." he pauses.

"What?" I question. I don't mean to raise my voice but I'm so irritated that it's almost impossible to speak calmly.

He doesn't say anything though. He just stands there, staring at his feet.

"Are you going to finish your sentence?" I can feel my small bit of hope fading and my patience is wearing extremely thin. He still continues to stand there, looking as if he's about to cry.

I can't do this right now. It's late and I'm tired. I need to get home before anyone notices that I'm gone. There's a small part of me that wants to stay and comfort him until he can muscle up the balls to finish his sentence, but a larger part of me is about ready to punch him in the face and go home.

"You know what?" I finally speak after minutes of silence. "I don't have time for this. I need to get home."

He looks up, his eyes red and glossy, but I ignore him. I turn back towards the street. My feet feel like there are bricks attached to them. My heart is pulling towards Alex, hopelessly trying to hold on to what I thought we had, while my brain tells me to keep going and move on.

I end up standing there with my back turned to him, hoping that in a couple seconds he'll erupt into emotion and welcome me into his arms.

But it doesn't happen. He continues to stand silently behind me. I turn my head slightly to see what he's doing. To my surprise he's staring straight at me with tears streaming down his cheeks.

I want to hug him and tell him that's its all okay but I know that I should just go home. There's no use in trying anymore or giving myself anymore useless hope.

I finally walk away, heading back home but from behind me I hear a faint whisper:

"We can never be together."

The words create a pain in my chest but I ignore it so I can hurry home to cry in the comfort of my room.