Chapter 102 Late

I cannot breathe. My brain collapsed which explains to why my emotions took over earlier and logic seeped out of my brain. This is the reason behind why I immediately run outside of the house as fast as I can because the simple forehead kiss my ex-boyfriend had given me had caused for gorillas to beat the organs inside of me which in turn clasped my lungs shut. I continued running and crossed the road across my childhood house and run an extra half a mile until I reached the familiar peaceful environment which is the front side of a forest near the houses. I really wanted to continue running deep in the forest but the last time I did that -which was when I was twelve- I got lost. The person who found me was my best friend, Elliot. I stopped on my tracks and felt my lungs burning. At the same time, I can feel my heart feeling like it was going to explode inside of my chest. The burning sensation of my lungs was because I ran. The heart though is because of Elliot freaking Langston. The picture of both of us, the one in his truck, where we were sitting down on a picnic cloth flash in front of my eyes. "It's special to me." He said. Why? Why does he still have it? Why does Elliot freaking Langston have our picture in his truck? Why would he say it is special to him? And it can not be because he looked good in that photo. He did not even fix his hair on that day. Mom's voice rang on my head, "I just came from the mall and passed through the highway; I'm here." Why? Why would he lie that Highway 823 was closed? Why would he lie and be stuck with me for a few more minutes? "You know what you gotta do." Why? Why would he bring that up? Why would he want to hear me say all the things, at least three, of the things that I love about him? "I love you too." Why? Why would he lie? After all these years, he would still lie in front of me, in front of my face. I do not get it. He was the one who broke up with me. It was his call to crush me into pieces that day. I can still remember that day. Not the day he broke up with me, but the day everything changed. It was the day before our high school graduation. The day before he broke up with me. It was our normal day-to-day hang out session in the park. It was not ordinary, because anything that has something to do with Elliot Langston is never ordinary. I was licking the cream in Oreo, as he eats the cookie because I do not like eating the cookie in Oreo. Then, his phone rung and he excused himself. It was weird because we know everything about each other, meaning, we take our calls in front of each other. So it irked me a little bit, but I let him be because I trust him and respect his privacy. I didn't really think much about it because it is his life and his phone call.  But when he went back, his behavior changed. His whole demeanor changed. His flirty smile was gone, his fluttering lashes, and his silly smirks. It was replaced with a stern look. He looked like Edward from Twilight -he looked constipated. He started acting like I was carrying a deadly virus because he ignored me after that phone call. Then on the morning of graduation day, he ditched our daily routine -which consists of him waiting outside my house by 6:50 am so that we can go to school together. Which is why I was almost late on my own graduation. During the ceremony, I did not even get the chance to talk to him. Then, after the ceremony, I went up to him and was about to greet him, kiss him, heck, I wasn't angry at him at all because I thought that he was just nervous! So I smiled and was about to say congratulations when he said the words that had caused me to leave town for almost two years. "We're over." I never thought that it was humanly possible for my heart to shatter until the moment he said that we were done. I asked him what and why, but all he did was that he only repeat those words. I was shocked, hurt, and confused. But most of all, I was utterly pissed. I ran towards him and was about to force the reason to why this is happening to us, to what I have done for him to cut our ties, when he shrugged at me and said, "As cliché as it sounds, it's not you. It's me." He then smiled sadly, "I fell out of love, I'm sorry." I looked at his eyes and at that moment, at that moment I did not believe him. I know those eyes for more than half of my lifetime. Call me cocky, but I know when those emerald eyes are happy, I know when they are sad, and I know when they are lying. What made me let him go was not because he said that he fell out of love, I let him go because for the first time in our relationship, he actually lied to me. About us. I let him go because whatever the reason behind his own reason was enough to prove that that reason was more important than our relationship. That his pride and dignity was more important than us. I loved Elliot Langston, I love Elliot Langston, and I will always be in love with Elliot Langston. Even after all these years, my feelings for him, the idea of me loving him is a fact. But I can not, for the life of me, take the risk of getting hurt once again. It is too painful. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice? Shame on me. I felt tears falling down my face as my legs give out on me. I dropped on the floor and my heart clenched angrily. My heart hates me, despises me. It is asking to why I keep on voluntarily hurt myself by hoping that this time, maybe things would be different. My heart hates me because I am so stupid. I heard steps going near me from behind, and his voice called out my name, "Cobie!" I was too tired to jumped out of shock, and so I stayed there until Elliot walked around me to face me and knelt down. He gathered me in his arms, and I started sobbing harder because this is so familiar. The way he holds me together, the way he comforts me, and the way he smells. Everything is so damn familiar. Which is why I cried harder. 'I love you, baby." He cooed at me as he rocked me back and forth. 'I love you." 'Lies." I murmured as I balled my hands into fists and do my best to hurt him by pounding on his chest. 'Why the heck are you lying to me? Shut up, shut up!" 'Baby, I love you." He hugs me tighter and did not let me go, 'I love you." I stopped pounding on his chest and simply bawled my eyes out. A few minutes later, when I finally had the energy to deal with this drama, I stood up, which made him stand up. I tried pulling away from him, but I did not even get a few inches between us because he trapped me in his hold with his arms around my waist. I looked up and stared at Elliot's beautiful emerald eyes and sadly asked, "What are you doing here?" He slowly leaned in closer towards me, which made me lean away from him, and then he asked, "Why were you crying?" "Crying? I was not crying." I sniffed as I try to lie through obvious truths. Heck, I bet my eyes are swollen right now. "Charlie came over and sprinkled fairy dust all over me." Charlie is Elliot's older brother who works in a daycare where his uniform is a fairy suit and his job description is to be a fairy. -It is a long story. I mentioned his brother because the picture of him wearing the ridiculous fairy suit was hilarious, enough to make me smile while I joke, but Elliot neither laughed nor smile. He actually ignored my lie and continued asking. "Why are you crying...?" "It's none of your business." I smiled sarcastically because of how dumb he is. I was about to run away again when he grabbed my wrist and successfully stopped me. "Let me go, Elliot." "What happened?" "You." I snapped at him angrily. Since he looks like he really cares about me, then I might as well just go straight to the point then. "You happened." "What about me?" "What about you? EVERYTHING." I pulled my hand away from him and frowned, "I want my car back." He sighed, "We're working on it-" "I will get a rental then." This time, he had the audacity to frown at me, "Why?" "Because I am leaving." I sniffed and wiped some tears that betrayed me. Yes, they betrayed me because they actually fell from my eyes. "I am leaving, I am done." "You are done with what?" "WITH EVERYTHING!" I screamed, "I am done. I am done with everything. I'm done!" "You are not done." He jokes, "You're Cobie!" "This is not the time for jokes, El." I told him, trying to stop the smile forming in my face because of how random this man is. -which failed by the way. "Then why are you smiling?" "Because!" "Because?" "BECAUSE." I shook my head, "I am done acting like nothing happened." "Like what happened?" "Like you didn't break my heart!" "... Cobie..." "What?!" "Let me explain..." "Your explanation is a little few years too late." I turned around and was about to do a dramatic exit when he said the word I never expected would come from him. "Anaconda."  And so, I stopped because I know he isn't talking about Nikki Minaj's single, but because it's Anaconda. I turned around and gave him the look. "Don't start singing on me now."