Chapter 1
After an anxious afternoon I sat down with my dinner in the lounge room. On the couch next to Bryarly and Charlie, with Alex sitting on the chair across the room, there was so much tension in the air you could nearly cut it with a knife. We all stared at the TV, not daring to utter a word after the mammoth fight that Alex and I had earlier. My eyes were still puffy from crying all afternoon, and I was trying my hardest to hide it from everyone.
After everyone finished eating I collected Charlie and Bryarly's plates and went up to the sink. I turned the tap slowly and tried to do the dishes in order, purposefully, no distractions.
I heared Alex get up and walk into the kitchen, I wondered if he was coming to confront me, but I quickly dismissed the thought. Our last fight hurt way too much to bring up again.
He reached over my shoulder and placed his plate on the edge of the sink, I took a step sideways and accidentally bumped into him, sending the plate crashing to the floor.
"Shit Carrie!" he said as he jumped out of the way.
"Sorry." I said quietly.
"It's fine." He mumbled as he sulked out of the kitchen.
I sighed and started cleaning up the shards of porcelin.
"What?" He said.
"Nothing." I replied.
"Don't lie to me Carrie, I know when somethings bothering you." He said indifferently. He said this like it was an automatic reaction whenever I said 'Nothings wrong'. Was I really upset that often? I thought to myself.
I stood up and looked straight at him.
"Alex." I said, "Do we fight too much?"
"Probably." He scoffed
"What exactly is that supposed to mean?!" I said.
"Well when you bring up petty shit all the time it's kind of hard not to get aggrivated with ya" He said angrily.
"Me? You're the one who brought up all that stuff from the past! Why can't you get over what happened! We weren't even together!" I said.
"You knew what you meant to me. I thought I knew what I meant to you, but obviously not." He replied.
"Oh here we go again! I'm getting tired of this." I sighed.
"Leave then!" Alex yelled.
This hit me differently than anything he had ever said. I tried my hardest not to burst into tears.
"If you're not happy, then just fucking leave!" Was he really saying this? Does he really want me to leave?
"Alex! I- I, After everything we've been through, yeah maybe the bad has outweighed the good in this relationship but I love you! And I always have and you know.." I said as I started to cry "You know that Alex." I yelled breathlessly and turned my body from him, willing myself to stop crying.
Alex looked startled and quickly looked down at the floor. I heard a quiet sniff and turned around and looked directly at him. That's when I saw it, the only tear I've ever seen Alex Day shed, and it was over me.