He found himself staring at her back, one he was used to seeing. He had grown up hating the back but now he loved it. He loved the curves on it, the way her hips swayed ever so slightly as she walked and he loved that she was in his vision again. She turned around, her gaze softened for a second and they had both stopped walking in the middle of a bridge.
"Do you remember?" She asked, her eyes glazed as the only light on them came from a lamp.
"Yeah." He answered, scratching his head. "How could I forget?"
"It's not your job to remember, it's mine. Remember to never make the same mistakes, yet here I am, once again, with you." She seemed to whisper it.
He sighed. He was about to turn around when she did, first. "I hate you." She stated as if she was talking about birthday cake. "I never thought I could hate anyone, especially you, and yet I hate you more than words can help me understand. You make me want to jump off this bridge." He stared at her, knowing she was being completely honest.
"Why am I here then?" He seemed to be asking himself the same question. However, deep inside, he had been hoping for this to happen. This was something he had waited for every year, an opportunity he hadn't had in far too long. He needed her to want him.
"You ruined my life. If you knew the curses I've set on you… the things I've wished to do to yo-" She growled and turned to the river. She took in a deep breath as she thought of all the things she was going to do.
He stared at her intently, wondering where everything would go. Hoping that he could change the path he had set himself on, a path of solitude, to a path filled with hope once again. "I know what I've done." He stated and she wondered where he found the audacity.
"Good, you know why I hate you. You also know that I don't hate anyone, not Alicia, not George, I only hate you." Her words hurt him however he deserved every poisonous syllable. Every regret in his life was related to her and he knew that every regret she had was related to him.
"Who am I to you, Jeb? I thought we were friends, I really did. You didn't ever think that, did you?" He wanted to scream no but it would be a lie. For the first 16 years of his life, she wasn't someone he considered a friend. She was the girl his mother forced into his life, the girl who made him feel inferior, a little miss perfect. She was the bane of his existence and the fire in his soul, he had loved her from the moment he saw her but he thought it was hatred. He forced it to become hatred.
She walked three steps before stopping and turning back to him, he was right at her heel, she looked up to meet his gaze. "Why did you leave me?" The question echoed through the world, a question only he knew the answer of. She had wondered endlessly for the answer. She didn't care why he ruined everything, she needed to know why, after everything, he just left.
"Why would you want me to stay?" He asked in response. She felt her tears choke up her throat. Why would she want him to stay after all the pain he caused? Why did she immediately want him to follow her now? Why after everything, did her heart remain unchanged? She couldn't forgive him or forget what he had done. Yet, the second he apologised she would take him back. He would be the man she would give up everything for, he would make her a shitty feminist.
She hated the woman he turned her into but love was weird and complicated for her, it always had been. "I don't know. Whenever I'm with you it's like I can finally breathe." She answered, baring the vulnerable honesty like she always had. She was a lot of things but a liar and a coward weren't a part of that list.
She let out a deep breath and turned around before he could respond. She was soon next to her car. She turned to him again. He would never hurt her again, she would make him stay with her forever from this day onwards. He would regret his actions and she would torture him and he won't ever escape. "Give me your phone number." She held out her phone, unlocked. He took it and typed in his number.
"I don't understand why you still want me." He stated, confused as ever. She knew why he was here now. She wasn't unaware of his real personality anymore and she was going to undo her single regret. Letting him go, get away with everything, blow up her life and walk away.
She grabbed his collar and pulled him down so he was looking into her eyes. She whispered, "I won't let you leave me again. I'll hold you close with a death grip, Jeb."
"Why won't you let me go? I made everyone hate you!" He sighed, exasperated.
"Only one person knows I wasn't wrong, only one person knows me. That poor, unfortunate person is you. You can try to get rid of me but I won't let go this time!" She smirked and he groaned. She turned away from him, ready to walk into her car when he grabbed her neck, pulled her around and took her lips.
"If that's the case, I'll make it easy for you. I'll hold on harder than you can handle." He beamed when he saw the shock on her face and kissed her lips again. This was going to be fun.