Chapter Thirteen

Those green eyes as green as… grass.

Hey, I'm not a wordy person, so get off my back.

But those eyes just held my gaze, and I felt like I was being sucked into a whirl of jade and emerald twilights.

An eternity and a half went by.

Suddenly, a whoop of "Yeah, baby! Hole in one!" snapped me back to reality, dragging me out of the sea of green.

Not thinking nor saying a word I turned around and started to march towards the exit.

Sam, you idiot.

Coward.

With each step that took me away from David, Love and Hope shrank bit by bit.

You were right there. You should have confessed everything, they sighed.

As my fingers closed around the door handle, Love and Hope had dwindled down to the size of a mustard seed, when a hand closed around my right elbow.

I didn't need to turn to know that it was David.

Trying to stop the tears that were now pooling in my eyes, I was about to wrench my arm from his grip.

But I didn't have a chance to.

At that moment, David whipped me around by the elbow to face him… and pulled me into a tight embrace.

He hugged me so tightly… like there would never be another chance in the world he would see me again.

…

He probably wasn't going to… see me again, I mean.

That was because I, Samantha Madison, was going to do the right thing for once in my life… and let David go.

I was going to end it once and for all, though it pained me to cut out that little piece of my heart and throw it away.

He would meet a better girl, and be happy.

So, blinking my tears away, and taking a deep breath, I raised my arms which had been hanging limply by my side (since I hadn't hugged David back anyways)… and pulled out of his embrace, pushing him away.

The bewildered and hurt look on David's face made me instantly regret what I had just done, but ignoring Love and Hope's protests, I willed my feet to stay rooted in place, and not to take a single step towards David.

Covering half of my face with my right hand to somewhat hide my contorted expression and trembling lips, I opened my mouth to speak.

"David, I… I…" But the words just rolled off my tongue, unformed and meaningless.

David's hurt look now melted into an unreadable expression as grim as stone. With a glint in his eyes, he took my hand and dragged me over to hole one.

"Wha- What are you doing?"

"You came to my party, so I'm insisting you play at least a round before you go," he said with an air of command.

"B- but… I didn't come to play golf."

David wheeled around to face me, his face still indecipherable. "Then why did you come?" He demanded quietly.

"To drop off your gift and… to… to…" I couldn't finish the sentence. I couldn't say to end our relationship.

"Just two holes, then."

I looked into David's eyes. They gave away no emotion, but I did glimpse a wisp of plead and desperation.

I dropped my gaze.

"Fine. Two holes," I agreed reluctantly.

David went off and came back with a club, a ball, a scorecard, and a mini-pencil.

"I don't need a scorecard," I muttered. "I'm only staying for…"

"Two holes," he finished for me. "But you still get a score in those, nevertheless."

I took the items from him, dropped the ball on the ground, and lightly smacked the ball, not particularly aiming at anything.

The ball rolled over the green carpeting and amazingly went straight into the hole.

"Hole in one, congratulations," David said softly.

Why couldn't my life be as simple as a hole in one?

Instead, it was filled with bumps, ridges, sand traps, waterholes, and sometimes, it just went totally off the green.

I marked a "1" in the first box on the scorecard and moved on.

I was about to putt the ball again, when David interrupted by lightly tapping my shoulder.

"You forgot to take a trivia card," he reminded me.

I looked to my right, and there were a stack of cards lying facedown on a small table someone had set up by the hole. Beside the stack, stood a box half-filled with answered cards, and a sign, saying: TAKE A TRIVIA CARD. CIRCLE THE ANSWER, WRITE YOUR NAME, PLACE IT IN THE BOX TO ENTER A DRAWING AT THE END OF THE PARTY.

The cards reminded me of when David and I had made them… together. And we had kissed, and I had decided to always stay with David.

Well, things were way different now.

I reached out to take the top one, when David interrupted again.

"Ah… I have a special trivia card for you. It's not in that pile. I have it." Then reaching into the back pocket of his jeans, he pulled out a card and handed it to me, facedown.

It was the same white color and same size as those other cards in the stack. I didn't see any difference.

Staring suspiciously at him, I took the card from his hands. My eyes never left his while I flipped over the card to read it. He still looked serious, but was that a hint of eagerness I saw in his eyes?

After a moment or two, I broke eye contact and gazed down at the card.

It read:

Please circle either true or false and return to David.

True or false: Sam loves David.

I barely stopped myself from gasping.

This was it.

This was the moment to circle false and end everything.

To let him go.

With a shaky hand, I raised my mini-pencil to circle my answer, when David suddenly said, "I… I'm hoping your reply will be the same as the real answers to all the other trivia questions."

He paused a moment before adding softly, "Because my answer would be…"

It took me a while to comprehend what he had just said.

Same as the real answers to all the other trivia questions? The answers to all the questions were "true." He had told me that they were all facts.

So…

…

He was hoping my answer would be true?

He wanted me back?

My incredulity was only heightened by the second part of what he had said: "Because my answer would be…"

His answer would be the same too…

True.

He would answer true.

He loved me.

He loved me.

He loved me.

…

I now knew what to say.

I now had a complete understanding of the perfect answer to give him.

Biting my lip, I handed my card back to David, unmarked.

David furrowed his brows, silently asking why I hadn't circled a choice.

"I'm sorry David… but I can't answer that question," I said solemnly.

His stone expression gave way to incredible disappointment and sadness.

I paused a while before adding, "Because 'true' isn't nearly strong enough to describe the genuineness of how I feel for you."

Silence.

Then David's face slowly broke out in a big grin as he took in my words. A true, happy grin.

It was the most beautiful thing I'd seen in years.

XOXO

A/N

Yeah, I'm sorry, I lied.

The story won't end with twenty chapters, but fourteen (maybe fifteen, depends on whether I want to break up the ending into two chapters or not).

I didn't think I could squeeze everything into fifteen chapters, but I guess I can.

…

Wow, the story is almost coming to an end.

BUT IT'S NOT OVER YET!

Look out for yet another chapter coming your way!