I must have cried myself to sleep, because when I got up, my clock read 9:00. I got slowly out of bed and opened my door. Standing outside my door was my dad. He looked like he was waiting for me to get up.
"How do you feel? I thought I heard crying when I got back." He put his hand on my shoulder. "What's wrong?" I avoided his eye contact and stared at the floor.
"It's nothing." I pushed past him and walked into the living room, skipping breakfast. I couldn't eat, I felt nauseous. I flipped on the TV, but nothing could keep my mind from wandering back to last night. I flipped it off and got dresses in comfy sweats. I pulled on my sweatshirt and wandered into the back yard. I sat out on the patio, watching the waved crash up against the shore. I pulled up my hood and brought my knees to my chest. I rested my chin on my knees and watched, my mind still wandering. I tried to hold back reoccurring tears, but every so often one would slip by. I wiped my cheeks.
"Claire, phone." I got up and grabbed the phone from my dad's hands. "It's Rob." My stomach dropped. I put the phone to my ear.
"Hi." I spoke softly, my voice scratchy from crying.
"Claire, I'm so sorry." His voice was quiet too. "Can we talk about it? I miss you." He paused, neither of us talking for a second. "Claire, I love you." Then the other end went silent. I didn't know what to say. I was confused. I felt hatred flood my body last night, but now I felt love take over my mind. I tried to stay rational. I didn't want to do something I would regret.
"Come over to my house. We can talk this over."
"Okay, I'll be right over. Bye."
"Bye." I hung up and placed the phone on the table. I closed my eyes and hid my face with my hands. What was I doing? I got up reluctantly and pulled my messy hair back into a ponytail. My stomach churned as I stood in the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked awful, my eyes were red from crying, my face was pale and my hair was still a mess. I sighed and left the bathroom. I didn't even care.
The doorbell rang and I let my dad answer. I walked out on to the patio again, my hands dug deep into my pockets. I looked out on the ocean, the sky was gray and the waves were weak.
"Hey." I glanced at him standing in the doorway. I smiled to myself slightly. He looked just as horrible as I did. His normally gorgeous hair was awry, his rosy cheeks now pale, his eyes lost there twinkle.
"Hey." I sat down in a chair and he sat across from me. I tried hard not to stare at him, but his sullen face still held my attention.
"Claire, I want you to know that Liz was nothing to me. I love you, I really do. I could never lie to you about that. Claire, I'm truly sorry. It broke my heart when I saw you leave. Liz always like Jackson anyway, I knew that. She's better off. She never appreciated me for who I really was. I know that you always like me for me." He paused. "Claire, I know this is just as painful for you as it for me, can we try this again?" He looked up at me, staring into my eyes. His gray eyes looked watery. I didn't know what to say, my heart told me to say yes, but my mind told me no. I sat quietly for a moment, staring at my bare feet. I looked up again, straight into his eyes and went with my heart.
"Yes." His face lit up, but I still felt unsure. I wasn't sure if I should trust him so easily, I tried to push down the feeling. I knew that it was the right thing, I like Rob. I loved Rob. I couldn't stand being away from his for more than a few moments. He smiled widely and I smiled back. He got up, his cheeks now retaining some of there color.
"I'm really glad we worked this out. You will not regret this, I swear on my soul." He leaned in and pecked me on the cheek kindly. "See you later." He smiled again and walked out the door. I closed it behind him and sighed. I still felt slightly uneasy.