U is for Understand
"I think you two had a misunderstanding."
Rio couldn't help but frown.
"What do you mean?" she asked, turning around and pretending to water her crops as she tried to ignore the pet shop owner. "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about Rod." She said casually.
Rod sighed.
"I think you do Rio." He said. "You and Allen have been avoiding each other for…. what? Two weeks already?" He crossed his arms. "Don't you think that's a little…I don't know…harsh?"
Rio couldn't help but spin around. "Harsh?" she snapped. "You think it's harsh that I haven't been speaking to Allen?! After what he said to me!" She gripped the watering can in her hands so tight her knuckles began to turn white.
"What he said was…was…unforgiveable!" she whispered. "Simply unforgiveable."
"Rio…"
"I'm serious Rod!" she said, looking the boy in the eyes. "He just said that …that Daisy was going to die and told me not to get too attached! What kind of a jerk says that? He's so…. so…. Argh!" She screamed again, stomping her foot in frustration. "He's the absolute worst!"
She looked down fuming, muttering incoherent words under her breath. Rod, expecting her to go on another tangent again, hesitantly took a step back as a precaution. The farmer though, surprised him.
Rio suddenly…stopped, and let out a huge sigh before dropping to her knees, as if all her power was just…. gone.
"He said those things…." She whispered, her voice now different from the one she had just used, "And he didn't even…. come after me when I left…" She hiccupped. "He didn't even…comfort me…" Then, in an even softer, shakier voice, that sounded dangerously close to tearful, she whispered,
"I don't…. think he…loves me…. the way I-I…. l-love him…."
There was a silence between the two as Rio tried, somewhat in vain, to recompose herself. The small hiccups and sniffles though were a dead give away of what the poor girl really felt.
Rod couldn't help but sigh.
"Allen you idiot." He muttered under his breath. Carefully, as if working with a small animal, he kneeled down and placed both of his hands on Rio's shoulders and gently forced her to look at him. Taking a deep breath he said in the calmest voice Rio had ever heard him use,
"Allen doesn't believe in love."
Seeing the shocked expression on Rio's face, he continued.
"He doesn't talk about it, but when were nine or ten…. his dad left town." Rod frowned.
"I-it's not my place to say… And knowing his pride, Allen won't talk about it either." He said. "But…Allen's never been good at expressing himself. In some ways…he's worse than Neil."
Rio blinked.
"Really?" she whispered. "That bad?"
Rod nodded.
"His dad leaving…really changed him…." He said. "At first I thought he was okay but Allen…Let's just say that mask of his can be too tight sometimes." Standing back up, he looked down at Rio.
"Do you understand?" He asked. "I don't…want to say more but…. Do you understand?"
Rio paused.
"It's not like he meant to hurt you or anything!" Rod said quickly. "Believe me, Allen would never ever do anything like that to his friends and definitely not to someone who…. means so much to him! But…." The pet shop owner's voice trailed off, and in a softer voice he said,
"He…. used to be…. really close to…his dad."
Rio looked at Rod, and then looked down at her hands, still tightly gripped around her watering can.
She thought of Allen,
Thought of his words and his hesitance…Thought of the new sides that she had seen of him and the face he would make when he was lost in thought….
Then…. she thought of what he had said about his family that day she walked with him,
A mom…and a sister…
But no mention of a father.
She remembered his look of panic. Remembered how…. scared he looked.
"…."
She closed her eyes.
"I-I think…" Rio whispered. She paused, took a deep breath, and then continued.
"I think…I do…"
She wanted to see him. She wanted to be at his side.
She wanted him to know that she now understood.
XXX
Love. I believe the true definition of it is accepting someone not based on their strengths, but based on their faults. Even if someone has so many faults, as long as the lover can accept it, he or she can recover from it and become stronger.
That or *insert empowering words here*
Also, sorry Rod! You're always playing peacekeeper huh?
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