Completely Mad

You have one new message. First new message. Beep.

“Hey Anna, it’s me Eddie. Uh, I was just wondering about you after I stumbled upon the water fountain you fell in last year. Remember? Okay, you didn’t fall I accidentally pushed you in, but still. That was the day we first met…I don’t want to be a bother, but I miss you and I hope…that you give me a ring later. It doesn’t matter when, just call. Yeah? I still love you, Anna. Bye.”

Anna stared harshly at the machine before she slammed her finger on the delete button. Angry tears ran down her face as his voice rang through her ears. Why in the hell was he calling now? After they discussed that it wasn’t working.

Long distance relationships never worked.

Not when they were an ocean apart.

Rubbing her fatigue eyes violently, she muttered to herself that she was going to be okay. That she didn’t need him.

Walking towards her bed, she slouched down to kick off her shoes before she felt a warm hand soothing her back. “What’s wrong babe?” A husky voice slurred from behind her. Anna turned her head with a stiff smile.

“Nothing. Just go back to sleep.” Running a hand through the thin locks of her current beau, her mind instantly thought that it wasn’t has thick as Eddie’s. Gnawing on her lip, she threw the rest of her clothes onto the floor before slipping into bed. When he wrapped a secured arm around her waist, she didn’t feel safe, she felt empty.

What have you done to me? She pondered.

Waking up the next morning to the shower running, she peeled the covers off of her body that radiated the heat off of her. The scent of her current beau didn’t even satisfy her. Anna didn’t have the urge to dive her face into the comforter to savor the smell of her lover. Instead, she picked up the blankets as per usual and threw them into the washer.

It was routine for her to wash them the final night Winston was going back to his place. He always insisted on spending the night at her place at least a few times a week. Not that Anna was bothered by it. The company did distract her a bit, but her mind always wondered back to the Brit.

Fixing herself some breakfast, she quickly ate her meal to avoid Winston. After finishing getting dressed, she dashed out of the house to her job.

Sitting in the comfort of her own office, Anna stared at the blank page with aggravation. The cursor blinked for the billionth time. Pursing her lips into a straight line, her phone started to buzz. She ignored it knowing it was her boyfriend, upset again that she left without saying goodbye. There was no sense of being affectionate towards him when her heart lied somewhere else.

Especially if that person kept calling.

Her eyes kept glancing at the phone, itching to call him. She does remember the first time she met him. How could she forget that?

Anna stared at the fountain in awe. She never saw something so majestic or beautiful before. Back in the States there was rarely anything like this. The girl was glad she made time out of her busy schedule to visit such a site before she headed back to the states after graduating from school here.

Grabbing her camera out of her bag, she took a couple of snapshots of the fountain itself along with the historical places around the area. It was such a beautiful day with only a little rain, pure luck if she had to say.

As she was taking pictures she didn’t notice the group of men that were barreling through and before she knew it, her whole body hit the water. In shock, she lifted herself up, her mouth hung open as she pushed her dark locks out of her hair.

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry. I didn’t see where I was going! Here, let me help you.”

The sloshing of water awoke her from her state of shock as she was pulled up by a stranger. Taking a large step, she was out of the fountain and into the cool air of London. Anna shivered. “You must be freezing. Here you go, love.” The soothing voice was heard up above as something warm wrapped around her body. Glancing up, she finally was met by a pair of compassionate and concerned eyes.

She could see his face dotted with freckles, his brows etched in worry and his lips curved into an anxious smile.

“Are you okay? I’m terribly sorry about what happened. I can be clumsy more than half the time-”

“Oi! Redmayne! Are you coming or not, mate?” A voice of aggravation came from the group of men that were waiting a little ways from the two. Anna peered at the men watching their faces showing pure amusement.

The man before her stumbled with his wording, “Uh, no. I’ll catch up with you lot later, yeah?”

The group didn’t protest as they walked away, teasing the blushing man before her relentlessly. Anna quirked a brow a she held the coat tighter around her figure. “You didn’t have to do that. You can go with your friends if you want to.” She mumbled.

Confusion was written across the man’s face, “I wanted to. It was me after all that pushed you into the fountain. The least I can do is provide you clothes and a cab home…if that doesn’t sound too creepy.” He offered her a soft smile, a kind gesture from the men that rarely showed any emotion when she flew through the water.

“Okay. Only if you tell me your name.” As stupid as that sounded, she wanted to know. It probably wasn’t the best idea to follow a stranger home, but his innocent face and awkwardness, it was too much for her not to trust him in the smallest of ways.

“Eddie and what name matches this beautiful face?”

“Anna.”

