Chapter Two-- Gone

Cory woke up to the sight of Hannah at his apartment door. She had a few suitcases with her and looked ready to leave.

"Hannah, honey, what are you doing?" Cory asked sleepily.

Hannah glared, "What do you think I'm doing? I can't take it anymore! I'm sick of you sleeping in and getting nothing done, while I work my butt off to pay for tuition! And then with our relationship… You don't even take me out anymore! It's like there's nothing left and I'm done, Cory!" At this point, Hannah was crying. Tears rained down her face, wetting her cheeks and neck.

Cory quickly got out of bed in an attempt to hug her. Hannah pulled away and grabbed her things.

"You can't make it better now, Cory. It's too late," Hannah sighed. "Do one last thing and help me carry my suitcases to my car."

"Hannah, I refuse to do that," Cory replied. "I'm not going to help my girlfriend run away from me!"

"Cory you're so stubborn! First, I'm not running away, and second, I am now your ex-girlfriend. There's no hope for us anymore. We're over."

A tear trickled down Cory's face and stopped close to his lip. "I'll help you Hannah, just let me put a shirt on." As he helped her take her things to her car, he couldn't help think about what he did wrong. When they were done, he took her in his arms and hugged her. "I'm sorry."

Hannah silently sobbed. "Good-bye Cory." Then she got in the driver's seat and drove off.

Alexis dropped her purse on the kitchen table and plopped herself down on the couch, next to Eddie. He kissed her on the cheek and they sighed as they both looked back on their Fridays at work. Alexis works as a secretary at a law firm and had had a busy day because her boss was working on a major case. Eddie had just went into the studio this morning to record a demo and sat through a long meeting in the afternoon with a record company. The record company rejected his demo and plunged him into a disappointed afternoon.

"You know, Eddie, there's only one thing that could cure this sucky day," Alexis cheered excitedly.

"Oh yeahhhh," Eddie laughed.

They both jumped up off the couch and shouted, "ICE CREAM!" and ran towards the freezer. After selecting their desired gallons of ice cream and jumped on the couch again.

Eddie looked at Alexis. As she picked up a large scoop of ice cream and shoved it into her mouth, he couldn't help but laugh. She squealed and shook as she tried to swallow the ice cream scoop.

"Alexis," Eddie started.

"Yeah Eddie?"

"Never mind."

The words buzzed through his mind: I love you. I love you. I love you. Why didn't he have the courage to say it? Maybe it was because she wouldn't say it back. Why couldn't he take the chance? Because he didn't want to get hurt. He loved her. He loved her. He loved her. He had to tell her. How?

As he pondered this, the apartment doorbell rang.

"Let me get it honey," Alexis hurried. She stepped outside the door and talked for a few minutes, and then stepped inside.

"Hey Eddie, I forgot I have to take my mom to the doctor today."

Eddie asked, "How'd she get here?"

"My sister could only bring her halfway. Don't wait up, because I'm taking her to dinner afterwards." And she walked out the door.

Raven was on the phone to Cory. She tried to calm him down as she thought about all that was going on. Hannah left because Cory wasn't serious about their relationship. She didn't know what to say. She handed the phone to Devon and lay down on her bed. It's like nobody could be happy and have fun anymore. Eddie buzzed in on the other line.

"Hey Raven, it's for you. Sorry Cory, I gotta hand the phone to Raven. Why don't you take tomorrow off and come up to talk? Alright. Bye. Hey, Eddie, here's Raven." Devon said.

"Hello? Oh, hey Eddie. What's happenin' bro?" Raven laughed.

Eddie sighed, "Ray, she's gone again. Her mother's had 6 appointments in the past two weeks. I can't take it anymore."

"Eddie, are you crying?" Raven asked. She could hear Eddie confirm. "Hang on, Eddie, Chelsea and I'll be right there. Oh and Devon wants to come." She hung up the phone and called Chelsea.

Fifteen minutes later, they were sitting in Eddie's kitchen, listening to him sob.

"I don't know where she's going, guys, but it ain't her momma's house," Eddie cried.

"Yo Eddie, don't cry. It's not okay to cry, man," Devon laughed.

Raven slapped his hand, "Of course it's okay to cry, Eddie. If you'll excuse Devon, he'll have to go to the restroom now." Raven cocked her head, pointing to the bathroom, signaling to Devon to leave. When he had left, Raven continued, "Eddie, you're not taking her seriously. Cory's going through the same problems and it's not working out great."

"Raven, I need to know how to tell her."

"Tell her what, Eddie?" Chelsea asked.

"I love her."

"Eddie! You haven't told her you loved her yet?" Raven exclaimed.

Eddie nodded, "I'm scared."

Chelsea asked, "Of what? She won't bite you."

"Chelsea, he's scared that she won't feel the same way." Raven hugged him. "Eddie, I'm sure that, even though she's seeing another man, I'm sure she loves you."

"That's just it, Raven! She's seeing someone else! She doesn't love me if she's seeing someone else!" Eddie burst.

"Just do it," Chelsea said.

"Do what?" Eddie asked.

"Tell her."

Eddie replied, "Weren't you listening? What if she doesn't feel the same way?"

"Then you don't need to waste your time on someone that doesn't love you."

Then there was silence. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Devon came back and they got up to leave. On their way out, they passed Alexis, but she was not with anyone else.

Ooooh, very dramatic, huh? I'm very excited to see your reviews, so PLEASE REVIEW!