Everywhere, All At Once

Chapter 38 - Touch the Sky

 "Hi," Kenna breathed when she walked into the pub to see Aaron standing by the bar. The same bar in the same pub where the class reunion had been held all those months ago, where they'd first reconnected. She guessed why he'd picked this place, it didn't matter. She was just going for all the bad decisions at once.

"Hey. You look great," Aaron said, sticking his hands in his pockets when he would've reached for her under different circumstances.

"Thanks," Kenna said, looking down to hide her blush. She shouldn't be here. Noelle even agreed that this was a horrible idea if Kenna's ultimate goal was to heal and move on. But this would be the last time she would see Aaron for the foreseeable future, the last time she would let herself see him. She'd had to come, at least this last time. To say goodbye the right way for closure.

"So..." Aaron began, gesturing to an empty table across the room.

They walked over together, Kenna's heart thundering in her chest so loud she was sure he heard it.

"So..." Kenna parroted. "How are you?" She asked, forcing a bland smile, like she didn't care all that much.

"Better now," he said, looking into her eyes, but Kenna looked away. "Sorry - I - That was inappropriate. I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"How's... Work? Working on anything interesting?"
"Not really," Kenna said, shrugging.

God, this was the worst idea she'd ever had. She looked at Aaron who met her eyes again and her whole body tensed. This felt wrong. It all felt wrong. Him looking at her with sorrow in his eyes, them sitting together without touching, struggling to speak to each other.

"I think this was a bad idea," Kenna said, looking away again. She couldn't stay if she had to watch him look at her like that. "I need to go."

"Wait, no -"

But Kenna was already up and heading for the door. She felt Aaron following her, not wanting to grab her for her attention, but hoping she would turn around. The cool air hit her face and brought her back to herself and she turned to find Aaron saying her name, reaching out for her.

She stepped out of his reach, and though she saw the hurt on his face, he didn't try to touch her again.

"I need to go, Aaron. I cannot do this again. I cannot go through breaking up all over again. I don't know why I thought I could."

"Okay. Okay, I - I'm sorry. Can I at least walk you to your car?"

Kenna sighed, knowing if she said no, he'd follow her to see her safely there anyway. She nodded and walked toward where she'd parked. She stopped at her car, noting the smooth, unbroken window he'd had fixed for her months before. She almost reached a hand out to touch it before she realized how ridiculous she'd look stroking a car window. It was ironic though. Unbroken, unlike them. Fixed, perfect, new, unlike them. And they never would be again.

Kenna turned to face Aaron, to indicate that she was leaving, and she saw tears on his cheeks and her knees all but buckled.

"Please don't leave, Kenna," he said, voice strained.

"Don't do this," she said, tears streaking down her own face now. "We can't go back. We can't pretend none of it happened, or that we didn't say and do the things we did."

He took a step toward her and this time she stood her ground.

"Then let's not pretend. We can work through it, instead of around ir. We can. I swear to you, we can."