So... How about a continuation? I'm not so sure about this, but can you at least give it a try? This is shorter than the first one.
The day she left for LA, I went home, locked myself in my room and cried myself to sleep. The following day, I explained all to my mom what had happened. And by explaining, it meant I had to relive the downfall of my relationship. And by reliving it, it meant I cried. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't help myself but cry. My mom actually cried with me.
The following weeks, Mitchie called me non-stop, I tried to stop myself from answering it since I know it would just hurt me more upon hearing her voice again but it got me to the point were I caved in. I answered it. Thankfully, she understood why I've been rejecting her calls.
I was reading an acceptance letter from a university when I picked up her call.
"Hello?" I hesitantly answered.
"Lex," was her quiet reply. "You answered." She continued, surprised.
"Yeah."
"I understand why you've been neglecting my calls."
"Thanks." I breathed out. "It's just too hard for me."
"I know." A pause. "This might sound stupid to ask but... how are you?"
"I... I'm fine. I'm reading an acceptance letter from a university as we speak." I looked down at the paper in my hand.
"That's good to hear, Lex." She sounded excited. "I take it you're pursuing Arts? You're incredibly good at that."
I smiled, "Yeah, I'm pursuing Arts." Silence again. "So, how are you?"
"I'm good, though I'm starting to get homesick. I miss New York."
"Well, I think New York misses you too, and don't worry, you'll be able to adjust soon."
"I miss you, Alex."
"Mitch..."
She cut me off, "I know, I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry."
"It's fine, just..." I sighed.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."
I closed my eyes, "You didn't. It's just..."
"You don't have to explain anything. I get it. I understand."
"I miss you too." I admitted. There was a long pause, I waited for her to reply but I suddenly heard her sniffed and I knew right away that she was crying. This was one of the reasons why I don't want to answer her calls. It would just bring back memories. Memories that I wanted to forget for the mean time in order for me to stop hurting. My heart clenched. I pulled my phone away from my ear and leaned it against my forehead. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath before putting it back against my ear. "Please don't cry."
"I'm not." She denied. "I'm... I'm not crying." She sniffed more.
I let it go. "Mitch?"
"Yeah."
"Can I ask for a favor?"
"Anything."
"Can you let me move on?" No answer. "It's getting very hard, Mitch. I've been trying so hard, but every time you call, my heart wouldn't let me. And I can't take any more pain, Mitch. It just hurts too much." I pushed past the lump in my throat. "We need to completely let go of each other."
"Lex, I..." She stuttered out. "But what about what you said that I could come back to you if I feel our love is real again?"
"Then we'll be together."
"But what if you have already completely moved on?"
"As I said before, you have my heart, Mitch. I can't imagine giving it to someone else. I just need to move on for the time being. I mean, do you honestly think that you could figure things out sooner? I just need to stop this pain that I've been feeling. And in order for that to happen, we should let each other go completely and move on."
"If I'll do that, will you be happy?"
"No. But, it's gonna be my first step."
She sighed. "And by doing that, we should stop our communication?"
"Well, you could call me, but only if there's no one else you could talk to."
"You promise?"
I smiled. "I promise."
And she agreed. We spent two hours or so, talking. Mitchie said that if she couldn't talk to me for a long time, might as well take the chance and savor the moment. We only stopped when her manager called her and said she was needed in the studio. Our goodbyes were full of tears.
x x x
I never thought that letting Mitchie go completely would left me so... Empty. As I kept trying myself not to think about her, my heart wouldn't just let me. It always pulls me back to her.
Thankfully, college days have started and it helped me not to think about her. I spent my time being busy with school paperwork and hang out with my friends or with my family.
It has been almost a year since that phone call happened. Mitchie kept her word and let me move on. I would be lying if I'd say that I didn't miss her because I miss her terribly. But with school and not hearing anything from her, it helped me bury my feelings deep within my heart. The pain has lessened and I actually felt a little happy. And also happy because I'm having excellent grades, I have a part-time job, and I was able to move out and live in a shared apartment with a new friend from school.
Everything went well, or that was what I thought.
Harper, my new friend that I share the apartment with came home with a bunch of magazines in her arms.
"What are those for? You have like fifty of them." I raised an eyebrow at her as she set the magazines at the floor with a loud thud then sat beside me.