“Anna.” He breathed out effortlessly. “Beautiful name.” The smile that etched his lips was not so tight anymore, genuine even. Eddie walked beside Anna as he gave her a lift to his place, he kept chatting about random things that she might be interest in. More so, he was still nervous around the girl that he stumbled upon.

Walking into his flat, he turned on the lights to illuminate the place. “Here we are. I’ll get you some clothes and I’ll put your wet ones into the dryer. Make yourself at home.” Watching him walk out of the room, Anna started to inspect the place herself. It felt homey; there were little trinkets here and there that made valuable evidence that he was a decent human being or at least one that might be a bit quirky.

Standing in the middle of the living room, she tried to distract herself long enough so he can come in with the clothes. Her teeth started to chatter. As she stood in the same place, she noticed the puddle that was developing around her.

Suddenly she felt awful that she was creating a mess when the puddle started to get bigger.

Eddie reappeared with a set of clothes. He handed them to her with another smile. “The loo is down the hall and to your left.” She thanked him quietly before she rushed towards the bathroom to change.

Stripping off her clothes, she slowly breathed in and out. Her stringy hair that dried in the way towards Eddie’s car poofed out like a lion’s mane; her eyes widened in embarrassment as she looked for anything to tie her hair back. Twisting her hair into a messy, half ass braid, she pulled on the clothes Eddie provided for her.

She assumed that she might be a perfect fit or almost a perfect fit, but his tall stature would make anything look like a dress. Anna was right. The shirt was a little loose, but it reached down to her knees. She didn’t dare try on the sweatpants that he gave her knowing it wouldn’t fit. Folding her wet clothes into a giant ball, she opened the door and tediously walked back towards the living space where Eddie was waiting for her.

“I’m making you some coffee. I hope that is alright.” From the short conversation they had, Eddie remembered that she wasn’t very fond of tea.

Taking the ball of wet clothes from her, she told him it was alright. Once he put the clothes into the dryer, he sat beside Anna thinking of the millions of things he wanted to ask her. What part of America was she from? What her family was like? Why did she choose England for education? What was she going to do after she graduated?

He didn’t ask any of these questions. Eddie just sat there with Anna in pure silence, not knowing what to make of their current situation. All he could focus on was the loud beating of his own heart.

Anna softly breathed out as she hung up the phone. She realized that she dialed Eddie’s number without thinking about it, she hung up. It wasn’t reasonable for her to reach out to him just because he did. It was supposed to be a clean break.

This wasn’t a clean break.

Maybe if she called and left him a message telling him what she thought he might leave her alone. In the deep part of her mind knew that Eddie can be persistent when he wanted to be and highly doubted he would leave her alone, but she had to try.

Redialing his number, she glanced at the clock calculating what time it was over in London. It was only the late afternoon over there or that was what she assumed. Rubbing her face with her free hand, the constant ringing hit her ear until it finally reached voicemail. She almost sighed in relief until it beeped.

“Uh, hey there Eddie. This is Anna. I just wanted to say I got your message and well,” She sighed deeply, placing her forehead on the desk. “You shouldn’t be calling. You shouldn’t even have my phone number in your phone and yet you call me out of the blue to ask how I am? And that you love me? What about the clean break, Ed? I thought we discussed this for over three hours on what we should do and you keep breaking your promises. I can’t…” Her eyes started to water thinking about the hours she spent telling him that they needed to break contact.

“I can’t get over you if you keep calling.” She whispered. “Let me get over you, Eddie. I’m begging you. Please.” Anna ran out on what to say, dropping the phone from her ear, she pressed the end button before placing the device on her desk.

She took a few minutes to herself to clear the air.

Picking herself up from her current position, she brushed the tears away before staring at the blank page again. This time, her mind started to kick into gear and her fingers started to flow effortlessly onto the page.

“What are we going to do?” Anna murmured into the darkness.

Graduation was nearing and as soon as she got her degree, her student visa will expire and she will be forced to fly back home. At first, she wanted to fly back home, but then a clumsy man made her fall for him. Literally and figuratively.

Snaking an arm around his bare chest, she pulled herself closer to his warm body to find some sort of comfort of the inevitable. His large soothing hand caressed her bare back as he too whispered into the darkness, “It’s just for a couple of months, love. After summer is over and I’m done with filming, we can be together again. You can fly out here again and apply for a work visa.”

Anna nodded stiffly, “I know but…” She licked her lips as she held onto him tighter. “Three months is a long time.”

“We can always call one another. Skype. Whatever you want to do. We’ll make it happen. The summer will fly by, I promise.”

