Unfinished Business

{Elle}
I sat in the alleyway in the rain quietly, watching Alex kick the wall. He hadn’t noticed me yet, thank God. Alex put his forearms against the wall a leant forward, resting his head on his arms. He stayed there like that for five minutes, letting the rain wash over him. I just sat there, not saying a word. I didn’t know what to say even if I wanted to speak. Alex was annoyed. I could tell that much. He started muttering under his breathe, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. He pushed off from the wall and turned to go back inside, having calmed down. I tried to shrink back into the wall so he wouldn’t see me. No such luck.

“Elle?” Alex asked softly, stepping past the side door towards me. I didn’t look up. I didn’t want him to see that I’d been crying. He squatted down in front of me and pulled me face up. “Baby doll, talk to me.” I hated when he called me baby doll. I turned my face away from him and he sighed. Alex stood up and grabbed my arms, pulling me up too.

“Alex, leave me the fuck alone. Shouldn’t you be off with Rachael or some other slut?” I asked angrily, the bitterness apparent in my voice.
“Elle, don’t,” he replied quietly.
“Don’t what Alex? You just announced an apology to the entire town. Do you know how many kids from school were there tonight? People that I still talk to? That I see nearly everyday? I don’t need people asking me about this Alex. I’ve put it behind me,” I shot at him, annoyed.
“Elle, I’ve been calling you everyday for almost a year and not once have you answered or called me back. What the fuck else was I meant to do? And if you’d put it behind you, you wouldn’t be so pissed about it still.” He didn’t sound mad, just tired.

“Of course I'm pissed Alex!” I exploded, my voice echoing off the ally walls. “What else do you expect?! You left me, on my own, at our fucking senior prom so you could fuck some slut in the bathroom! Then you lied about it and continued to blow me off when I gave you the chance to fix it! Alex, you were my best friend and you just decided I wasn’t good enough anymore. You meant so much to me Alex, and you fucked it up. Don’t tell me that I'm not allowed to still be pissed. I was humiliated.” I hadn’t realised, but during my fit, Alex had taken a few steps towards me. You were lucky if there was more than three inches between us. I was so mad at him. I looked up and saw the hurt in his face but I didn’t back off. A years worth of anger and frustration and disappointment that I had been keeping bottled up finally over flowed. Seeing him tonight pushed me over the edge. “Don’t you fucking dare pull a sad face at me Alex. It’s not going to get you anywhere. You let me walk away. I told you that if you let me walk, it was for good. You didn’t come after me; you didn’t want me in your life anymore. You can’t blame anyone but yourself for this. And don’t try and defend what you did either. Save your breath Alex, because I don’t care about anything that you have to say anymore.”

I turned away from him and went to walk away when his hand grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

{Alex}
Elle was beyond pissed, and I didn’t blame her. Not for one second. But that didn’t mean her words didn’t hurt. And it hurt even more when I realised just how badly I’d hurt her. Elle’s beautiful blue eyes were red from crying and her eyeliner had run. She turned to walk away. But I couldn’t let her. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back towards me. The look she gave me was enough to make me let go or her arm and shrink back from her slightly.

“Elle,” I said quietly, “I’m not trying to defend what I did, I just… I needed to tell you that I'm sorry. And I mean it. I’m so fucking sorry. And if I could, I would take it all back. All of it. It wasn’t worth losing my best friend over.” My voice was barely above a whisper, but I knew she heard it. Tears started to well in those beautiful blue eyes again and I hated the fact that I was causing them.
“Well you should have thought of that before you decided to be a total prick. Alex, I'm done with you. I’m done with the drama and the hurt. It’s not healthy. I just can’t deal with it.” I could hear the sadness in her voice and tears started spilling down her cheeks as she spoke. I lifted my hands to her face and wiped away some of her tears before she pulled away from me. For the second time, I watched the girl that meant so much to me, walk away. And just like I had done last May, I didn’t go after her.