The Truth Hurts

69 │letters from the sky

"Casey, will you marry me?"

Taking a deep breath, Riley places a flat palm against his brow as he lowers his head. His car remains in idle, the engine slightly humming as he sits in the middle of Casey's drive. The headlights are cut off, the only light coming from the street lamps and the moon hanging overhead.

As well as Casey's bedroom window.

He practices again, this time taking a more apologetic approach. "Casey, I'm really sorry I hurt you. I just—" The words slip from his mind as the familiar, petrifying feeling overcomes him yet again. "Damnit, please just put this ring on your finger and say yes!"

Seeing slight movement out of the corner of his eye, he glances up to see a shadow cross in front of the open curtains. His eyes gaze downward to stare at the diamond glistening from the silver ring he holds squeezed between two of his fingers. Engraved on the inner core of the ring is an infinity symbol, their initials inscribed in each of the small loops. It matches perfectly with the necklace he had given her weeks ago, as it should considering he had bought them in a set.

Taking off his jacket, he tosses it over his shoulder and into the backseat. He grabs the rearview mirror, twisting it to face him as he makes a quick, feeble attempt to fix his messy hair.

Casey passes by her window again, feeling as if she is set on a broken loop as she walks back and forth between her dresser and the bed. She digs through the second drawer of her dresser, trying her best not to pay too much attention to any of Riley's belongings as she picks them up in small piles and carries them over to her bed to place them in a nearly full cardboard box.

Although deep down she really just wants to break everything—hell, even burn them in the fireplace downstairs—she can't do it. She sets each item gently into the box as if it were her own.

She comes across a picture they had taken at one of the photo booths at the Riverside Mall and a tear forms in her eye as she reminisces on that day. It was taken not more than a week after her break up with Morgan and, at the time, she was still shaken up by the fact that she had discovered he was cheating on her with multiple girls. It was the first time she had ever bonded with Riley as he had taken her out to so many places to distract her. Although she assumed it was him just being friendly, looking back now it was obvious that he liked her more than a friend. For some reason, she just couldn't open her eyes to notice. Slowly, she feels the small crease she had accidentally made on the lower right hand corner when she had shoved it into the box.

An impulsive urge of resentment overcomes her and, the next thing she knows, shreds of the small photo drift through the air as they land on her comforter. She looks down at what's left of the picture, not as satisfied as she thought she would feel looking upon it. Instead, it begins to seep in that they are as ripped apart as the photograph.

Shaking her head, she wonders how it had all come to this. Part of her is exhausted of all of the fighting but, on the other hand, she has always believed that some things are worth fighting for. She suddenly reaches down to grab a handful of Riley's things out of the box, quickly taking them back to the dresser to shove them inside the drawer where she found them.

Nervously, Riley feels his arms tremble as he cuts through the yard to approach the front porch of Casey's house. He reaches the door and raises a closed fist to it—freezing up before he can gather the courage to knock.

Sighing, he takes a deep breath and looks down at the small black box in his left hand. He looks back at the door and, instead of knocking, slowly backs away. Feeling pathetic, to say the least, he turns around to quickly walk toward his car but stops halfway.

He turns around to face the house again, his eyes watering as he stares up at Casey's bedroom window. He slowly approaches the porch but, before he can even make it to the steps this time, finds himself terrified. More than the night of the bus accident. More than the night Casey and Peyton were attacked. He's never felt so scared—so vulnerable—in his entire life.