The two flipped over, tears threatened to spill out of Anna’s eyes as she wrapped a leg around his waist bringing him closer than before and molding her lips with his. A desperate moan left her lips. “We’ll make this work?”

Eddie wanted to be so sure of himself that it was going to work. That everything was going to be smooth sailing. Anna will leave for a little while and she’ll come right back. It’s all very simple. Brushing the curls off of her face, he continued to mumble reassurance into her ear. Not only was he reassuring her, but him as well. Within seconds, he positioned himself and entered her with ease.

The small strangled cry that came out of Anna’s lips made his heart break. With each thrust, he can feel the desperation to cling onto him. Her nails deeply embedded themselves into his back, her legs tightly wrapped around his waist and her inviting lips never waned to part from his.

He didn’t want her to leave.

He never wanted her to, but she did.

And it broke his heart to see it.

Gathering her things to leave, she spotted a few of her coworkers gathering around chatting among themselves. Anna never wanted to be a part of their get together on a Friday night. Quickly and quietly, she tried to escape, but she was caught by one of her coworkers.

“Anna!” She stopped in her tracks. “C’mere Anna. We want to talk to you.”

Rolling her eyes, she spun on her heel and headed towards the small group of women that were gathered around the water cooler. A tight smile appeared on her lips as she leaned on her right side. “Yes?”

“Anna, as much of a sour puss we all know you are. It’s about time you go out and have a drink with us. You definitely need some girlfriends.” A brunette spoke up with her bright red fingernails curled around the cup she was holding. The women muttered in agreement.

Anna raised a brow, “I am in need of girlfriends? Why would I want to be associated with someone who still uses the word sour puss?”

“If you think that offends me, it doesn’t. Whataya say, Annie. Come out and play with us.”

She knew that she shouldn’t be surrounding herself with the women in her department. The desperate, clingy, sleeps around with their boss for better pay women, but the offer of free drinks was really getting to her. Anna caved, saying only one drink.

“One drink it is.”

Anna was completely shit faced as she threw back the twelfth shot of the night. The rest of the women were singing obnoxiously along to the music and prancing around. Anna’s drunken mind made her emotional, spilling out her sob story with the brunette woman, Mallory, who persistent on her coming with.

Mallory fed the small fire that was burning inside of the poor woman. All the anger and hurt of what she been through with Eddie started to grow. “The only reason why we broke up was because he wanted to see other people. He told me that he didn’t want to hurt me and then a month later he decides to call me.”

“The fucking bastard!”

“I know!” Anna spat. “We were only going to be away from each other for three months. Three fucking months and by the second month he wanted to see other people. Fucking wanker.” She muttered, throwing back another drink.

With a few more drinks in her system, her anger turned into laughter. She looped her arm around Mallory as they stumbled through the club and to her apartment where they were both staying the night. Luckily, Mallory wasn’t as drunk and called a cab. It still didn’t mean Mallory didn’t pass out as soon as she hit the couch.

Right when Anna was going to say something to the brunette, she saw her knocked out.

Closing her mouth, she tried to steady herself walking in a fuzzy line. Stepping into her bedroom, she saw the red light flickering telling her that she has a new message.

“Aw fucking hell. Leave me alone.” She grumbled.

Her body hit the bed dramatically before she blindly hit the button. The familiar voice of the monotone echoed into her ear before it beeped.

“I know you told me to leave you alone—” her head perked up in surprise, she muttered a few curses as she listened to his voice. “—culous. I miss you terribly. Why can’t you see that? How many times do I have to say that I am completely mad over you? I made a stupid mistake that cost me the woman that I was waiting for all my life.” Anna rolled her eyes in disgust before she slammed her head onto the pillow. “I rather have you in my arms with you angry at me than not to have you at all.”

“Ugh, you are so fucking stupid.” She mumbled as she half listened to the rant.

Stopping the message, she turned her head to avoid messing with the machine before she fell asleep.

The strong smell of coffee wafted into her nose. Taking in a few deep breaths, she remembered the scent. It was the same brand of coffee that Eddie made for her…

Her eyes widened as she darted into the bathroom to spill out the contents of her body. Anna heaved into the toilet bowl with her eyes closed; she couldn’t look at her own vomit. It will only make her linger above the toilet longer than necessary.

Wiping her mouth, she gargled with Listerine before she headed out towards the kitchen to see Mallory with a cup of coffee in her hand and sunglasses over her eyes.

“Those are mine.” Anna mumbled, eyeing the Dior sunglasses.

“I’ll give ‘em back. Don’t worry.” Mallory took another sip before she said, “Someone called for you while you were puking your guts out.”

“Called? Who the fuck would call at,” She glanced at the clock. “Ten in the morning?”

