She held on with fire in her eyes, unwilling to let go, for her dewdrop had wronged her. Ember stood in the middle of the footpath, throttling Wade's arm with all her might. He tugged at it in hopes to free himself, but his Ember was no quitter.
"Ember! Agh- let go!" Wade cried.
"Wade... Ripple." she seethed.
Vicious spit slithered down her mouth as she emanated seethed anger. Wade looked in her eyes, fear running rampant. Grounded like a statue, Ember held tight as Wade scrambled in his spot, tugging rapidly.
"Ember, please relax. I didn't mean-" he pleaded.
"Who were they?" she scowled.
Wade returned her a blank look like a child, not knowing what he was in trouble for exactly.
"What-" he muttered.
"They knew me somehow..." she deciphered.
She stomped a foot on the ground in emphasis, flashing purple.
"Who were they?" she reiterated.
Wade drew back a step, a look of confusion on his face.
"I- I don't know what you're talking about-" he stammered.
"The three that followed me, Wade! Who were they?!" she barked.
Wade's eyes darted around like he hadn't a clue what she was on about.
"Three rock guys?" he queried.
"The three rock guys!" Ember confirmed forcefully.
Coming to the realization of just who those three were, Wade looked down, taking a big breath in trying to lay it out to her as gently as possible.
"I... see them around work- but that's it!" he assured.
Ember let out another scowl, approaching him with fists clenched. He stumbled backwards away from her.
"Ember, please- I didn't-" he panicked.
"Oh- I'm not finished with you." she scowled.
Wade fell to the ground, giving her ample chance to stand over him.
"You... have been playing with my emotions all day with your ghosting." she barked with a sharp point of a finger.
Wade raised an eyelid, slowly getting onto his knees.
"Wha-" he sounded.
"I was worried sick, Wade! The Sea-Nears were worried sick! My flame, I couldn't think straight because I didn't know where you were!" she exclaimed.
Wade shot her a blank look, unable to understand. He tried his best to, gradually grasping at what was going on. He peacefully moved toward her, stretching his fingers.
"Ember- I kept you in the loop all day." he asserted.
A tense silence followed as Ember tried to understand the tripe coming out of his mouth. She raised an eyebrow, almost to the point of feeling offended.
"What?" she barked.
"You didn't text me back. I was worried!" he told her.
"Text you back- you didn't send me anything!" she escalated.
Ember held an arm up as her escalation came hurtling at him. He gently held it by his side, gaining composure and straightening his posture.
"I... kept you updated every step of the way," he told her confidently.
His confidence didn't help poor Ember's case, causing her to become aggressive once more.
"You didn't send anything after midday. Don't lie to me, Wade." she barked.
In an attempt to hammer his point home, Wade gently approached a stunned Ember, taking her hand.
"I'm not lying," he assured.
Ember sharply snatched her hand out of his, distancing herself. Wade stood in his beggar's position, stunned.
As she backed away, she slowly shook her head in disbelief.
"I think I get it now." she reckoned.
Wade's eyes opened wide, sending a shiver down his tides.
"Eh- Ember. I told you that I was gonna be out late," he assured.
"What- and not tell me anything? Not take me with you?" she retaliated.
A pinch of hurt fell out of her retaliation, making it apparent to Wade that she was breaking at the seams because of him. As a result, his mouth fell agape uncontrollably.
"I-" he began.
"We were fine last night. I don't know what went wrong." she cried.
"Ember, please," he responded in an attempt to comfort her.
As she did he before, Wade - albeit more gently - took Ember's arm with a hand. She tried to tug away to no avail, causing her to sharply turned toward him in fury. Wade locked his fingers around her wrist, refusing to let go.
"Let go, Wade." she barked.
"No. We need to talk about this. Mull it over-" he stated.
Ember let out a bright flash of deep purple, making Wade stumble and fall back first onto the ground. Once again she resumed her towering over a helpless he, fists clenched.
"You have no idea what you just did. I better not see you in the morning. I don't need any distractions for my big day tomorrow." she hissed.
