Graffiti

Chapter Six:

He sat down next to me, like we'd arranged to meet up here. He was wearing a long brown coat that was buttoned up, he ratty black jeans looked like they'd been through Hell. He wore the black converse I'd gotten him for his birthday last year. The sheer brownness of his hair made his blue eyes sparkle, the bridge was still in his nose from when my brother had broken it because we'd come home late.

"Denis, what the Hell are you doing here?" I demanded. Denis looked back at me, his blue eyes giving nothing away. He just stared at me, and it was making me feel guilty as well as nervous. I choked back tears, I just wanted to get up and leave. However, I knew I couldn't do that to him. Not again. We sat in silence for a while, me sipping my coffee and him... He just stared at me.

I drained the mocha, signalled that waiter to take me coffee and picked up my change. I wanted to get up and leave, Hell, my legs were just begging me to do it and run. I really didn't want to face this. This is exactly what I'd been afraid of. This is why I never planned on going back. I didn't want to answer the questions.

It was getting too awkward now, everyone else had returned back to their conversations, but they didn't matter any more. It was just us. Finally, after forever he spoke.

"Why?" It was a single word, but it was still a question. His voice was still deep, husky and his. The tears near spilled over, but I held them in. I had to, for him at least. I figured that the rest of the question was lost. Why did you leave? Was what he was probably trying to say.

The answer came to me in a blinding flash of white, but I just couldn't tell him. So I did what I was best at, I ran. I stood, pushed the chair back and ran out of the door, I passed thousands of people, more shops and millions of cars, but non of it mattered. Tears fell, and I could faintly hear Denis calling my name.

I reached the hotel and fell down in a heap at the bottom of the huge concrete stairs. I cried a river. Why did he have to appear now? How the Hell did he find me? I felt a presence beside me and I hoped that it wasn't Denis. I didn't want to run again. I looked up through wet eyes. It was Alex.

"I hope you aren't crying because I'm late." He yawned. "Because, I only overslept, you know? I tried setting an alarm, but I guess God wanted me to get my beauty sleep."

Even though I was mad at him, and I felt crappy, I laughed. He was wearing a plain red jacket, dark blue jeans and black boots. His hair was messy, like he hadn't bothered to brush it this morning, which he probably hadn't.

"You arrogant pig," I accused.

Alex made a face and pointed to himself. "Do you see me rolling around in dirt?" He asked.

"Only the dirt of your personality," I joked.

"Oh, that was rude. Looks like someone needs to be taught a lesson!" He exclaimed as he leaned down and started to tickle me. I squirmed and shrieked, jumping up and running away. He'd done it, Alex had cheered me up.

"I'm kidding! Jeez," Alex panted. I was fast, he obviously wasn't. "But seriously, I'm sorry I was late." I was about to give him a snarky comment when a figure came bounding around the corner, shouting my name. Shoot, I'd completely forgotten about Denis.

He looked the same as before, expect now his hair was dishevelled, and two off his buttons were undone, showing a plain grey shirt he had on underneath. He grabbed my arm - rather roughly, may I add- and said, "Stop doing that. You're beginning to piss me off."

"No kidding," I replied, struggling in his grasp. This was one of the reasons I'd left Denis without a note, he'd started to become... Not violent, just not nice. He got drunk a lot and liked to blame me. "Just go back home, Denis," I said quietly.

I was aware of Alex watching us in my peripheral vision. Denis squeezed my arm tighter, "I'm taking you with me then," he stated. I sighed and struggled to remove my arm, but once again he was too strong. "No, Denis. I'm staying here, OK?"

"Not f*****g good enough," Denis spat. He crushed my arm and started to drag me towards the hotel. He never made it. Alex jumped in front of Denis. His eyes were turning a darker shade of green.

"Let go of Luna, she clearly doesn't want to go with you," Alex said.

"Who the Hell are you?" Denis demanded.

"A friend," Alex calmly replied.

"Yeah, well I'm her boyfriend so she's coming with me." Alex seemed shocked at that, his eyes met mine.

