AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t think it would be fair to," Violet said. “I think it’s going to take some time for me to fully come to terms with everything," Violet said. “I’ve thought about that paper for six years, wondering why things happened the way they did. And now I know, I have no clue where I’ll end up. We were still terrible to each other after.”
Charlie nodded. He didn’t want to continue as they were, but they needed to work on every terrible thing said in the aftermath.
“I’m supposed to go stay at Liv and Lewis’s apartment tonight.”
Right. Of course. He knew she was leaving, and he had wanted to ask her what happened as a last conversation before things went back to the way they were.
But he didn’t want things like they were before. He wanted to work on this. He now knew exactly what happened, and he wanted to see where they would end up now they had all the pieces of what had happened.
Charlie didn’t want to wait months to see her again.
“But I’m worried if I do, we’ll never move on from this,” she added.
“What?” He asked, daring to be hopeful.
“Being apart makes everything worse. I know how I am - I never work through something until I have to. School keeps me busy, and I tend to focus on that and not thinking about what’s happened in the past. But being here … it’s forced us to deal with how shitty we’ve been. I know you probably want your house back to yourself, but-“
“I don’t.” Charlie stood. “Violet, I want to work on this. You’re right - being together makes us actually try. We need to do that. You can stay as long as you need to.”
“I want to be clear, if I piss you off, I’ll-“
“Violet, stop. The same still applies now. I won’t kick you out and you can still work on things on the house. We can see where we’re at when your apartment gets fixed.”
“Okay,” Violet said quietly. “But this isn’t going to be easy. I’m not good at moving on, and pain sticks with me. I can’t be your friend instantly.”
“I don’t expect you to. You’re doing more than most by even giving me a chance.”
“It still wasn’t you that sent those comments,” Violet said, softly. “You can’t put all of this on you.”
“She was my girlfriend.”
“That’s not how this works.”
Charlie didn’t know if he believed her. Violet stared at him for a moment before she took a deep breath.
“We’ll give this a shot. Friendship. A real one. Deal?”
She held her hand out. He remembered the last time he shook her hand, and he had dreaded touching her. Now it felt like hope.
Their hands met and he promised himself he was going to do better. He was going to be how he was in college.
He wasn’t repeating the same mistakes again. As she pulled away, the conflicted feelings in his chest settled on a quiet, delicate hope.