She metaphorically spat in his spot, sharply turning around and beginning to storm off. As she did, Wade helplessly reached a hand out to her departing visage.
"Ember, please-" he called out.
She hadn't a word more for him, however. He sat in his spot as she walked foot by foot away, leaving him stunned and breathless on the ground.
"What did I do to deserve this?" he questioned himself.
He shifted about on the ground as he watched her walk off, unable to bring himself to go after her. Alas, it's what she wanted. He didn't want to make things worse.
But he couldn't help the tears gently gliding down his face as he watched. He couldn't help his quivering lip dancing about like he used to with her.
He looked through his teary eyes at her visage several feet away, and something within him began to shift. Something he seldom felt in his life. After all these years of controlling it, he considered the idea of releasing it into the wild just this one time...
He gradually did so, and the game changed. His tears began to evaporate into the wind, his water began to bubble, and his eyes began to constrict. He ground his teeth and clenched his fist. He sharply got up onto his feet, charging after her in pursuit.
He reached a brooding Ember within moments and, without hesitating, snatched her arm and grasped it. She stopped in her spot, looking over at him with hostility in her eyes.
"Did you not hear me?!" she barked in warning.
"It's always about you, isn't it?!" Wade yelled.
With a showstopping roar, Ember stood unphased as the two were now at equal odds unlike ever before. They stared at each other with eyes afire in a chilling silence.
"Why is it the one night I have for myself is suddenly all about you?" he barked.
Taken aback by his offensiveness, Ember stepped back and gasped, genuinely taken by surprise. Alas, she wasn't one to back down.
"Wade-" she began with an air of frustration.
"Don't 'Wade' me! Why couldn't you let me have this?!" he reiterated forcefully.
Once again, Ember fanned a hand in front of her face, though not flinching another muscle in response. Her hostility shrank to a disgusted stare.
"Wade, you told me nothing-" she pressed sternly.
"I told you everything! And not only did you ignore it, but you came all the way out here to make a scene!" he barked.
Once again taken by surprise, Ember gasped, genuinely quite hurt by his statement. She didn't mean to make a scene at all. She knew that, so why was he acting like she was?
Ever so surely, she began to get in her own way and overthink. As she did, she lost her frown, replaced instead by a worried expression. As though he'd taken it right from her, Wade's strengthened in response.
"I- I just-" she whimpered.
"Just what? You couldn't handle one night without me, so you had to go out and ruin the one I looked forward to spending alone!" he escalated.
Somehow switching their roles from before, Ember drew back a few steps wearing a hurt expression.
"Wade... you should've told me... you can't just spring it up with such short notice," she argued.
"But I did! Okay?! I gave you what I thought was enough notice. A- and maybe it's not right, but I did!" he barked.
With a tinge of shame about his delivery, Wade turned away from her and looked down. With her anger dissipating faster than expected, Ember stared at him while he was in an uncharacteristically aggressive demeanour.
She knew there was something more to this. He wasn't the type of person to just go out without telling her anything. In fact, she'd neglected to realize what he was like that very morning before this all went down.
But then she slowly started to realise something...
He wasn't himself.
As she pandered such, it remained silent for nearly a full minute. Instead of yelling her way through the interaction like before, she yearned to learn from her anger. After all, it was he who told her about her temper.
She took a big breath and closed her eyes, calmly reaching out at Wade as he stood with his back facing her. She reached down, gently lacing her fingers with his.
With an air of confliction about him, he innately squeezed hers in answer. She smiled slightly in response, hoping that she was beginning to get through to him as he did her before.
Wade wasn't messing around, however. Before long, he unlaced his fingers with hers and swung his arm away.
Ember gasped softly in response, hurting on the inside.
"Wade-" she murmured.
He turned around to her with a stern expression.
"No," he said.
For just a moment, the two exchanged a stare, her in worry and him in frustration - and a hint of regret.
"Look, Ember. I'm sorry for lashing out, I-" he apologized.
"It's okay. I- I'm sorry I didn't let you have a night to yourself-" she allowed.