"For a homework. I need to find advertisements in them, cut them then paste to a book." She sighed and leaned her head back on the couch.
"Do you need help? I have nothing better to do." I offered.
She turned to me with a wide grin. "That would be great. Thank you, Alex. I appreciate it."
"No worries." I patted her knee. "Might as well get it started." She nodded.
Helping Harper was fun, we talked about a lot of things here and there, but not until she suddenly squealed. I stopped from flipping pages, covered my ears and looked up at her, my brows furrowed.
"Harper! What the hell?"
"Oh my God!" She exclaimed and looked at me with eyes widened. I looked at the magazine she was holding and recognized it was a People's Magazine. I rolled my eyes.
Harper is a type of girl that stalks her celebrity crushes. And at the moment, she was obviously fangirling.
I sighed. "What is it now? Or should I say, who is it this time?"
She took deep breaths to let herself relax from her excitement. She pointed at a page, "Nate Grey!"
"Who?"
"Nate Grey!" She repeated.
"Uh... I don't know who that is." I looked back down at the magazine in my hand, flipping pages again.
She gasped. "What?!" She exclaimed again. I snorted at her reaction. "Who honestly don't know Nate Grey?" She said unbelievably, waved her hands in the air. "Did you live in a cave or something?"
I chuckled. I honestly don't know the guy. "Uh, no. I just lived in a normal house." She shook her head as if she's sorry for me. "What does he do anyways? And what was the news about your crush that you were freaking out?" I asked, changing the subject.
"Nate is a music artist." She held her chin up. I laughed. "And he has a new girlfriend." She said, a little sadly.
"Well now, you lost your chance of being his girlfriend." She rolled her eyes. "And aside from that reason, why do you seem so sad that he has a girlfriend. Is her girlfriend not pretty? Doesn't she deserve him?" I asked with a little laugh while cutting a part from a page.
"No. She's pretty." She sighed. "She's a music artist too, a singer-songwriter. I actually listen to her music." She admitted. "They actually make a cute couple." She thought for minute. "If I could choose a girl for Nate, it would definitely be her." She nodded. "Yeah... I would choose Mitchie Torres for him."
My heart clenched when I heard her name. And learning that she's someone else's girlfriend made me feel like someone had stabbed it. A broken heart that I've been trying to put the pieces back together for almost a year. But now, I don't know if I could still piece together of a now shattered heart.
I was speechless. I pushed past the lump in my throat. I didn't realize that I cut my middle finger with the scissors that I've been holding until Harper screamed, "Alex!"
She ran to the bathroom, got the first aid kit then sat next to me. I looked down at my bleeding hand, and I could imagine, my heart was bleeding as well. I held back the tears.
"I'm fine, Harper. It was just a little cut." I pulled my hand back. "I can take care of it." I smiled at her. I stood up and picked up the first aid kit. "Finish your homework. I'll be fine." She looked at me curiously. "I'm fine." I reassured her as I walked to the bathroom.
I leaned my palms on the sink, looked at my reflection and took deep breaths. I closed my eyes and try my hardest to hold back the tears. I wasn't going to cry.
After a minute or two, I washed my hand, cleaned it then put a band-aid over the cut. When I walked out the bathroom, Harper turned to me and eyed me curiously. "What?"
"Nothing, are you okay?" I walked to her, sat back down and picked another magazine.
"Yeah, it was just a small cut."
She nodded. We continued her homework, talking about something else. I was thankful she dropped the subject about the Nate-Mitchie thing.
"Thanks for the help, Alex." She stood up, brought the remaining magazines to the side. "I owe you." She gave me a pointed look. I chuckled at her. "Maybe I could treat you lunch sometime this week."
"It's fine, Harper. You don't have to treat me lunch."
"Even though you'll refuse, I'll still buy you lunch. And that's final." She narrowed her eyes at me.
"If you insist, then fine. I mean, I could save money." I laughed.
"Good. Now I have to go out. I have to meet Zeke for dinner." She walked to the door.
"Okay, have fun." I called out as she stepped out the door. She waved goodbye before closing the door. I sighed then took a glance to the magazines. I was pretty sure that the magazine that has Mitchie in it was still in that stack. I've been contemplating if I should take a look in it or not.
