He sat there for a time after she left, contemplating his next move. That's what it was like around her, utter indecision. Stay here with the people who would never realize he was gone, or go solve her latest riddle? He took one last scan of the room and it's 'lively' conversation, and then politely dislodged himself from them.

Exactly how she had left it. Didn't they change a Goddamn thing in that house? Her room was a mess. Notebooks, pictures, and magazines were all scattered around, she still wasn't positive what color her carpet was. She pushed some clothes aside with her foot. Blue, she smiled.

He sighed and tilted his head to the sky. He was always chasing her, and one of these days he'd learn his lesson. She didn't belong here. She never had, they both knew that, but he never had wanted to accept it. What in God's name was she going to put him through this time?

The silence inside was becoming increasingly creepy, so she traded it for the solace of the outdoors. CD player in hand, she wandered out to the porch and slumped down on the cushioned bench. She rolled her eyes at herself. 'Coward'. The day replayed itself in separate snap shots, all of which contained him.

He smiled, shaking his head at the sight of her. Barely an hour and she had already made herself comfortable, with that battered old CD player in toe. He padded silently over to her.

Her eyes blinked open, sensing another presence. If she was startled she did a damn good job at concealing it, because she looked entirely at peace. She saw his mouth moving but couldn't hear what he was saying. Rolling her eyes at her stupidity, she pulled the headphones away from her ears. "Hi Kris.", she heard him repeat, leaning back on the railing. "Long time no see?"

The minute he started talking he saw how awkward and unreal this was. Despite his earlier apathy, he now had to fight to restrain the sarcasm from entering into his voice. At least she hadn't made an annoying attempt to apologize. He understood too well that she never felt sorry for a thing she did.

Suddenly it seemed that she forgot how to smile. It was hard to hear his voice, it seemed to reprimand her even through the few words it uttered. She wasn't sure if she betrayed all that was going through her head but he appeared to regain his slight loss composure. Why had he followed her? She looked dumbly at his expectant demeanor. Oh, she was supposed to say something back wasn't she. "Hey." She was quite the articulate one today, huh?

"You're back.", he stated simply. He couldn't form much of a thought on that fact. It still hadn't quite sunk in yet. Hell he had only just gotten over the fact that she was gone. Lord she was already giving him a headache and she had only said one syllable.

"It's too late.", she returned simply. Thinking back, ironically, at what she was listening to before he had intruded. Why was it that some songs only made sense to you when you were in the same awkward situation? She could see it in his eyes, it was laughable how much she could get from just looking at him. She knew she had no chance, and she had a creeping suspicion that she wouldn't take it if she had.

He nodded in agreement, but still stayed in his previous position, not quite willing to move. He sighed inwardly, at least she had said it herself. If she could realize it that by all means he could. He couldn't help thinking about where they would be if they could have kept it all together. But like she had said, it was too late.

The silence was killing her. Who ever knew silence could have such a God awful sound. She thought about breaching on an almost forbidden topic, and breaking this tentative truce they had. He wasn't yelling at her and asking questions, and she wouldn't make petty conversation. Her thoughts went back to the blonde, curiosity biting into her, but she was good, she said nothing about it. She owed him that much.

"Don't look at me like that.", he heard her say in an almost pleading voice. Had he been looking at her? He lost himself for a second, his mind regressing along memory lane. That was one scary stretch of road. She probably saw exactly what he was thinking, she always had the uncanny ability to read him. He turned away, rehearsing an exit.

"I should go.", she said, beating him to the punch. It was no use. Being back here did no one any good, plus she had leaving down to an art. A clean break, she wanted a clean break. One with no loose ends, unlike last time. He had a chance to say what he wanted, didn't he? She was drained, to easily too.

He laughed sarcastically as she made a move to leave. "You're favorite line huh?" It wasn't his fault all she could do was run. "What?", she replied, stopping expectantly. Lord, would she just show a little emotion?, he thought bitterly. Tension just didn't go away if you ignored it, he knew that, but she obviously didn't.

'Damn,' she said silently, 'So much for a clean break', though her cool countenance never faltered. "Why the hell are you here?", he demanded. She knew he assumed it was because of himself, and he was partly right, but she'd be damned if he knew.

He eyed her insistently, wanting an answer. "Please deflate the ego. I came to visit them.", she rolled her eyes at him, nodding toward the house. Right, now he remembered why this past year had been so much quieter. He hadn't missed the sarcasm. "Odd seeing that they're not here.", he retorted. He could have been a bigger man, but he had played that role all his life and it was pretty damn old.

This is what she got for coming back, one last verbal sparring match. It made the road look to her. "Which is why I'm leaving.", she bit her lip, remembering she had left her car in town. "And you wouldn't know before hand, because they don't have phones where you live now." Ouch, well maybe she did deserve that.

Well he hadn't expected her to roll over and play dead. He attempted to say something, but she stopped him with a passive flick of her wrist. "You're allowed to be angry." Wow, had that sounded almost chipper? She was faking it, and now he felt worse.

"I'd rather you be mad, then have sympathy for me, ok?" She replied preemptively. She smiled sadly to herself, "Can I go now?" She took his silence for a yes and continued on to her car. She told herself not to look back, to keep her head high and focused on the air in front of her.

"I'll tell them you stopped by.", he said quietly, not sure she could hear him. It was best this way. She didn't belong here anymore, and maybe she never had. They both admitted it now. And despite all the wasted time spent wishing she were back, he knew he wouldn't take her back if she were the last beautiful girl in the world.

Disclaimer: I do not own matchbox 20 or any of their songs. No copy right infringement intended. blah blah blah.

A/N: I decided to take msQTpa2T's advice, because the old title and summary didn't quite fit. A big thanks to both her and amanda for reviewing. please r/r, you've gotten this far so why not leave a review? ;-)