"But I need more alone time" he finished.
Ember sharply let out a gasp in shock, followed by another tense, elongated silence.
"W- what?" she queried.
"I- I don't know how long, but I need it." he pressed.
She reached a hand out to him, gently raising an eyebrow.
"But-" she whimpered.
"It's not your fault. I- I'm sorry I made it look like it was." he apologized.
Taking the point home, he gently picked up her shaken hand. The two looked into each other's eyes, where their hearts could be seen wide open.
"Good luck with tomorrow. I know you'll smash it. I just- don't have it in me to watch at the moment." he said.
He gently looked down at her hand as she stared, stunned in disbelief. He very gently let it hang in the wind, slowly walking in the other direction and leaving her hanging.
She was speechless. Utterly speechless. She didn't know what to think about any of what just happened.
The ghosting, the Elementstagram stories, the vehement disdain out of loving worry for him, the lies he told, everything. She stood in her spot, stunned, unable to grasp anything. A wave of fear overcame her as she got into her own head, safely lapsing into a coping amount of anger. She began hyperventilating, watching vehemently as he walked away.
"You know what- fine! Go indulge yourself some more. I'll do it regardless if I have your support or not!" she exclaimed.
He didn't retort a word back at her, instead hanging his head low as he blended into the distance. She continued to hyperventilate, beginning to feel the worry-stricken panic inside in the meantime.
Part of her wanted to run back after him and start it all over again, but another wanted to just let him go - to watch him fade into nothingness. After everything she'd been through that night, perhaps it was good to just let him go for a while.
She let out a scoff in disgust as he escaped her line of sight, causing her to walk in the opposite direction headed home. As she walked back, the anger harboured within her let up, causing her to open the floodgates. She gently sobbed as she walked along home - unsure if she was even ready for what lay ahead tomorrow.
Unfortunately, the night wasn't over.
Hours later, after having safely made it back, Ember arrived at Casa de le Sea-Near. She looked down at her phone and at the time.
11:26 pm
She unlocked and pushed open the door middlingly. Pacing the lounge room out of worry, both Uncle and Aunty Sea-Near let out sighs of relief, rushing toward Ember.
"Oh, Ember! Thank Poseidon, you're home!" Aunty Sea-Near exclaimed.
She and Uncle Sea-Near gestured a hug to comfort her, before quickly withdrawing it in realising that she'd boil them alive. Regardless, Ember waved her hand up in denial without even glancing their way.
It became apparent to the Sea-Nears that Ember's body language was closed for business, indicative of her silent storming past right over to her room upstairs.
They knew something was off. After all, Wade still wasn't home either.
"Ember? Did you see Wade out at all? He hasn't been home all night." Uncle Sea-Near asked.
Without a word in response, Ember stormed upstairs carelessly. As always in times of worry, the Sea-Nears exchanged a look at each other.
Upstairs, Ember swung the bedroom door open and slammed it shut behind her. She threw her bag and PPE off in a huff, before collapsing on herself in tears.
Unwanting to be as loud as a siren, she muffled her mouth with both hands in hopes of not worrying the Sea-Nears furthermore.
She slid down the door and leaned against it, curling into a ball. She held a fist strongly, smashing it down on the very-hard stone floor beneath her. Obviously hurting, she grimaced to herself, shaking her hand.
Hysterics quickly followed as she sharply got up onto her feet, wailing into her hands as she raced over and kicked Wade's bed as hard as she could.
Water sloshed about it erratically, slipping over and hitting her foot, creating a strong sizzle. She grimaced like stubbing a toe, falling over side-on onto her bed. She quickly lapsed into a cradling position, holding her sides and rocking back and forth. She couldn't control her sobbing at that point, her lips trembling as her heart began to melt.
She shakily brought up her phone in hand again, staring at Wade's picture on her lock screen. She let out a loud scowl, throwing the phone to the foot of her bed and resuming hysterics. She covered her eyes, trying her best to wipe the tears away.
Alas, it was no use.