30 Days

I waited until I heard Grahm's footsteps fade out the door. Curiously enough, the door slammed one too many times, but I was too far gone into my thoughts to even consider looking.

Grahm had no right to ever speak to me like that.
He was never like that before..
Some thing was wrong.
That was for sure.

I closed my eyes as tight as they could go and began to rub my temples.
This was too much to handle.
Life shouldn't be this confusing!

Sighing at life's sense of humor, I tipped my head back.
It hit the wall with a thud that surely hurt.

I grimaced at the pain, curing silently on a train of thought.

I wanted to blame Chris for everything.
But, the annoyingly ever right part of my brain was telling me, that wouldn’t be fair at all.

Yes, he left for six months with no word.
Yes, that was a real jerk ass move.

But, he's trying now...
And I always did said you should never linger on the past.

I tried the deep breathing that I've recently picked up on.
It's a life saver when you feel the need to rip out someone's throat, but have too much of a conscience to do so.
But even that couldn’t save me.

Sitting in that chair was gonna be the death of me.
I groaned and picked myself up quickly.

"Oh dear god.." I whispered as I held my head.
Looks like that was a little too quickly.

Slightly stumbling, I managed to get into the kitchen with only one bump to the head along the way.

Still slightly tipsy from all the news, I put my elbow on the counter and my hand to my forehead.
Slightly suspicious, I eyed Stacey.

Her curly brown hair was more.. voluptuous than usual, the notorious green cup she's always trying (and failing) to hide from me was bouncing on her knee, and her phone was still lit from an opened text.

As the throbbing on my temples was fading, I tried out my voice.
"You alright, Stace?"

I pulled out the chair in front of her and plopped down, bringing my legs up and my chin to my knees.

Nothing happened.

"Stace?"

I waved my hand in front of her eyes, but to no prevail.

The cup still bouncing.
The hair still large.
The eyes still glazed.

The only difference in the phone beginning to fade.

"Stace."
I demanded, more than spoke.

"Hmmm?"
The sound droned out of her like the lone whir of a broken down car.

"What happened?"
I placed my hand over the bouncing cup to find it ice cold.

"Why are you holding an empty cup?"
I questioned out loud.
I plucked it easily from her fingers, which ended up falling lifelessly on the denim of her pants, and gently placed it on the table. All the while looking at Stacey.

"Seriously. Stace. I questioned, any tone in my voice long since dissipated.

"I don't think you'd believe me if I told you.." Stacey whispered .

"Told me what?" I asked, hurriedly.

But all she got to was a shake of the head and an intake of breath before the door slammed open and closed and Christofer stomped his way over to the kitchen.

"June lets ta- oh." Chris walked into the kitchen, and stopped abruptly by the doorway, so much so that he fell back a bit.

Hurriedly and clumsily.
How.. Un-Chris like.
"Wanna take a walk with me?"

I heard myself stutter a sure.
What was going on?

He already half way to the door by the time I reached the door way. He glanced back and sighed, frustrated.

Two long strides and he held my hand, pulling it roughly. A surprised sound squeaked from my throat as I tripped slightly forward and he stopped, gasping himself.

"So sorry.." he whispered.
We were already outside in the empty hallway, his tone was out of context, but wistful enough to seem to take on a double purpose.

He pecked my hand gently and previous day dreams threatened to take over.

A blush crept onto my cheeks as they faded, and his grip loosened until I had my hand swinging limply back at my side and his head still bent down.

"I.." He paused unsure, biting his lip as he glanced around. A fleeting spark of fire set off in his eyes as they landed on the lounge chairs by the elevator.

I was going to question, but his eyes flickered back to me and made my question irrelevant.

"I don't know how to begin."

Rubbing my hand on my arm to fend off the goosebumps that had erupted, I shrugged.

"Neither do I."

He shook his head, the anger that was once fleeting was filling those green orbs once more.

Although, I wasn't afraid.
The anger was not towards me.
I mean, I felt it too.

"It's just so confusing! So many problems, people who are places they don't belong, feelings to think about, jobs collecting dust! When does any of this get worth it?! I'm free loading off a friend, hurting someone I care about, and-"

By now his face was glowing pink as he was parading up and down the hallway. Hands gripping hair and wild gestures made me interject.

"Then let's just leave."