I sighed, curiosity came out the worst in me. I walked towards the magazines and looked for a certain one. When I found it, my heart started pounding. I walked back to the couch and flipped the pages.
Sure enough, I found the page and the title stared back at me in big bold letters as if mocking me: The Newest Hollywood Young Couple. To make it worst, below was a picture of Mitchie and the guy I know now, Nate. They seemed to be at the street walking somewhere, looking and smiling at each other while their hands were intertwined. I read the first lines of the article:
A source that is a close friend of the pair said Nate and Mitchie were official for a while. They just kept it from public to avoid any issues and for their privacy. The two first met at...
I stopped reading when I saw my tears fell down on the magazine. I wiped my eyes and then closed the magazine, put it back to where it was previously placed and walked in my room. My heart was burning and I felt my whole body went numb. I stared at the ceiling, and finally realized that Mitchie is not coming back to me. She's already in love with someone else and that she's happy. There's no hope for us of getting back together.
I took my phone out and called mom.
"Hi, honey." She greeted cheerfully. I sighed. "What's wrong?" She asked quickly.
"Mom, can I come home tonight? I have something to do and I kinda want to talk to you about something."
"Of course, honey. And have dinner here, I'll cook your favorite." I smiled.
"Thanks, mom. I'll see you later."
"Okay. Be safe."
x x x
"Hi, dad!" I greeted him happily as I spotted him watching TV. He turned to me surprised then narrowed his eyes on me.
"Did you get in trouble, young lady?"
I laughed, "No, dad. You know I'm a good girl now." He looked at me suspiciously. "I just miss my dad and mom and of course Max that's why I visited." I took a seat beside him.
He smiled and wrapped me in a big bear hug. "We miss having you here, bud." I giggled and returned the hug.
"Jerry, is that Alex already?" Mom called out from the kitchen.
"Yeah!" Dad answered back before pulling back from the hug. "Go, greet your mom. She missed you terribly." He shuffled my hair a little.
I nodded and headed to the kitchen. She was stirring something in a pot. "Hey, mom." She turned to me as I gave her small smile.
She walked up to me and engulfed me in a hug. She whispered, "I know something's wrong. We can talk about it after dinner alright?" I nodded against her shoulder. She pulled back and cupped my cheeks in her hands then smiled sadly at me. "Why don't you set the table so we could eat right away as soon as I'm done."
"Okay." I agreed and got some plates. "Hey, mom. Where's Max? I haven't seen him since I arrived."
"He has a sleepover with his friend, honey."
"Oh, okay." So I started setting the table up.
x x x
After the dinner, mom and I went to my room. I looked around, it was still the same how I left it. I saw the picture frame in my bedside table. It was Mitchie and I when we were still together. I frowned.
"So, tell me now what's wrong." My mom said as she sat on the edge of my bed.
I walked up to her and sat beside her. I decided to get straight to the point, "There's no chance of Mitchie and I of getting back together." I ran down my hands on my face as my heart clenched. "I know I shouldn't have hoped for that because of everything that had happened but I can't help myself to think that Mitchie and I are meant for each other. Guess I'm just fooling myself to think that."
"What made you think that there's no hope for you and Mitchie?"
"She's with someone else already. She's already in love and happy with someone else." I took a deep breath.
"Where did you know about that?" She questioned.
"I read it on a magazine."
"Is it reliable?"
"I think so." I shrugged. "And there was a picture of them in it. I looked closely at her. I can tell she's happy and in love with him. I can see it in her eyes and in her smile. I can see it the way she looked at him."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, she used to look at me like that." I said bluntly.
"Oh."
"It just hurts knowing that she already has that certain connection with someone else. I don't know if I could get through this heartache this time. I just wanna get over her and move on."
"You can get through it. You are a strong girl." My mom said as she put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me in a hug.
"I hope so because I'm tired of feeling like this over and over again. I just want all of this to stop. To stop thinking about her, caring about her, loving her and hurting because of her. I want all of them to stop." I wrapped my arms around my mom's waist for comfort. "If only I could forget everything about her. Then maybe, I could get out of this constant misery."
My mom sighed, "You couldn't forget everything about her, honey. But I know in time, you'll be able to move on. In time."
