Chapter 9 – How Did She Go?

“Alright I’ll see you tomorrow! Call me if you questions about the assignment,” Zach yells from his car, which is a couple parking spots down.

“Alright. Later man,” I wave as I get into my car.

I turn the key to start the ignition. I turn on the music and change tracks on the CD until it lands on a song by Guns N' Roses.

I rear out of my parking spot and drive home, taking the shortcut because I want to try to finish all my homework before eight. That way, I can talk to her about whatever she needs to talk about.

“Mom I’m home!” I call as I walk through the back door. I drop some books on the dinner table and notice some Easter lilies in a vase. Those weren’t there when I left.

“Hey David. How was school?” she asks.

“Fine,” I answer. “What’s with the flowers?”

“Oh um Audrey’s in your room,” Mom whispers.

“What?” my eyes grow wide.

Why was Audrey at my house? She rarely comes here.

“She just showed up about thirty minutes ago and asked if she could sit in her room. She brought the Easter lilies by the way. Aren’t they gorgeous?” my Mom rearranges the flowers in the vase.

“Yeah,” I grab my stuff and head up to my room.

I knock on my door before entering. Audrey is sitting in my chair looking at cd covers, seeing as my music collection shelf is right next to her.

“Hey,” I smile. Seeing her makes my face light up. “Why are you here?” I ask softly, putting my stuff at my table.

“We need to talk David,” Audrey exhales after a while, her fingers gently running over a picture frame.

“What? Why? What’s wrong?” I ask.

“Nothing, well, it’s complicated,” Audrey places the frame, picture side down on the shelf and gets up and sits down next to me on my bed.

“Tell me,” I nudge her gently with my body. She puts her head on my shoulder and I can feel the heat radiating from her body.

“I quit skating,” Audrey whispers after a long pause.

“What?” I exclaim. “Why?”

“It just wasn’t fun anymore. I still love it. I guess a part of me will always love it, but it got to the point where I couldn’t sleep the night before I had to go skating. And I found myself dreading coming into the rink. I mean…that’s not healthy you know? I mean I used to use skating as a release but it got to the point where what I used as a release now required a release.”

“I guess, but…are you sure?”

I knew how much she loved skating. She skated for more than half of her life.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Audrey nods her head against my shoulder.

“Well I’m here for you,” I say, moving my arm to stroke her back.

“That’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about,” Audrey sighs.

Oh shit.

“What?” I ask, scared as hell.

“I…can’t…I can’t see you anymore. I can’t…be with you anymore,” Audrey lifts her head off my shoulder and looks me dead on in the eyes.

“What?! Why Audrey? Did I-I-did I do something wrong?” I ask my face full of fear.

“No,” Audrey shakes her head and looks down. “It’s not that. You’ve never done anything wrong. You can’t do anything wrong. It’s not possible for you to do anything wrong, which is why I have to leave,” Audrey finally looks back up at me. Those beautiful dark brown orbs pierce through mine.

“Audrey…I don’t understand,” I say, not scared of admitting how I feel.

“David you’ve always been there for me. Always. And I know you took my bracelet off while I was sleeping the other night when we were together. You took it off and you got something engraved on the other side of the heart. I found it on your desk when I got here. But the point is; you’ve always been there for me. You’ve always been the stronger half of us. By loving me so much, you weakened me. I need to learn to do things for myself now. I need to learn to face my fears, to toughen up, to be there for myself. I can’t do that when I’m with you because you’ll always protect me. You’ll always be my shoulder to cry on.”

I know she’s trying her best, but Audrey’s tearing up. And I have to admit, I am too, on the inside.

“But I can’t do that,” I say, my eyes glancing down at my knees.

“I know you can’t. If I’m here,” Audrey puts her hand on my shoulder and lowers her head so she can look me in the eyes.

“You’re not,” I shake my head.

“Yes, I am,” Audrey confirms my worst fear. “I’m leaving Colorado Springs. I’m moving to California. Yes on my own. Yes, I’ve talked to my parents about this and they agree with me. I’m going to go to UCLA and major in communications. I’ve always wanted to be at the premiere sports events. I’ve dreamed about it my whole life, but I guess when I’m there I won’t be the one talking about my success. I’ll be talking about other people’s success,” Audrey says, trying to laugh at the end, but it’s her attempt isn’t working out very well. “And that bracelet,” Audrey gestures over to the silver metal on my desk. “I know you’ll always be here for me. But I have to be here for myself. You didn’t have to engrave ‘I’m Here’ in the bracelet for me to remember that.”

I just stare at her. I can’t say anything. I just don’t want her to leave.

“But I can’t, I don’t…I don’t know how to live without you by my side,” I admit. “I can’t…I can’t feel love without you.”

“You can David,” Audrey nods. “You did it before me. You can do it after me. You’ll be fine David,” Audrey says with a reassuring smile that’s one hundred percent forced. She slowly moves her hand off my shoulder and stands.

I watch her walk over to my desk and grab the bracelet. She looks at it and forces a smile. She unclasps the closure and slings it around her wrist and clasps the silver metal to her wrist. She gets to my doorway when she stops and turns around.

“I’ll miss you David,” Audrey says, fighting back tears. She glances at me once more and walks away.

I got up and walked over to my shelf. I lifted the picture frame up and saw that it was a picture of us. It was taken a couple months ago. We're at the park at her neighborhood and the lighting is perfect. She's standing in front of me and my arms are wrapped around her, in a backwards hug. She's holding onto my wrists and we're both smiling like there was no tomorrow. We both loved that picture to death. Not to mention our parents. It had been her default on myspace for months. That's how long we had together. Months. Not years. And now she was gone.

I replayed what she said in my mind.

"I'll miss you David."

She never knew that no matter how much she missed me, I’ll always miss her more.

Wow. I am very sad this story is over. But before you chop my head off, there will be a sequel! And it will be in Audrey’s point of view, not David’s. The sequel might not come out for a while. It’ll have to be after I finish another story line I have in my head. But thanks for everyone who reviewed and keeps reading! Keep it up!

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This story is dedicated to my friend Viky. She’s my best friend and I’m glad I have her here for me when I need her. Thanks Vikk Sixx!