Chapter 56 The Talk

Well...Roy was officially heartbroken.

Okay, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration. He wasn't heartbroken, but he was very sad. Disappointed, he supposed would be a good word. Empty.

As he stood in the main room of the house, Roy thought about the scene with Celia in the woods. The scene where she had run away from him, run away from him as if he had the plague. All because he admitted that he was in love with her.

And...okay, maybe there was a case to be made that Celia wasn't ready for a romantic relationship. After all, she had admitted that she wasn't familiar with the term "like you, like you." If she was that romantically naive, maybe it would be best to leave her alone.

But Roy didn't want to do that. Sure, he would do it if he was asked to, but...that wouldn't be his first choice.

He sighed and placed his hands on his hips. Maybe it was possible that he had just wanted a girl to latch onto after his break up with Judy. While he hadn't forgotten about her (it's nearly impossible to forget someone after spending nearly two years by their side), the pain that had come from the break up had been severely mitigated when he was with Celia.

So...to say the least, having her run away like that...stung. Not us much as the break up with Judy had, but still. It stung.

"Roy?"

Roy slowly turned around. Singe stood right at the bottom of the steps, looking at him with a furrowed brow. "Are you okay?"

Roy smiled. "I'm fine!" Now wasn't the time to weigh down someone with his pain. Singe had just been reunited with his long lost daughter. This was good. This was cause for celebration, not for tears. "I just figured I should give you two time to reconnect."

Singe slowly nodded. "Well...okay." He cleared his throat. "Well...Celia actually wants to talk with you."

Roy's heart skipped a beat. "About what?"

"She didn't say. She just said she wanted to talk."

It felt like Roy's heart was in the first stage of cardiac arrest. If she wanted to talk to him about something...something that was deemed worthy enough for her to separate herself from her long lost father...it must mean that the topic of discussion was undoubtedly the scene in the woods. How could it not be? That was the only thing that made sense, the only thing that would weigh down on Celia's mind like it had with his.

"Uh, okay." He swallowed a lump and took a step forward. "I'll...I suppose I'll just go up to her then."

Singe moved out of the way so that Roy could make his way up. Right before he did, however, Singe called out to him.

"Roy?"

"Yeah?"

Singe smiled. "Thank you. For bringing her to me."

Roy's beamed. "You're welcome, dude." If nothing else...if he was going to walk out of that room completely and utterly rejected and dejected...at least he could know that he did a good thing for Singe. At least he could know that he did a good thing for Cee.

So, with a deep inhale, Roy made his way up the stairs. They creaked under his weight, probably alerting Celia to his presence. He tried his best to keep his breathing steady, to not let the shakes and goosebumps get out of control. When he got to Celia's room, she looked at him with...not exactly a frown, but not exactly a smile either.

"Hello," she said.

"Hello to you too." Roy looked down at her leg. "How's your leg?"

Celia sighed. "It...hurts." She laughed. "I definitely landed on it wrong. It...it might take a while to heal. At least, that's what Singe says."

"Hmm," Roy said. Something occurred to him. "You called him Singe just now. You don't want to call him dad?"

Celia shook her head. "That doesn't feel right to me. At least, not yet."

"Ah. Makes sense." Roy twiddled his thumbs. "So...that thing...that you wanted to talk about…" there was no point in trying to hide from it now.

Celia sighed, which actually caused Roy to blink. The emotion lacing the sigh wasn't angry. Or spiteful, or mean. It was...apologetic.

"I'm sorry I ran away from you in the woods. That was stupid."

Roy exhaled. "Oh. That. Don't worry about that." He took her hand. "I'm just glad you're safe and alive, is all."

Celia smiled at him. "You really care about me, huh?"

Roy nodded. Tears welled up in his eyes. "I do. Maybe...maybe too much. Especially considering...I just went through a break up."

Celia nodded, her mouth in a line. "Makes sense." She turned her head toward the door. "I didn't really know what 'like you, like you' meant. I...I never really...well...I had lived in a sewer for six years. I hadn't really had a lot of decent human interaction."

Roy nodded. Maybe he should be surprised by that statement, but he somehow wasn't. "And I'm guessing that includes romantic interaction."

Tears welled in Celia's eyes. She wiped them away as she looked back at him. "You're right."

Roy sighed. "Well...that's okay, I suppose." He hung his head. Somehow, hearing those words come out of Celia's mouth hurt more than a rejection. Perhaps they were a rejection, riddled with other, fancier words.

"But that doesn't mean I don't like you," Celia said. Roy looked into her eyes, shimmering with tears. "Like...whenever I hold your hand. I get...I get…"

"Butterflies?" Roy asked.

"Yeah. Butterflies." She chuckled. "I...like you. I really do."

Roy smiled. That...made him feel a little better. However, looking at the hurt in Cee's eyes made him go right back to square one.

"But I'm not...I don't…" Tears flowed down her cheeks, prompting Roy to put his hand on her shoulder.

"But you're not ready," he said softly.

Celia nodded, biting down on her lip. Roy recognized that, on some level, he was causing her pain. So, he smiled.

"And you know what? That's okay." He patted her on the back. "It's okay to not be ready for stuff like that. After all the craziness that your life has consisted of up to this point…" he laughed… "honestly, I wouldn't be ready for a romantic relationship either."

Celia wiped her eyes. "You mean...you aren't mad?"

"No. I'm not mad. Sure, I like you and want to go out with you." He held her hand. "But I need to recognize and respect you as a person. What kind of guy would I be if I didn't do that?"

Celia blinked. "So...you're okay if we don't get together?"

Roy felt a pang, prompting him to lose his smile and let out a sigh. "No. I'm not okay. But...it's what's best for you."

A moment of silence hung in the air. Celia stared at Roy in awe, in intrigue. Before he knew what was going on, she wrapped her arms around his midsection in a hug.

"Thank you, Roy." She said. "Thank you for everything you've done for me."

Roy felt a warmth, a very beautiful and strong warmth in his chest. He hugged her back. "You're welcome."

At the very least he did good for someone. At the very least, he helped her out. At the very least, he made a difference in someone's life.

And really...that was all that mattered.

AN: It. Is. Finished.

I finished it. I actually finished it. 56 chapters...this is my longest story…

Thank you all. Thank you to everyone who supported me through this long journey. I really couldn't have done it if it wasn't for all of you. Really, I owe you guys a lot :')

Well...see you next time. Make sure to check out Darksymphony777's review of this when it comes out on Youtube.

Stay safe and stay awesome my friends.