Tell It Like It Is
Chapter 17
He was trying to relax. Will just wanted for every stupid little thought that was flitting through his brain to magically disappear, especially ones of her. But Will didn't believe in magic. He believed in irony; which is why he really shouldn't have been as surprised as he was when he heard someone pounding on the door.
Lizzy once told him a theory she had called "The Jack Theory". She said that every time you don't want to see someone, think about someone, or avoid feelings for someone, that person will constantly show up, or be on your mind. It was the theory that epitomized their relationship in high school. Lizzy had hated him; he always got stuck around her. He'd thought she was beneath him; he couldn't stop thinking about her. Eventually, they stopped hating running into each other and starting doing it on purpose.
He couldn't avoid her then, so it should have come as no surprise that he couldn't avoid her now. "Lizzy? What are you doing here?" he asked immediately as he swung open the door.
"Great to see you too?" she asked smirking and raising her eyebrow with attitude. "Oh I'd be happy to come in," she smiled and pushed past him into the apartment. She turned around in his modernist living room and scowled. "If this is the 'living room' why does it seem as though no one lives here?"
Will finally recovered from his shock and pushed the door closed. "How did you know I lived here?"
She stopped examining his cold leather sofa and stared at him. "Georgie," she said with a shrug.
Will looked at her, she was wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans and nothing seemed ostentatiously different about her yet she seemed so… different. "Oh. Is something… wrong?"
She smiled cockily and sat on the sofa. You could immediately tell she found it uncomfortable. It was the simple disconcerted expression that crossed her face that made it so obvious to Will what had changed. Lizzy was wearing her emotions on her sleeve. Her smile glinted with mischief, her shoulders with tension, and her eyes with secrets.
"What aren't you telling me?" he asked, sitting beside her on the couch and studying her with a puzzled expression.
Lizzy suddenly turned serious and shot him a look. He knew what was coming; no bull-shit, blunt Lizzy was about to rear her head. "Why did you kiss me?" Will feared this Lizzy. She was the one that caught his eye. "Was it because you were upset about something else or did you really just miss me?"
Will was silent, unable to even look in her general direction. "I don't know, Lizzy," he replied eventually.
"Do you still love me?" she asked trying to look at him, but he made sure to stare straight ahead. "Did you ever love me?"
"Yes," he shot back solidly and quickly then made the mistake of turning to face her.
"You still think what we had was real?"
"Yes. You don't think it was?"
She shrugged. "I try not to think about it at all," she said shrugging and trying to remain solid. She never understood that when she was upset her emotions were all over her eyes. "It hurts too much."
He wanted to kiss her again. He wanted to grab the sides of her face and remind her that he would never intentionally hurt her, but doing that would only make it worse. The thoughts of Melanie were obvious within the confines of the apartment.
"Lizzy," he sighed, rubbing his hand across her back. Big mistake. The physical contact was the catalyst. Before he knew it, and without realizing who initiated the contact, they were kissing. Her lips pressed against his with searing passion and he almost felt the shock of electricity. How had he lived the last seven years without her touch? He needed more. He squeezed closer to her on the couch and pulled at the tips of her t-shirt. The skin on his hands seared as it brushed her bare stomach and before he knew it he'd yanked her shirt off. Unlike with Melanie, they both fumbled quickly back into the other's kiss, not even trying to regain their breath for a second. Lizzy brought both her feet around his, first kicking off his left shoe, then his right. She tugged the buttons of his shirt quickly through each hole until it was opened and she yanked it over his shoulders. She wanted to stop, but the expanse of their waists were touching and the heat of their skin only pushed them closer, if possible, together. Will slid his hands gently across her rib cage and around the lining of her bra to the hooks on the back. As his fingers slid across her skin she leaned into him, her lips near his ear, her breath caressing his cheek.
"I'm engaged," he breathed, his breath tingling against her ear.
She immediately stopped and pulled away, her body stiffening immediately. "So you want to…"
"To stop," he managed at last trying to regain his composure. For a split second he didn't remember why he'd said that. He wanted to take it back and pull her back against him, put his hands back where they were.
Lizzy's eyes grew wide. She wanted him too. "I know. If you were the kind of man that would go through with this, you wouldn't be the kind of man I'd want. But there's something you should know."
Will slumped. He'd seen this coming. "Look, I know what happened in college really hurt you and that's why I could never do this. I could never let you walk away thinking I hadn't learned from my mistakes."
"I know," she smiled sadly. "But now you're making another one."
He watched her as she stood up and crossed the bland room to pick up her shirt that he'd tossed about, and slid it over her head. She then turned to him, doubt filling ever inch of her face. "She's cheating on you," she eventually blurted out after opening her mouth several times to say something.
Will leaned back against the sofa. He looked as though the wind had been knocked out of him.
"I walked into her office today and there was Christian and her lipstick was everywhere. It was disgusting, so I asked her and she practically told me that she was screwing him," she rushed out quickly and Will's face stiffened.
He no longer looked flustered or miffed, he looked thoroughly pissed off. "My fiancé practically told you she was cheating on me?" His voice was eerily steady. It was demanding and booming and for a second Lizzy was scared of him. Will wasn't a boy anymore; he was a man.
Lizzy nodded. "You can't go back to her Will! You can't go back to her. She's a cheating cow!"
"What is this? Some sort of competition?" he asked his jaw clenched, his eyes grounding into her. How could he go from not getting enough of her, to pushing her away?
"No! It's just… you and me." It was a feeble protest, but Lizzy didn't know what she wanted from telling Will about Melanie; perhaps something along the lines of, "Melanie? Who's Melanie?"
"No it's not. You ended it Lizzy."
"Because you cheated on me!"
"So is this some sort of revenge?" he practically spat.
"Will!"
"Lizzy!" he boomed. "I think," he continued, slightly softer, "maybe you should go."
Lizzy couldn't help but be hurt, and for a moment he wanted her to stay. To make sure he never saw her hurt again. But then his own hurt overran his compassion.
"I can't believe you'd do this. I can't believe you'd do this twice," she replied, anger gripping her and eating her pain as if it were chocolate.
"I'm not doing anything."
Lizzy shook her head and glared. She couldn't take it anymore. Seeing him made her want to scratch him or slap him. She quickly crossed the room to the door. "You are. You're choosing another woman. You're choosing another woman, for the last time."
She closed the door. By the time she made it home, she was no longer angry. She was disappointed. But that didn't matter. What matter was that Will had never been this angry at Lizzy before, and yet, her eyes had sparked. He couldn't get the thought of Lizzy's anger scorching through her.
Lizzy was back.
How stubborn do you have to be? You'll get a little more info on Lizzy's past with Will next chapter and then a little more info on Will's relationship with Melanie.
Isn't Will such a bastard for not believing Lizzy? Who here thinks he'll regret that?
Hey you get off of my cloud... and review. (This is my cloud. I don't like to share.)