The Player

Brielle

8:09 PM

Sam and I sat at our favorite diner, Randy's Shack. Whenever any of us were stressed out or needed to eat our feelings, we always order two double chocolate shakes and onion rings to split. Today, I needed them more than ever.

When Christopher first ditched me on the sidewalk after our kiss, I was shocked. I couldn't wrap my brain around the fact that one moment his lips were pressed against mine, and then the next, he was gone.

But after the initial shock wore off, I just grew angry. How dare he leave me there after that! I immediately called Sam in my need to vent, and we have been here ever since.

"You know what really pisses me off?" I asked Sam, rhetorically of course. "The fact that he gave me no reason and just ran, like who does that?" I took a long slurp of my shake before catching my breath.

"And to be honest, he's not even that cute anymore. He's one of those guys that look good from afar, but when you look at them up close they just look worse and worse. He's basically a catfish."

I looked up at Sam for confirmation but was only answered with a slight nod of her head and a soft murmur. Her eyes seemed to have glazed over, staring at the Beatles poster hung on the wall.

"Sam!" I clapped my hands in front of her face, causing her eyes to snap towards mine. She looked disheveled for a second before finally returning to reality.

"I was listening!" she said in a high-pitched voice, lying straight through her teeth. She spotted my knowing glance before finally confessing.

"Okay fine, I wasn't, but can you blame me? You've been talking about how much you hate him for like two hours." She played with the straw in her empty cup. "A friend can only take so much."

I rubbed my eyes, resting my forehead on the cool table. "I know," I groaned, looking back at her. "It's just that he's stuck in my head, you know? And no matter how much I try to shake him I can't stop thinking about him."

I rubbed my temples with my fingers, feeling a head ache coming on. "It's just so frustrating."

"I know," Sam said, looking at me with sympathetic eyes. "That's why I texted him to meet us."

"What!" My jaw dropped as my eyes grew wide.

"I had to!" she exclaimed, quickly defending herself. "You've been saying the same thing over and over for the past thirty minutes. If I didn't do something, I was going to go insane."

A look of hurt was plastered on my face. I couldn't help feeling a little betrayed. I just wanted someone to vent to, I wasn't ready to confront Christopher.

must have sensed this because her tone grew softer, her

but you deserve to know. It hurts me to see you distraught like this. Whether you guys get together

to him made my heart race in nervousness. What if it wasn't a crazy reason at all, and he just ran away because he decided that he didn't like me, or he wanted to be

Before even looking, I knew it was him. I quickly opened a menu, trying to hide my face behind

peeked over the top of the menu, spotting Christopher scanning

from the table and standing up. I let out a sigh of relief, hoping that we would be able

word sorry before turning towards

"Christopher we're over here!"

My heart sank.

me, "This is for your own good." She

turn red. I set the menu down, becoming the usual shy, nervous wreck that I was around him. However, something about the way he smiled brought me back to our kiss, and the way that he

seeming

sorry," he responded, scanning my face for any hint of what I was feeling. I

clasped my hands together and

top of mine. I yanked my hand out from under his, cutting him off before he could

that he caused me. I felt tears well up in

nerve to kiss me and then run away without any explanation?" A tear rolled down my cheek, and I

my chair and made my way out of the diner, not even bothering to look back. The tears began to fall down my face all

grabbed onto my wrist and spun me around. His face

ordered, trying to

I let out a deep huff before I stopped resisting, making him drop

why you did it. Why

over his face. He hesitated, trying to speak, before giving up

last of my tears. I was done crying over him. I turned and began

I was scared. I've never felt this way about anyone before." He took a deep breath before continuing. "After what happened with my parents, I don't like to let people get close to me, because the more people that you care about, the more chances you have of being hurt.

now behind me. I spun around to face him, our noses almost

I'm not afraid

kiss him,

But I couldn't.

not being able to meet his gaze. I stuffed my hands into my pockets and looked