My eyes go wide in shock.

"S-Skylar what are you doing here?" I ask.

"I asked her to come." My aunt walks up to the door from the side where she was standing so I wouldn't see her.

"What?"

Skylar fidgets uncomfortably and stays looking at the ground. I look to my aunt who is looking at me with a mask of indifference. I was about to say something when my aunt says,

"Well, I'll leave you to it." Then she turns around and leaves.

I look back at Skylar who is now looking at me.

I feel my heart jump.

"Um, I'm sorry about her, I can take you home if you want," I say.

She shakes her head no.

I step aside and let her in.

She walks in and I shut the door. We stand in awkward silence for a moment. I again open my mouth to say something but Skylar beats me to it,

"I didn't tell Jade that we kissed again," She blurts out.

There is another long awkward pause.

"Why?" I finally ask.

"I don't know." She shrugs.

"Was it for me, or for her?"

She shrugs again.

I sigh.

"Are you okay? You haven't come to school in a while." She moves closer to me in concern.

I step back.

"Yeah... I'll be fine. Eventually. Or so I've heard." I force a smile.

"Jade doesn't know I'm here." She says.

"Where does she think you are?"

"I said I had to work on a group project with someone in my 5th-period class."

"So you lied?"

She nodded.

"Why?"

She shrugs again.

"Skylar," I start but at the same time she says,

"Darleen."

We both pause.

"You go first," she says to me.

I swallow a lump in my throat and reach out my hand and grab hers,

"Is this okay?" I ask.

She nods.

I lead her to the living room and we sit on the couch. I then move my hand and keep it to myself.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry," I start. "Sorry for forcing myself on you, sorry for being a bad girlfriend, sorry for everything. I'm so sorry. I never meant to be a bad person. I'm sorry. I don't expect you to forgive me, I just... I'm sorry." I struggle to keep it together.

"No," she says.

I look at her through my tears.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. You are not a bad person, you are amazing. We all make mistakes. I do forgive you; I do. I'm the one who is sorry. I just moved on right after we broke up like it was easy. Like it all meant nothing. I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. It did mean something to me, it did. I went into the relationship with nothing. I never wanted to feel anything for you or commit to anything. I didn't think..." she trails off.

"Didn't think what?" I move closer to her.

"I didn't think I'd actually fall for you," she whispers.

We sit in silence for another moment.

"I do love you, Darleen. More than you could ever know." She says.

"I love you too."

"You taught me a lot of things I didn't know I needed to know about myself. You lifted me up and put me back together when I didn't even know I was broken. You are amazing. Don't let anyone or anything let you think otherwise. Even me. I am the one who is sorry. I'm the real bad person here. Not you. It wasn't easy for me either. Even after I got with Jade, I still thought of you. I still held out a little hope that you would come back for me. Part of me always believed you would. It wasn't easy for me Darleen, it still isn't. That's why I can't be around you alone, why I can't be so close to you anymore. Because it's still hard for me. I still feel things that I know I shouldn't feel. I know it's hard for you, but it's hard for me too. So, if you still need more time, I understand."

"I don't want more time, I want you." I grab her hand and interlock our fingers.

"We can't," she whispers.

"It will never be over between us Skylar, not until we have proper closure and I am not going to let you give me that. I refuse."

"You have to let this go Darleen. For your own good. I'm worried about you."

"Is that why you are here?"

She looks into my eyes and nods.

"There was no other reason?" I push.

She averts her gaze and shrugs. Her hand never leaving my own.

I move closer to her. She once again meets my eyes.

"It's okay if there was," I lean into her. "We can both be weak."

Our lips just brush together, but I won't let her get off that easy. I pull back before we can kiss, just to prove to her and to myself that she does want this. That it is not a one-sided affair. She is caught by surprise and leans forward but my lips don't meet hers.

She looks at me in confusion as to why I pulled away. It takes her a second but she seems to understand what I am trying to do. She looks down in shame and pulls her hands away. She tries to look away from me but I grab her chin and force her to lock eyes with me.