I pulled back, "Mom, do we have some empty big boxes?"
"Yeah, they are in the attic. Why?"
"I need to discard some things here and in the apartment." I explained as I stood up.
"What things?" She asked curiously as she stood up as well.
"Things that remind me of Mitchie." She looked at me worried. "Don't worry. I'm just going to hide them. I just don't want them on display or see them constantly." I assured her.
She sighed, "Alright, I'll go get them."
"Thanks, mom." She nodded as she went out.
She came back a little later with two big boxes. "Is this okay?"
I looked up at her, "Yeah. Thanks." then smiled at her.
"Do you want some help, honey?" She offered.
I shook my head. "No. I'm fine, I can handle this."
"Alright. Are you going to sleep as soon as you're done?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. Goodnight then, honey. We'll see you in the morning." She said and kissed the top of my head. "Love you."
"Thanks, mom. Love you too." I sighed when my mom closed the door. It was time to set aside some things and hide them.
x x x
As I stared at the picture frame, I traced Mitchie's smiling face with my index finger.
"What went wrong, Mitch? I always thought we would be together in the end. I guess we're just not meant to be, huh?" I smiled sadly, sniffed and wiped my nose with my sleeve. "We have had promised each other forever but maybe this is the end of our forever. Even though our forever wasn't that long, most of my best days were in that time." I sighed, "I never stopped loving you. I really wanted to stop but I can't seem to do it." I put the frame in the box. "But, I'll try my best. And this is gonna be the best way of finally saying goodbye, letting you and these things go."
I finally sealed the box, wrapping it entirely with tape. I pushed it to the hole that I've been digging then picked up the shovel and started to cover it with soil. After covering the entire hole, I sat against the tree and looked up at the night sky. I pulled out my phone from my pocket when it vibrated.
"Hello?" I answered without looking the caller ID.
"Alex! Where are you?" Harper asked worriedly from the other line. "Are you coming home? It's already thirty past midnight and we have classes in the morning."
"Yeah, I'll be home probably by..." I looked down at my watch. "...1:30. Don't worry."
"Fine, but are you okay? You seem so sad for the past few days and then you were loading a box in your car this morning. You know you could talk to me, right?"
"Harper, you worry too much." I faked a giggle. "I wasn't sad, I was just tired from doing a lot of paperwork. And about the box, I was just getting rid of some things."
She sighed, "Okay, fine I believe you but can I at least know where you are?"
"I'm in a friend's house." I lied. "It's been a while since the last time we saw each other so we're trying to catch up."
"Okay. Just come home safely."
"I will. Goodnight, Harper." And so we hang up.
I stared at my phone in my hand for a little while, then I don't know what possessed me to do it but I ended up choosing Mitchie's number and pressed call. The next thing I knew, Mitchie was already on the other line. "Hello?"
I didn't respond.
"Alex?" My heart clenched as I listened to her. "Is everything okay?" I looked down at my lap. "Lex? Are you there?"
I pushed the lump in my throat, "I'm listening. I just want to hear your voice."
She took a deep breath. "Where are you? Why are you still awake? It's already 12:37am in your time. Don't you have classes tomorrow?"
"I'm here..." I trailed off as I looked around the park seeing some people, "...somewhere. And yeah, I do have classes tomorrow."
"Why are you still awake then?" She asked again.
"I was doing something." I answered and I suddenly felt nervous.
She noticed my nervousness. "What were you doing?" She pried.
"Something I needed to do." I gripped my phone tightly, feeling my heart pounded against my chest.
"And what was that?" She insisted.
I gulped, "Just... something." I looked around again.
"Lex, you're not drunk, are you?" She asked curiously.
"No. I'm not."
She sighed in relief. "Good."
"But now I wish I was."
"Why?"
"I don't know." I paused. "Maybe because if I'm drunk, it would take my nervousness away." I ran a hand down my face. "And I'm just nervous talking to you right now."
"Then why did you call if it would only cause you anxiety?"
"I don't know what possessed me to call you." I looked up at the night sky. "Maybe I just wanted to hear your voice... for the last time."
"For the last time?" I heard her shuffle from the other line. "Alex, where are you?" Her tone shifted from soft to stern.
I was confused. "I told you... I'm here... somewhere." I refused to tell her that I was currently sitting in our favorite spot at the park.
