Living Next Door
I can hear them. Every time he comes home from work. It's all I can hear. Screaming and shouting. She calls him a lying jerk and he calls her selfish and unappreciative. They both seem to blow off the comments and retort a new insult. I can barely listen any longer. I want to leave so bad, but instead I put my earbuds in and put my music on full volume. I can still faintly hear their voices, so I put the TV on and the stereo, while my earbuds still sit in my ears. All the noise in my apartment drowns out their yelling. I finally relax, but only for a moment. Then I remember that they are still fighting. No matter how loud I make it in here, they are still arguing... Over me.
Today when he walked into his apartment, there was no immediate yelling. Maybe they aren't gonna argue tonight, but I'm not gonna hold my breath.
A minute passes before I hear the her voice. She scream at him, telling him he can't see me anymore. Can't be my friend anymore. I snicker at the fact that this is the same fight they have every night, yet when they wake up in the morning neither does a thing about me. Thomas is and will always be my best friend. Even though, sometimes, I wish he was a little more.
When she finishes, Thomas does respond, instead I hear a loud crashing sound, like glass shattering or a chair being thrown against a wall. I can't tell exactly what it is, but I know, this time, I have to leave.
I quickly run for the door, grabbing nothing on the way out. I don't know where I'll go or what I'll do, but I have to go... Now. My heart is racing almost as fast as I am running.
I swing the door shut. I turn to sprint out of here, but then I see him. Thomas. He's standing in front of his door, which is across from my own. I see blood dripping down his face. A small gash, bleeding intensely on his forehead. I almost drop to my knees at the sight of the man I have feelings for being treated this way by the woman he loves. But I can't stay. So I continue to leave, not running, but walking at a steady pace. Then I hear his voice, barely audible.
"I'm sorry."
I don't even know if he meant for me to hear him.
My heart breaks a little more with every step I take away from him. Yet I keep walking away.
Once I make it out of the building that is practically hell at this point, I start to run again. A cold rain pours from the sky. It soaks my clothes and my hair, but at this point I don't care.
I feel all the sadness in my body leaving as a new sensation fills my body. Anger. Rage. Fury. They have built up for so long, I can't believe I haven't exploded before this.
As I sprint through the streets, I don't even notice where I am or where I am going. Everything around me is just a huge blur. Then I hear him again. I immediately turn my head, seeing Thomas. The gash on his head seems to be bleeding even more. The blood mixing with the rain, which now covers his face. His hair flops over his eyes and I almost laugh at how funny it looks. Instead I turn back around and continue to run.
"(Y/N)! Please! Wait!" I hear Thomas shout. Those words go right to my head and I immediately stop, knowing I'll pretty much do anything he tells me. I'm so vulnerable around him. As I stand on the sidewalk in front of some restaurant, I hear Thomas' feet splashing in the huge puddles that surround me. Each drop of rain that falls from the sky helps disguise the ones that are falling from my eyes.
As I turn to Thomas I notice the blood on his face has washed away. I raise my hand and graze my fingers over his wound.
"Why are you still my friend?" I ask him, knowing it causes him more pain than I could ever know. He touches my cheek, which catches my attention, causing my eyes to glance up at him.
"If I wasn't with her I would hurt for a few weeks, but if I wasn't your friend anymore I would hurt forever. I couldn't go on. You mean more to me than any girlfriend I've ever had." Thomas whispers, his face getting closer to mine with every word he spoke. When he spoke his last word his lips fell on mine. They only touch for a mere moment, but every moment with Thomas feels like years.
His eyes. They stare into my own. I can't move. Everything I've ever wanted is right here. He's here. With me.
