Chapter 01.

0314. Her phone buzzed and danced against the night stand, barely waking her from her dreams. Mercedes tossed to the side furthest from her night stand and wrapped herself in her covers but the buzzing continued relentlessly.

Annoyed, she rolled towards the night stand flailing her arms for the phone. She picked it up ready to curse Sam to infinity but was taken aback when she saw the familiar phone number. It was Shane.

Did he really want to talk to the person who ripped his heart out and stepped on it on her way to her new boyfriend?

Maybe.

Did she really want to talk to the person she had hurt the most in the world?

Of course not.

The guilt had all but consumed her in the last weeks of school. Stuck in classes with him, his presence almost haunting her. She continued to deliberate whether she wanted to pick up the phone and face what she had been hiding from for the past couple of days.

"Hello?" she spoke up, groggy and hoarse.

"Um, hello? Mercedes?"

She was quiet.

"You don't have to say anything. I had actually hoped your voice mail would pick up, but your phone rings for an awfully long time" he paused "Mercedes, I hope you're doing well. I miss you."

Those words stung the most. Miss you. 'How can you miss someone who hurt you the way I did?' she thought to her self.

"I didn't mean to say that. I mean" he paused again, collecting his words "I thought this would be easier as a one-sided conversion. To just say I'm sorry and hang up-"

She finally spoke up, her voice still hoarse "Why...why would you be sorry? Shane, you didn't do anything wrong. It was me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't admit to you, admit to myself that it was Sam all along. The moments I shared and memories I made with you" she swallowed hard "are...are just as real and meaningful as the ones I made with Sam last summer. Deep in my heart, there's a place that's all yours."

"You sound happy when you say his name. I can hear it in your voice, you immediately light up. Are you happy?"

"I am."

"That's all I need to know. Is that you are happy and that you forgive me."

"Forgive you for what?"

"For not fighting for you, hard enough."