Anguish
Gift for Allie
Wishing list prompt: Neal talking to Kel about his love for _ (you can fill in the blank)
"Kel. Kel! KEL!"
Kel sighed and closed her book as the anguished screams came closer. Seconds later her door burst open, revealing her wild eyed and rumpled haired best friend.
"Oh Kel, thank Mithros you're here. Owen thought you'd gone to the library to study. And I need to talk to you. It's a matter of life and death."
Kel sighed again, but quietly. She knew where this conversation was going. They'd had several of them over the last year and each one was more painful than the last. Trying to adopt a casual air, she raised one eyebrow.
"Life and death? Have you been back chatting Lord Wyldon again? I keep telling you that will end badly."
Neal choked. "The Stump? You think I came here to talk about the Stump? Oh ye heartless female, how can you make such jests when my soul is in anguish?" Neal threw himself dramatically across Kel's bed to illustrate his point. Kel carefully moved her book from under his left leg. Neal didn't seem to notice.
"She is so radiant! She illuminates everything around her, casting off all shadows. And yet here I stand, perpetually in the dark, where her luminous eyes never seem to find me. I tell you, it is more than any man should be forced to bear."
Here Neal's words seemed to fail him and he cast his head despondently on his arms. At another time, Kel would have savoured the break from her friend's never ending vocabulary. But now, with Neal in such obvious distress, Kel had no response but to helplessly and hopefully soothingly pat his arm. For the thousandth time she wished she could help him – or better yet, that he returned her feelings. In these moments, she couldn't tell where his suffering ended and hers began.