"Why can't you just admit to yourself you still want me?" I say to her.

Her eyes water and she pulls away again, looking anywhere but at me.

"Skylar," I say to get her attention.

"It's... It's not what I thought it would be. I worked so hard to get with Jade. Worked so hard to grab her attention and... it's just still so hard. I know she's trying; I know she's changing, but it's not fast enough. She still uses me, she still pushes me around. When I point it out to her she makes me the villain. I love her Darleen, but it's just so hard. Love shouldn't be this hard." Her voice shakes and her tears finally spillover.

It breaks my heart to see her like this, to know that Jade is responsible for her pain.

"Skylar, it doesn't have to be so hard." I grab her hands in my own.

"She doesn't even see that she's hurting me. I try and talk to her but she always makes it about herself. I brought up the fact that I thought Cassidy was getting too close for comfort and she blew up on me and to make me mad she purposely went out with Cassidy. I don't know what to do. You want to know why I'm here, well here is the truth. I miss this. I miss how great things were with you. I miss how easy it used to be for me to love you. I shouldn't have come here; I shouldn't have kissed you."

"But you did, and now you know it can still be that easy. You don't have to put up with that. I can give you what you want."

"That's the thing, I just remembered that it wasn't that easy for us either. We argued so much. We both did and said things that can't be undone. I love her Darleen, and I know even if I leave her I will always love her. Even if you and I get back together I will still love her. I shouldn't have come here, but when your aunt told me that you needed me, I just... I couldn't resist. You are easy to love because you are a great person but even if we did do this again, it wouldn't be what we want. We'd be fooling ourselves. I saw what I wanted to see in you and now I know you're not perfect, and neither am I. Being with Jade may be hard, but leaving her would be even harder. I'm sorry I gave you hope but I can't do this."

"You're wrong, it can be different. I want to change; I want to grow and be what you need. Jade doesn't want that; Jade can't do that for you but I can. I will if you let me. Please just let me try." I move to wipe her tears.

She leans into my touch and grabs my hand in her own, interlocking out fingers before slowly pushing it away.

"It's because I love you that I'm not going to let you do this to yourself. We have to let go Darleen; I have to let you go. For your own good. We aren't right for each other, I love someone else and maybe she's a pain, but she's my pain and I have to deal with it. Not you. Let me go."

"I can't." my voice shakes.

"Then I'm going to let you go. This is the last time we'll talk for a while. I'm going to give you as much space as I can, I'll even quit the track team if I have to. I want you to stop hurting. I only want what's best for you. Don't worry about me, I'll figure it out. I always do. Just...forget about me."

I shake my head no as tears flow down my cheeks but she gets up to leave, her own tears silently falling.

"Skylar please," I chase after her.

"No Darleen. It's over, for good. Let this be your closure. I love you, I never wanted to love you but I do because you are an amazing person. And one day you are going to meet someone who deserves you and treats you a lot better than I did. I love you," She smiles, "If you ever need me, I'll be there. But for now, I'm going to leave you alone for a while. I'm sorry."

Then she quickly walks out of the door.

"Skylar wait! Please! Don't do this!" I chase after her, she runs down the street but I'm faster than her and quickly catch up. She's a blubbering mess and I grab her and wrap her in my arms.

"No Darleen." She sobs.

"Yes. I love you; I'm not letting this go. I can't."

She pulls back and looks into my eyes I look back into hers. She leans in and I think she's going to kiss me so I close my eyes but instead, she kisses my forehead and slowly pulls away.

"Oh Beasty, what am I going to do with you?" she wipes the tears off my cheek.

"I need you." I lean into her.

She pulls back.

"Please," I beg.

"Come on," she grabs my hand and pulls me back to my house.

Then she leads me to my room and we lay down, she just holds me in her arms and rubs my arm up and down. All the crying tired me out and I eventually fell asleep. When I woke up the next morning,

She was gone.