Crash and Burn

t w e n t y t w o: A Better Solution

I woke up Saturday morning drowning in my own guilt once again. Roman was out there somewhere thinking that I betrayed him intentionally, when in fact it was unintentional. I tried to block my feelings out as much as possible because I knew that later I was going to fix all of this when I saw Roman. I also knew the perfect way to clear my head: a run. 

My race was only like three weeks away, and my training was going good but I still needed to push myself. I changed Into some leggings and a sports bra then threw a lightweight jacket on top for the cold. I grabbed my shoes and I was out the door. 

The cold air felt good on my skin as I started to run up my street, starting out slow to save my energy for later in the run. I turned onto Sangster Street, making my way to my favorite path to run on. I ran down Sangster Street for a while until I found the opening to the path. 

The path was surrounded by gorgeous trees with colorful leaves, making it my favorite running spot. Seven miles later, I was back at my house, my head cleared and less foggy now. Once I showered and got ready for the day I determined that the best way to approach Roman would be to apologize in person and ask him to go to dinner with me. He could never refuse that. 

So, I spend my day reading, watching TV, and chatting with my mom until I need to leave for Roman's house. I'll admit, I was a little scared to show up at his house in fear of seeing Rick. That man is scary and probably won't appreciate me being there, but I knew Roman would ignore my phone calls so this was my only option. 

Once it was around six o'clock I got in my car and drove over to Roman's, praying that he was home. I had planned out what I wanted to tell him and that I was going to take him to the local pizza place (his favorite), and I was even going to pay. 

I pulled into his driveway, thankfully only Roman's pickup truck was here, meaning that Rick wasn't. I rang the doorbell, waiting a few seconds before I heard footsteps making their way to the door. My heart sped up just thinking about the look on Roman's face when he sees me. I don't know why I was nervous, maybe I was just scared that he wouldn't forgive me. 

The door swings open, revealing Roman who looked very tired. Once he saw it was me however, he began to close the door with intentions of ignoring me, but I stuck my foot out to prevent it. 

"Owwww!" I yelp as Roman closes the door right on my foot. Hard. 

Roman quickly opens the door again, aware that he's just squished my foot. "Geez Tessa why did you do that?" he asks exasperated. 

"Because I need to talk to you," I plead, looking at him with puppy dog eyes. He's silent for a couple of seconds, contemplating whether or not he should let me in. Finally, he sighs and steps aside to let me in. I step inside, Roman closing the door behind me to prevent more cold air from entering the house. 

"What?" he asks impatiently, obviously not really wanting me there. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'm sorry. I'm the worst friend ever, probably the worst person ever. I just can't believe I did that, I should have been the one to defend you. All those things Logan said were rude too, I really just didn't want a fight to break out because I didn't want you to get hurt so I thought the best way to prevent that would be to ask you to leave. I really should have just found a different way to solve the problem because obviously you were upset and I just acted like I didn't even care, but I do care because you're my friend and-" In the midst of my rambling Roman looks very alarmed at how fast I was talking so he cuts me off so I don't hyperventilate or something. 

"Tess!" he yells, now a small smile playing on his lips. 

"What?" I ask, hoping he's not going to tell me to shut up and that I'm a terrible person.