Requested: Auggie and Annie breakup angst. (Something a little different. Interested to hear what you think.)
Auggie didn't wait for her outside the elevator anymore.
Annie walked into the DPD alone.
When she dropped off his coffee, he said a simple "thank you."
When they went for debriefing meetings, he stood as far away from her as possible.
All she had to do to get out of his head was change her perfume, wear different heels, cut her hair so it didn't brush her collar. It wouldn't matter what he did; she still had to look at him every day.
He accused her of clinging to the past.
She accused him of looking for fault in a good thing.
He insisted she couldn't commit to a relationship if she wore another man's key around her neck.
She insisted he couldn't commit to a relationship if he tried.
The thing about two perfectionists is that they cease to be such in the throes of passion. Auggie was a stickler for clutter, unless that clutter was clothing they'd hastily removed on the way to the bed. Annie was a disciplined fighter, unless the person on the other end of the boxing gloves couldn't afford to be sore later tonight.
It was all about passion. When the big things were discussed, the passion led to fire. Slamming doors. Raised voices. Squealing tires. It was equal parts out of character and painfully predictable. It was equal parts the scariest and the safest way to do it.
She loved him. She loved him more than anything. She missed him. She wanted him back. He was made of fire. She wanted him anyway.
When he'd kissed her that night after Jai's declassification ceremony, it felt right.
She wanted to feel right again.
So that night, she gave him a call.
She told him that she loved him.
She told him that she missed him.
She told the answering machine to delete her message; she wasn't satisfied with it.
He heard it anyway, in real time.
He sat on his bed and thought it over.
He knew that one step forward didn't count if your next move was two steps back.
He didn't care.
When their lips crashed together again, three months after they'd done so for the first time, it was a plea for forever.
She took the plea.