Any Other Way

[valerie_vause]

After leaving the bathroom to see that Madeleine had already gone Valerie let out a sigh and left too. It wasn’t until she’d walked three blocks that she realised her feet were instinctively taking her to Brian’s place. The conversation should have happened with him first, but the brunette had asked the questions and she hadn’t been prepared to lie. They were choices both of them had made. Though she wasn’t ashamed of how she felt she understood the importance of sharing it. Not doing so would feel like a lie in and of itself. Whatever Brian thought of her, she hoped it would never be as a liar.

It wasn’t until she reached to knock on his door that she realised her hands were shaking. Societies views were as much a cage to her free will as the Council was to her life. The idea would be more than frowned upon despite the radical changes that had occurred over the past decade and truth be told she was afraid. Afraid of the way he’d look at her like she’d turned into some sort of monster. Afraid that being honest would ruin everything. That she’d lose him before actually having him. Properly having him but then, she feared his intensity too. How could she live up to his expectations? She wasn’t perfect, she wished she was, sometimes, for him. Normal just wasn’t a word that would ever be used to describe her, in any sense of her life.

Valerie knocked on the door before the urge to contemplate how much money she had in the bank sent her fleeing to another country to escape the situation. She didn’t want to hurt him. She wanted more than anything to protect him, but she had to be honest. He deserved that.

Comments

[brian_campo]

Brian stayed in place. He listened to the door shut, and then he crouched in the middle of his room, balled his fists over his head, and yelled, “Fuuuuuuuuccck!” as loud as his lungs and throat could manage. That’s where he remained as the clock ticked one, two, ten minutes later. He rubbed his eyes. Never in his life had he met someone so hell-bent on seeing enemies everywhere. Valerie was separated from his reality, or he was separated from hers. Whatever.

The truth was that she didn’t get him. She saw aggression in everything, resentment and overreaction and judgment in everything. He wasn’t allowed to feel a damn thing. Well, he felt a lot. Valerie could’ve taken one hard look at Brian the day they met and known that.

He stood up and started walking. Grabbed his leather jacket, his keys and wallet, and a stake (he wasn’t making that mistake twice). He slammed the door, left the apartment building, and started walking. A water main burst in his wake.

Love.

What a joke.