“I don’t know some guy who said it was urgent.” Mallory shrugged her shoulders. “Wesley, I think his name was?”

Anna’s heart practically sighed in relief that it wasn’t the other man that kept pestering her. “Oh. Did he say what was urgent?” The woman in front of her shook her head. “No, but this is really good coffee. What is this? Columbian?”

She nodded in confirmation as she poured herself a cup. Anna stayed silent as they finished their cup of coffee before Mallory insisted that they go out shopping for some bonding time.

“I don’t think so.”

“Why not?”

“I bonded with you last night and I ended up plastered.”

“But you had fun.” Mallory pointed out. “Admit it. It’s been a long time since you’ve let loose. Time to let your hair down and strut what ya mama gave ya.” Anna rolled her eyes as Mallory being the persistent bugger she was, made her cave into shopping.

Her eyes raked through the assortment of clothing, nothing striking her interest. She flipped through a rack in a bored motion. “Where’s your pizazz, Anna? Pick something.” Mallory begged. Anna grumbled as she picked a few random things from a rack before being pushed into a dressing room. If she complied with the stubborn woman then it might fly by.

Just when she was going to pull off her shirt, someone else barged into the small fitting room. Anna shrieked in surprise before a hand clamped down on her mouth. Her eyes wide as she stared into the grey coat of the person intruder, throwing her fists at the person, “Ow! Anna! Anna! It’s me Eddie.” She suddenly stopped as the voice reached her ears.

Was she drunk again?

Slowly looking up at him, his large hand covered most of her face. There he stood. Eddie.

“If I let you go. Will you please not make a fuss?”

Anna stayed silent.

Eddie didn’t know if that was a look of compliance or if she was still in shock. Letting go of her face, Anna’s mouth suddenly spewed out a few words. “What the hell are you doing here?!” She screamed. Eddie tried to shush her, but all she did was smack his hand away. “Don’t shush me! You didn’t answer my damn question!”

“I will if you just keep it down.” He hissed.

Anna bit the inside of her lip, tapping her foot. Her blood boiled. She couldn’t believe that after all this time, he was here. In a dressing room. With her. Then she realized something. Her eyes glared at the door, she growled, “Mallory.”

“Just listen to the poor man, Anna. If you gave him a chance-”

“I already did and he blew it.” She spat, glaring at her new target.

“Anna.” The woman turned around, fuming. He didn’t get a chance to say anything as she confessed.

“I waited for you. I was planning on coming back as soon as the summer was over. Just like I promised. Just like you promised. You told me that everything will go back to normal after those few short months, but then you go find some bimbo and tell me that we never would have worked out? What kind of bullshit is that?”

“I’m so-”

“Don’t apologize. You don’t mean it. You never meant anything you said. Those few months we were together were all fake. You’re fake.”

“Hold on. I meant those few months we were together. Not once have I pretended to love you. These feelings that I have for you are not fake. Nothing was fake and if you think this is some kind of illusion then you’re simply mad because no matter how much you want to push me away, I know you love me.”

Anna shook her head violently. She couldn’t believe a word he said. Actions spoke louder than words. All she heard was apology after apology, begging, pleading for her to give him one more chance and not once proving to her that he meant it. Anna needed more than just a phone call. More than him flying out here. She needed him. She wanted him to be there for her and not just say what she wants to hear and then fly back to England and pretend that this never happened.

Eddie stood there in shock as he listened to what she had to say. Hurt crossed his face, he barely spoke. “You think…oh Anna.” His large warm hands cupped her face as his beautiful eyes bored into hers. “I swear that I would never leave you. Come back with me. Come back to home.”

Home.

Was London really her home? Not really, but Eddie. This man that stood before her, that easily broke her heart and made her heart flutter was begging her to come back with him.

Biting her lower lip, she pondered on what she needed—no wanted to do. Anna had to make a decision. Her hands reached out towards his, intertwining their fingers together. A small sad smile appeared on her lips, “If you truly love me. If you love me, then you will give me some time to think about it.”

The hopeful smile that was on his lips slipped off his face. He looked completely heartbroken at her words, his eyes unfocused as if he was trying to drown out the words she was trying to protect himself.

Anna couldn’t bear looking at him again. If she did, she knew that she would run back to him with just one look.

Walking around him once more, her hand twisted the knob to open the door. The door quickly shut, her back was pressed again the wall beside the door as Eddie’s lips was smashed into hers. All of his emotions poured into that one single kiss.

He didn’t want to lose her.

He didn’t want her to leave.

He loved her and he never wanted to let go.

Anna let his emotions pour into her like an empty cup, filling her completely as she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing back just as passionately.