They were friends. He was a player,
and she, she just existed.
But, they were friends,
who trusted each other for more than a decade.
Echo, an ordinary girl, promised herself that
she would never fall in love with him.
Who's him?
Levi, 17 yea...
I always knew that someday I would have to face him again, as much as I tried convincing myself that I will never meet him again, there was definitely a possibility I will meet him again. Maybe I did want to see him again, but I did not expect it to be so soon. Nothing could ever prepare me for when I stood face to face with him.
I looked at him in shock, not believing what I was seeing. My eyes widened and I gasped, covering my mouth.
"Are you going to move? I think it's my turn to order now." He stated in a monotone voice.
What? What's wrong with him? Did he not recognise me? What's going on?
I nodded, confused, moving to allow him to order. I stood there, just looking at him. Maybe he had amnesia, and forgot about me, oh no! Wait, isn't that supposed to be a good thing?
"You're staring." He said. Duh, of course, I would stare, how could I not. I've not seen him for 6 years. He looked, good, a professional, casual, handsome type of good. He was wearing a navy blue long-sleeved tight fitted shirt with grey slacks. Okay, okay, maybe good is an understatement, he looked heavenly, more like someone I can never have, like always.
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I shook my head, getting out of my thoughts. "Levi?" I asked, wanting to double confirm it's really him or if I'm just hallucinating this entire thing.
"Echo. We've got a lot of catching up to do, haven't we? And that's exactly what we're going to do." He said, leading to me a table.
I was honestly considering to literally grab the door handle and run as fast as my legs could take me, but I decided against it and followed him.
I sat down, never taking my eyes off him and he didn't either.
Suddenly, he stretched his legs across the small table, pulling my chair closer to the table, okay, I was not expecting that. I jerked forward a little and put my hands on the table to steady myself.
He leaned back into the chair, stretching his arms and sipped on his coffee. God, is it possible for a human to be more handsome each passing year? He was definitely ageing backwards, yup that's it!
"You look beautiful." He said, breaking whatever silence was surrounding us. My stomach literally did a somersault.
What? Beautiful? What the hell is wrong with him?
I cleared my throat, asking the only question that has been at the back of my mind the entire time.
"Why are you here?"
"Why do you think I'm here?" He questioned, catching me off guard.
So I said the only thing I could think of, "Look, I..I should go." I wanted to leave as soon as possible, not because I didn't want to see him, but because I did not know what to say, I was the one that cut contact with him, I was scared.
"Uh-uh. You're not going anywhere." He firmly said pulling my chair even closer, causing me steady myself again.
"Work. I'm here for work." He said.
"How long?" I asked, wanting to know how long I was going to have to try to avoid him.
"Long." He answered. What? No, why?
I averted my gaze away from him, and the thought that he might still be together with Sierra dawned on me.
"Si-Sierra?"
"We broke up. What do you expect, Echo, you gave me two things that she completely hated, a stereo system that she says it's too noisy and a cologne she detests the scent of. Do you think she'll still want me?" I could sense the teasing tone in his voice.
"I-I'm sorry." I said, wanting to sound as polite as I could, until he suddenly said, "What are you sorry for, hmm? For us breaking up, for buying the two things she hates, or for leaving without telling me?"
I winced at the harsh tone of his voice, I knew he was mad, he had every right to be. I was immature, I left without telling him all because of a stupid confession letter.
"Levi, I-I'm sorry for everything, for not telling you mostly. But you know why I did it, I was scared and I couldn't handle seeing you with her anymore." I honestly said.
"I broke up with her because it felt wrong, so wrong. I broke up with her the day you left to Paris. Echo, the day I went on a hunt for the birthday presents you left me was the day I realised I missed you so fucking much. I was blinded by fame and attention, that I lost sight of the one most important girl in my life. I realised I lost you, and for the past 6 years, I've been waiting for the right moment to get my best friend back, I miss you." He said, surprising the hell out of me.
"Levi..." I wanted to tell him that it doesn't change anything, and if I thought that was shocking, what he said next made me appalled me even more.
"No, let me finish. Echo, look, I'm not here to ask you to just be friends again or something. I'm here to tell you that I'm so fucking in love with you, and I'm falling so hard for you, you have no idea. 6 years, Echo, I waited 6 years, no one, and I mean it, no one could ever compare to you. And I'm not going to wait around anymore." He cut me off, finishing his erm, mini-confession?
I was not expecting a confession like that. He waited 6 years for me? So, he didn't have anyone else in between those 6 years, I thought thinking about how that would never have had happened, knowing Levi's player ways. Besides, if he really did like me, why didn't he find me earlier? Oh yeah, I told him not to, but why now?
6 years ago, if he would have said this, I would have gladly accepted him, but now, now it's just so messed up, I had cancer, for fuck's sake. And I know, there's still hope but I didn't want a relationship, it would involve too many emotions, and I don't think I can handle that.
I lifted my hand to put my hair behind my ear, when I saw him reaching out to touch my wrist. I saw him eyeing the bracelet, the bracelet he gave me. Shit!
"You're wearing it." He smiled, touching the stars on the bracelet. God, I missed his smile so much. Stop Echo, damn it, focus!
I tried pulling my wrist away from his hand to pull down my sweater to cover the bracelet, but he stopped me, taking my hand in his. His hand felt...weirdly warm and comforting. He slowly intertwined our fingers, and I just kept looking at our hands, why did it feel so right yet so wrong?
"Tell me it's not only me who feels this way." He suddenly said, breaking my gaze from our hands while I looked up to see his face, and looked straight into his eyes.
"It's only you." I said. Why I said it? Why did I lie? Because I knew I would only end up hurting him in the end. I would still leave him, in the end.
I removed my hand away from his, and left in hopes that I wouldn't bump into him again, but a part of me knew that I would be meeting him again real soon.
And it scared me honestly, because no matter how distant and cold I would be to him, he was still going to try, and at some point, I knew I would give in.
