What Have We Become

"You Don't Know Me Anymore"

Lucas

I ran after Riley as fast as I could.

There was no way I was going to let her blame them for this.

I'd come back to fix everything.

My heart was finally starting to heal after Cara's death and there was no way I was going to let Riley get away without trying to explain.

"Riley!" I yelled at her figure descending down the school steps.

"Leave me alone, Lucas. You're the last person I want to talk to right now."

"Why because I stayed in contact with my friends?" I yelled upset, "For protecting you from the things I've done? You can't blame them for keeping you in the dark! I told them not to!"

"Oh yeah some protection you have given me!" she yelled back, "Having our friends lie to my face and break my trust is just peachy!"

She walked down the street as quickly as she could but I knew my long legs would catch her.

"Riley, please just hear me out," I pleaded.

"And why should I?" She asked staring down at her phone which was being blown up by messages from everyone, "Why should I listen to anyone of you?"

"Because we cared about you enough to protect your innocence," I said hopefully.

She stopped and turned around slowly.

"My innocence? Don't give me that crap! This isn't the Riley committee all over again! I'm a freaking grown ass young woman! I decide what I will allow to hurt me. None of you had the right to let me think...."

She began to choke on her words as her eyes misted over.

"To think what?" I asked softly.

Our eyes met and I saw real pain.

"None of you had the right to let me think you left because I wasn't good enough. All of you let me believe that I would never be enough for you because as far as I knew you'd left because you realized you'd been in love with Cara and she'd just died on you!"

I flinched at her words.

"None of you had the right to let me believe I never meant anything to you," she finished sadly.

"Oh Riley," I said upset at myself, "that was never it."

"How was I supposed to know that?" She said angrily, "You never gave me any explanation! And I didn't know you'd given it to anyone else!"

I understood her perspective clearly.

If she'd disappeared like that out of nowhere, I'd be questioning everything we'd ever had.

"I'm sorry you felt that way," I said, "But trust me when I say that I've thought about you everyday since I left. And if I had had a choice I would have been here with you."

"I wish I believed that," she whispered sadly.

The bell rang and kids began to flood out of the school I turned around for two seconds but by the time I'd looked back at her she was gone.

I walked around for awhile before deciding to head towards my car.

That's when I saw them.

And my hear broke into a million tiny pieces all over again.

Riley