Restless Heart Syndrome

The guilt of what I had been doing for the past six months finally kicked in. Tre was willing to spend the rest of his life with me and I was just using him as an excuse to stay here, with hopes that someday Billie Joe and I would be together again.

I stared at the darkness that surrounded me. The only noise I heard was my slow breathing. Usually, this place was so full of life; with the bright colors of the leaves changing now that it was fall, the sound of the birds singing their songs; was now cold, dead and dark.

I had lost track of how long I had been there. I did not want to go back, but I also did not want to be here all night, though the setting seemed to match my mood; lonely. I was sick of crying. I held back all my emotions, knowing that it was stupid to cry over something I had gotten myself into. I had to get myself out of it, not wallow in my self-pity. Slowly, I stood up off the rusted bench I had been sitting on, and began to attempt to navigate my way out of the dark park with only the dull moonlight to guide me.

I wanted Billie Joe to be here. I wanted him to stop me from making the biggest mistake of my life, but he did not. I thought about going to see him myself, but I could not do it. It would only be to tell him goodbye, to tell him I was going to spend the rest of my life with Tre. It would hurt him, and I did not want to hurt him. Of course, he would know about it since Tre was his friend, but if I just kept to myself, maybe it would not hurt as much.

“Where were you, Audrey?” Tre asked me as I walked in the door. I glanced apologetically at him as he softly kissed my cheek. “Why did you leave?” He whispered into my hair.

“I’m so sorry, Tre.” He nodded, urging me to continue. “I-I panicked. I never thought about marriage. I just needed time to think, I guess,” I explained. I surprisingly did not lie at this time. All that I said, I meant. The next part would show if Billie Joe was right or not in saying I was terrible liar.

“Do you have an answer?” He inquired, a small smile appearing on his face. I nodded before I kissed his cheek. “Yes, Tre, I will marry you,” I said just as I had practiced in my head many times in the past few hours. Billie Joe was apparently wrong. Judging by the look of pure ecstasy in his eyes, Tre believed me.

Billie Joe’s POV

I looked for Audrey for hours, but I could not find her. She could not marry Tre. Not now, I could finally have her back. We could finally be happy together. I was not going to lose the one chance we had at happiness, even if it meant betraying Tre.

I told Tre I would look for her. I had convinced him it would be best if he waited behind for her in case she came back. I slowly made my way back to his house. I did not want to admit that I could not find Audrey, but she did not want to found. To my surprise, when I opened the door to Tre’s house, she was lying in his arms on the couch with a large, noticeable diamond ring on her left ring finger. I froze where I stood when Audrey looked up at me, smiling weakly.

“No wonder I couldn’t find you,” I said shakily in an effort to hide what I was feeling right now.

“We’re engaged,” She replied softly. I was amazed how Tre fell for this bullshit; there was no happiness whatsoever in her eyes or in her voice. I was also amazed that she could do this to herself- to us. Right now, I did not care what Tre thought about it. I needed to talk to her. I needed to know what the hell she was thinking and why she was determined to ruin any chance her and I had at true happiness.