"Dani! Hey, Dani!" Junior said as he walked through the clinic, going all the way to the back where he saw a flash of brown hair moving. He'd assumed it was Dani, but he was wrong.
Kris heard him, but assumed that he would leave when he realized his sister wasn't there. She just wanted him to leave. She was here for Wildfire, not to have her feelings for a soon-to-be engaged Junior come back.
But then, there they stood, face to face. Kris knew things would get so awkward if no one said anything, so she spoke.
"Hi," she said, in a rush. She looked to the floor as he responded with a confused "Hey," his eyebrows furrowing. She raised her head and her eyes met with his for a second. It wasn't that long, but she felt so much. She stared at him for a moment more before he continued.
"Uh, have you seen my sister around?" Junior asked, looking around the clinic once more.
"Um, no, Sh- She's, She's not here," Kris stuttered and felt like kicking herself for it. Way to give it away, she thought angrily. Without knowing, she looked Junior's body up and down quickly, watching his expression change. She wasn't sure of this expression that he wore now, though.
He hadn't expected to run into her. If he'd had his way, he wouldn't have seen her at all the rest of her stay. It was too hard. When they'd been in the barn, everything, all the feelings, had flooded back into his brain and body without his consent. It took him a while to push all of those feelings away. But now, he was almost glad he saw her. Despite what his sweaty palms and suddenly jittery hand against his side was telling him, he knew he needed to do something. For Matt.
But then he looked to the blankets and open suitcase strewn all over the room in which Kris was standing. She was either packing things up, or...
"Are you staying here?" Junior asked with a small smirk playing about his lips.
"Yeah, Dani offered," Kris said almost defensively. She didn't understand why he was still here. Why he was still talking to her. It made her having to leave the next day all that much harder. All her feelings for him were coming back and now, when she went back to Colorado, she wasn't so sure she could make them disappear again.
And there they stood, again.
Junior couldn't bare to look at her, so he looked anywhere else. Out the window. At the bed, which was bare for now, that had clothes neatly folded on it. Finally he leaned against the door frame, for once not listening to his heart. He needed to listen to his very smart mind. The mind that wouldn't allow him to do something stupid. The mind that kept reminding him of Laura, and also of what Kris had done to him six months ago.
"Please talk to Matt," Junior said, as his heart beat faster, yelling at him, telling him he wasn't doing the right thing. But he knew he was. It may not have been the right thing for him, deep down, but it was right for everyone else. He just needed to remember that.
"I can't!" Kris said defiantly, giving him a "you're crazy" look.
"Kris," Junior said, shaking his head slightly and shrugging his shoulders.
She looked at him for a moment and they locked eyes before she forced herself to continue. "What do you care anyway? I thought you two weren't even talking to each other," She spat out angrily.
"Well," Junior said, lowering the tension with his calm voice, "we worked things out when you left. Some relationships are forever," He said tilting his head to the side and smiling slightly. He knew that. Their relationship was forever. Or it was supposed to be. But it couldn't be. He couldn't do that to himself again. Break his own heart.
He looked down into her eyes as she continued.
"Matt's not the reason I'm here," Kris said. And you can't be either, right? "I came back-"
"To watch Wildfire race. I know. Wildfire's your best friend," Junior said, noticing how that phrase was starting to sound like a broken record when he said it. "But Matt's mine," he said a little more quietly and seriously, his sunlit brown eyes meeting hers again.
Kris set her mouth in a firm line, thinking hard.
"He needs to hear your voice. It'd really help him out," Junior said.
She just stared at the floor that lay behind him. Maybe he was right, maybe she should listen, but she didn't have to do anything. It would just make everything too hard. She had cut those ties long ago, even before she'd left, and didn't plan on mending them anytime soon.
"You know when you wanna see someone so bad it hurts?" Junior asked with a small smile on his face.
They both knew that feeling, for they had both felt it for six long, excruciating months. And it was true, it did hurt. Like a hole was being carved into your heart. Everyday, when you didn't see that one person, it got bigger and bigger until it felt like there was nothing left.
Kris knew it best, though. She had been so far away from him. From them, she was cure to correct herself. It hadn't just been Junior, as much as she hated to admit that. She'd missed everyone. But not everyone had missed her, she knew that. Her leaving was welcomed to Jean and Pablo, who's lives were ruined because of her.
"And then you finally see them," Junior continued. "And your heart does that weird little flutter thing?" He knew this because he'd experienced that feeling when he'd seen her in the barn. When it felt like that hole in his heart was being mended by sparkling fairies who were lighting up his world again.
He couldn't ignore this anymore. Couldn't push the feelings away. No. Laura, his mind told him, wagging an imaginary finger at him. But maybe he wouldn't need to push the feelings away once she left again.
"Well, Matt needs the flutter," Junior forced himself to say. He'd needed to flutter too. And when he finally got it, he knew everything would be alright. So, that was how he knew Matt needed this. To help him move on, possibly. So that he wouldn't necessarily miss Kris anymore. "And," Junior choked out, surprisingly normally, "you're the only one that can give it to him."
Kris finally met his eyes. Her expression had sobered considerably and she finally understood.
Junior looked around her, trying to figure out what to say to make Kris do this. It came to him, finally. As much as it hurt him to say it, he did. "Do it for me?" He said. He knew he'd hit a nerve when she looked down again, still unable to meet his eyes. "Please?" He quietly begged her. Junior couldn't take it anymore. He leaned his head against the side of the frame of the doorway and turned to leave.
She couldn't do it. Even if it was for Junior. She just couldn't deal with Matt again. The way he'd acted when he'd seen her in Colorado, she just couldn't.
As Junior drove, he smacked his head against the headrest of his seat a few times, silently begging to let this go away. The feeling he got whenever he saw her. He couldn't do it. He loved Laura. He loved Laura. He loved-
That was it. He loved her. Past tense. When Kris had come, that had changed. Now he knew that those feelings never really went away. They simply took a backseat to the feelings he had for Laura. But he still felt the need to move forward. Kris was leaving. There was no chance for them, no matter how much his barely-mended heart wanted it.
Kris stood at the door, thinking. She finally brought herself away from that spot, away from the feelings that stayed in that circle where she had stood. She needed to forget it.
Junior and Laura. Junior and Laura. She kept reminding herself of those two names. How they were supposed to sound so perfect together, yet to her it was like fingernails on a chalkboard. Like country music being played at a wake.
And so they parted ways. They knew it just couldn't work this time. Each felt the other didn't want it any longer and it was at its end. They'd tortured each other with this cloud looming over them for long enough. Their love was kept at bay until they saw each other less and less, unconsciously protecting themselves from another heartbreak, possibly worse than the last.
And then, when they felt it die out, it was as if it was okay with them. That they never saw each other. That they'd both moved on, seemingly done with "that." The holes that were in their hearts no longer hurt, they were just present, a constant reminder of the horrible mistakes they'd both made. They'd moved on. Both of them, completely. Finally was the only word that filtered through both of their minds. Finally.
A/N: Okay, so depressing. Definitely one of the more sad stories I've written. Don't ask what made me do it! But, anyway, please review! More oneshots coming your way soon!