"Care to be more specific?" Her tone remained stern. I didn't answer. "Alex, I'm serious. Where are you?"
"Why are you suddenly seemed so agitated?" I questioned.
"Because you won't tell me where you are!" She yelled. I grimaced and pulled my phone from my ear a little.
"Do you really have to shout?" I furrowed my eyebrows.
She took a deep breath again. "Please tell me you're not planning on doing something stupid, Alex."
I can imagine her pacing in front of me while rubbing her temples with her fingers. "I'm not planning anything." I defended.
"You promise?" Her tone went back to soft.
"I promise." I answered honestly. There was a long pause. We just listened to each other's breathing. I was the first one who broke it, "Are you happy, Mitch?"
"Are you happy, Alex?" She countered.
"Define your word happy."
"So, you're not." She whispered.
"I didn't say that."
"You don't have to. I can hear it in your voice." She said sadly. "I thought you said if I'm gonna leave you alone, you would be one step closer of being happy?"
"I..." I trailed off. "I'm happy if I know you are happy... So I'm gonna ask again, are you happy, Mitch?"
I heard her sigh in defeat. "Yes. Yeah, I'm happy."
Without me, she finally felt happy. I made the right choice of letting her go and stopped holding her back. I felt a tear fell down my cheek. I blinked my eyes a few times so I could hold back the tears.
"That's all I needed to hear." I smiled sadly. "Goodbye, Mitch." And so I quickly hang up. I stood up and looked up on the big old tree. "So big guy," I patted its bark. "You take care of my memories of her, alright?" I wiped my tears away with the back of my hand. "I'm gonna take it back when I can finally say that I'm completely happy without her." I patted its bark again. "Goodbye." I picked up my things and walked back to my car. As I started the engine, my phone rang. I answered it, "Hello?"
"Alex!"
"Yeah?"
"You're gonna be okay, right?"
"Hmm."
"Lex."
"Don't worry about me. I'm a big girl. I'm gonna be alright." She sighed. "I'm on my way home, Mitch, so I'm gonna hang up now."
"Okay. Goodnight, Lex."
"Goodbye, Mitch."
After we hang up, I leaned my forehead against the steering wheel and took a deep breath. My phone lit up and displayed a notification. It was a message from Mitchie: Lex, please promise me you will take good care of yourself. I smiled and replied: I will. I promise.
When I was about to push down the hand break, someone tapped my window, wondering who it was, I rolled it down. "Yeah?" I asked and looked up, thinking it was just someone that wanted to ask a question but to my utter surprise, I was greeted by a gun. My heart started to pound against my chest.
"Get out of the car slowly." He whispered. I gulped and slowly opened the door. While slowly stepping out, I looked at him closely, trying to get a clear look of his face. Then I looked around, it seems he was alone. When I was completely out, he pushed me out of his way to get in the car but before he can get in, I pushed him hard on the side of the car and tried to get his gun.
Unfortunately for me, he was able to gain his control instantly but I still tried to get a hold of his gun. While we were fighting for the gun, someone yelled from afar, "Hey!" We both look at the same direction before a shot was released. The man who yelled from afar ran towards us. The hijacker snapped out of his trance as soon as a gunshot was heard. We both looked down, that's when I realized I was the one who got shot. On my abdomen. He quickly pushed me hard, sending me to the ground. I felt I hit my head on something hard. I narrowed my eyes as I try to make out that the hijacker and a guy were fighting over the gun. I heard another gunshot released followed by the screeching of tires. I felt another pang of pain on the side of my head. "Oh my God, Miss!" A guy hovered over me before pressing a hand on my abdomen and lifting my head with his other hand. "Stay awake! The help is coming on its way!"
"My..." I started to say but my eyes were getting heavy and all I could feel was pain. I heard sirens from a distance.
"Just stay awa..." His voice was starting to fade. "Mi..."
Before I went completely blank, all I could think about were the happy times I spent with her, Mitchie, with her big brown warm eyes, smiling brightly at me. I smiled a little as I thought of her. Goodbye, Sunshine.
There you go. Did you expect for a happy ending? Tell me what you think and leave a review. Yes?
Maybe... Just maybe, I can turn this around and give you a happy ending. LOL