Monday, everyone was still talking about Prom Night and what a great after party they had. Pictures of the event was displayed at the school board, some of them will definitely make it to the year book.
Charlene was unofficially dubbed as the prom princess since they didn't have the traditional ceremony of Prom King and Queen. The school didn't believe in awarding students for being handsome or pretty nor they condone students in a small town like Bluebridge to compete in wearing extravagant outfit in any school events.
Most students were talking about who was hooking up with whom at Prom, new couples emerged over the weekend. Mandy and Kayla wouldn't stop talking about the after party and what their friends did that night. Charlene enjoyed the stories, even though she felt a bit left out. She said goodbye to them after school because they were going home with their boyfriends, and she was going to enjoy her walk back home alone.
It was a fine afternoon, not too sunny, just warm with soft cool breeze of spring. She loved walking in that kind of weather, she thought of how much she was going to miss it once she starts college. It would mean that walking back from school will never happen again for her, ever.
Sometimes people took for granted the little things that felt so trivial, but after ten, twenty or thirty years, they could still remember the smell in the air, the cool breeze on their skin and the sound of their own footsteps at certain insignificant places, and found themselves missing it for no apparent reason. For Charlene, walking back from school was one of those things, she was savoring every moment of it because it will be one of the lasts.
"Charlie," a voice startled her as she was walking pass the lake.
It sounded like a ghost from the past that drew the blood from her face. She stopped her step and slowly turned to look where the voice had come from. She turned around to find a too familiar face, her heart froze.
Her breath suddenly felt heavy, she turned back and walked away. She felt a surge of pain in her chest, in her head and behind her eyes. He followed her a few steps behind, keeping his pace to match hers.
"Charlie ... can we talk?" he asked with a soft voice. From the few seconds she saw him, she noticed a lot of difference in his appearance, he was bulkier, his skin tone was darker, his haircut was different, but the face was still very much the same.
But she was not interested in asking him about it, "Go away, Tommy, I don't wanna talk to you," she tried to keep her voice from cracking.
"Please, Charlie ... would you stop walking for a minute and hear me out?" he pleaded.
She stopped and stood without turning around, "Fine ... just say what you need to say, but don't come any closer," she warned him.
Tommy took a deep breath, his hands were in his pockets. "I lost your number on my way to Goldstone ... it must've fallen out of my pocket, I looked everywhere ... " he sighed, "I know it's not an excuse, Charlie ... I'm sorry."
His heart was heavy, he had a long apology planned out in his head but that was all that could come out of his mouth.
She felt a stabbing pain in her stomach, she couldn't care less of what had happened that had made him disappeared on her for six months, but when she heard him say 'I'm sorry' she almost broke down and cried.
She held it together, her head fell as she cling on her books, hoping it could stop her heart from jumping out of her chest. "Are you done?" she asked. He couldn't answer that question.
"Now go away, Tommy, I don't ever want to see you again," she finally said it and walked on. She couldn't believe that she could say it, but then again, she didn't really believe if she meant it, but she had to. Her face was warm, her breath shortened, she could hear his footsteps behind her.
"Charlie, can you please turn around and face me? I can't let you walk away like this," he knew he had made a terrible mistake but he was not ready to accept that Charlie was walking away from him like that.
She ignored his plea and increased her pace. "Look ... I know you have a boyfriend ... I saw you kissed him that night after prom ... I was at your house ... you looked so beautiful, but you were with him, so I came here today ... I just wanted to explain," he stopped her again.
"That wasn't my boyfriend," she said sharply. "He was just a friend ... he was nice enough to take me to prom because Landon couldn't be there that time," she threw it to his face.
Tommy raised his eyebrows, took another deep breath, "Landon ... is your boyfriend?" She knew he would react to that name, she didn't reply. "You kissed a guy that wasn't your boyfriend?" It was another thing that bothered him.
She shook her head in disbelief, she turned around in rage, "You don't have the right to ask me that, Tommy! Not after you left me for six months without a single word!!" she pointed at him.In his eyes, she still looked beautiful even when she was filled with anger, he could almost see the hate in her eyes, and it made him sad.
"Six months and twelve days," he said calmly. "I counted ... and there wasn't a single day I didn't think about you, Charlie." She had run through an invisible knife into his heart when she said his name. "And here you are having a boyfriend, and kissing a friend," he had to spat it out, it was starting to eat him from the inside.
"How dare you say that to me?!" she charged towards him and slap him. She couldn't hold back her tears any longer. "How dare you?!" she screamed at him. "You have no idea what I went through because of you!" she hit his chest with her fist. His body felt firm, she thought her punch didn't hurt him even a little, so she dropped her books to the ground and raided him with her punches.
She hit him as hard as she could, and it hurt. She hit his arms, his stomach, his chest, and his face. He didn't react. He shielded his face with his arms and took every blow she launched at him. As much as it hurt, it was not as painful as how he felt when she said 'I hate you' over and over again. The notion that she was with someone else, she had left him long before he got back.
He deserved all her punches, but he couldn't accept her 'hate' because there was no one else for him, all those time they were apart, he never left her.
He grabbed her wrists, she was still hysterical. "Are you done?" he asked her.
"Are you done? Do you want to hit me some more?"
She was sobbing, she didn't reply. He let her go.
"It doesn't matter how many times you hit me, Charlie, it doesn't change the fact that I was out there almost losing my mind thinking about you ... but I was working ... I signed a contract, I couldn't lose the job because I wanted to be better for you!"
Charlie couldn't form a single word out of her mouth, she was sobbing uncontrollably.
"But I guess you couldn't wait ..." he put his hand on his waist and shook his head.
"No ... why would you, I don blame you ... it was my fault ... I'm sorry," he looked at her, even when she was crying, she looked like an angel.
How badly he wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her. "You have no idea how sorry I am," he almost choked when he said it.She took some steps back.
He picked up her books and handed them to her. Their hands touched, she quickly pulled away. His longing stare never left her face. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand and cling on her books.
She avoided eye contact, "Goodbye, Tommy," she said and she ran towards her home. He didn't follow this time.