AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, fuck that,” I snapped. “You’re going to blame me for what happened? I don’t think so, Joe. I don’t think so!”
Without thinking, I grabbed the flimsy edge of a syrup laced piece of the French toast and flung it through the air.
It flew up and smacked against Joe’s left cheek with precision.
It even stuck for a second before he grabbed it off his face as though it were a poisonous spider about to sink its fangs into his skin.
He threw the piece of French toast to the floor and looked ready to explode.
“If you want to talk about what happened, then be honest,” I said. “Don’t give me fluff. Don’t make it seem like it was okay. We had an agreement! You were supposed to show up and tell me not to go!”
“Then what? You’d never be where you are now.”
“I wanted you!”
“I wanted you too, Anna,” he said. “But we were drifting apart by then. We both saw it. And my truck did give me problems that day. I tried to get there. I went as fast as I could…”
“Except you didn’t,” I said. “And I could have jumped off that bus, Joe. I could have waited in that parking lot for you. Or for anyone. It wasn’t the only bus. We acted like it was the end of the world.”
“To me, it was. Losing you was the end of the world. Yeah, I had hockey. Yeah, I submersed myself in it and ended up getting drafted. Yeah, I signed a few nice deals. But all I’m known for is being mean. Nobody knows the side of me when I’m with you, Anna.”
My heart twisted a little.
Sank a little.
“So this is just…”
Joe walked toward me, syrup glistening on his cheek.
I didn’t back away.
I needed him to touch me.
Even though I wasn’t going to tell him that.
To me, we were still sort of fighting here. Figuring out the past and the present.
His hands touched my sides.
I didn’t shoo him away.
“It was the end of the world to me, baby,” he whispered. “But it had to happen. We both couldn’t carry that responsibility.”
“Yeah, well, I fucking hated it, Joe,” I said as my voice crackled a little.
Joe brushed his lips to mine.“I fucking hated it too, Anna.”
I saton the end of the bed.
Joe sat up at the headboard.
My legs crisscrossed.
“You had to get out of there,” he said to me. “You knew what you wanted to do.”
“I know.”
“I wasn’t smart enough to follow you. And you weren’t smart enough to know not to follow me.”