"Denis, if me leaving the country wasn't a big enough of a hint, how's this? We're over." I was not going to let him push me around, not any longer. I was done with being a toy.

"We're over when I say we're over!" Denis roared. I stumbled back, well not that far as he still had my arm in a bone crushing grip. Suddenly, Alex was beside me. He ripped Denis's hand from my arm and shoved him backwards. I rubbed my arm, I knew I'd have a bruise by tomorrow.

"Alex!" I shouted. He was about to land a punch on Denis. "Don't!" I rushed over and separated the two testosterone filled guys. Alex was red in the face and he had to breathe deeply before he was OK again. Denis, on the other hand, was smiling. He was a sadistic d**k head and I wished I'd never dated him.

"We need to talk," I told Denis. I had questions, and I knew he had some too.

"Not without me," Alex said. I knew there was no point in arguing with him, plus I kind of wanted someone with me in case Denis tried to do something like that again. It was strange, he'd never laid a violent hand on me before, it was only towards the end when he was becoming increasingly more and more verbally horrible.

An hour later we were all -Alex, Denis and I- seated in Alex's cabin. We were sitting in the kitchen, he had three high stools so we all had our hands resting on the shiny black table tops. Alex got us all a can of coke from the silver, glossy fridge. "Right,"Alex began. "You two can talk, I'll just be here if Luna gets bored of looking at your ugly mug and decides to look at something more... attractive."

Denis clenched his jaw and I just rolled my eyes. Typical Alex. Before Denis could make me have another breakdown, I asked the questions.

"How the Hell did you find me?" Denis looked up at me and a small smile begin to crawl up his face. I knew instantly that I wasn't going to like the answer.

"You spent a whole lot of money on that credit card, it was very traceable..." Great, so Denis had decided to stalk me, using a credit card. Wasn't that what the police did with people who ran away? Which was technically what I had done, but at the time I was only a few months away from being eighteen. Plus, so far, I'd only been gone for ten months.

"OK, so that's how you found me. So here's the next question, why?" The old Denis would have said something like 'because I love you and I couldn't let you just leave!' but I had a feeling that this new Denis wouldn't say anything like that, which was fine to me because I hated all that lovey-dovey stuff and I never wanted to be committed to one person. Ever.

"I got bored of my last w***e," Denis said. A silence settled over the room. What he just said stung, if I was honest. He'd called me a w***e. I didn't like that. It seemed that Alex didn't like it much either. He opened his mouth, presumably to say something but I shot him a look that said 'don't you dare.'

I wasn't going to let Denis get away with that! "Yeah, well I got bored of you, so I guess we're even. Thanks, you can leave now!" I knew he wouldn't but a tiny little part of me hoped that he would. Denis turned in his stool so that he was facing me. Suddenly, all the good times we had came flooding back. I reached out, put a hand on his cheek and whispered, "What happened, Den? We used to be so good, you and I. And then..." I trailed off, unsure of what to say. I didn't want to blame him but...

Denis blinked, his eyes became glassy and his eyes became wet. "I was scared," he said. It was so quiet that I almost missed it. Now I was confused, what did Denis have to be afraid of? Then it hit me. Fully. Right in the face. When he was ten, his mother had killed herself and then a year later, his drunken dad had walked out on him. He was afraid of people leaving him. And what the Hell did I go and do?

"You were saving up money, you wouldn't talk to me like you used to and then... a few months before you left, the night I started acting weird it was because... Because I saw you packing a suitcase and I just couldn't deal with you leaving me too," Denis spoke quick, but I heard every single word, like a slap to the face.

I covered my face with my hands. I was such a b***h! "Denis, you should have said something! That night, I wasn't packing a suitcase to leave! I wanted to move in with you! And then you started getting drunk and- and..." I couldn't continue, I broke down crying.

It was like one big cliché moment, we'd both gotten our stories mixed up. I could go back with Denis, he'd stop acting like the biggest douche on the Earth, and I could be my old self again...

The only problem was, I hadn't finished my journey, I really didn't want to go back home to all those people that acted like I was a ghost... and I just didn't love Denis any more.