Free Escaping Heartbreak by Regina Bartley, Laura Hampton Page B

to her. I admitted my true feelings, not only to her but to myself. Then afterwards, I broke her heart. She left. She left me with a broken heart too. But I couldn’t blame her. She obviously thought I lied about it all, and what choice did she have. Seeing her now, and feeling her that close made me forget about all the bad things. I guess I didn’t really let her go after all. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Even in that moment, with her swollen eyes, and red nose, she took my breath away.
    “Sawyer,” her name just barely left my lips. Slowly I tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. I leaned in closely. For the first time in a long time, my stomach was in knots.  Our lips were nearly touching, and as I went into finally seal the deal, she backed away. OUCH! I couldn’t lie that stung a bit. I fucking misread every signal, every sign.
    “I’m sorry,” She leaned forward quickly, out of my arms.
    “No, I’m sorry. I thought you wanted me too. I know you’re upset, and I wasn’t trying to take advantage.” I couldn’t even finish my sentence before she interrupted.
    “I know. It’s just that,” she sighed heavily. “I am still mad at you Travis. I can’t do this right now. We haven’t even talked about the whole situation. You don’t know how thankful I am that you came here tonight and helped me through this, but it doesn’t change anything.”
    I was such an idiot. I couldn’t believe I even thought she’d want me. “You’re right. I should have never crossed that line.” The fucking invisible line.
    “It’s not about crossing a line. We have to discuss what happened between us sooner or later. I’m not sure what this is between us now, but we can’t just walk away from the past. We have to talk about it.”
    “So there is a this ?” I pointed between the two of us.
    “No,” her response was fast and loud, and definitely clear. “I mean, ugh I don’t know what I mean.” I stood up from the bed.
    “It’s okay, I got it.”
    “Travis, you don’t understand.” She pleaded, in a soft but firm voice.
    “What’s there to understand? I get it. I’m a big boy. I can handle it.”
    “That’s not what I meant.” Her voice rose. Her eyes narrowed.
    “Then tell me Sawyer. What did you mean?”
    “I’m not ready for any kind of relationship. With you or anyone for that matter. I’m still pissed off at you. Don’t you get it?”
    “I got it.” Slowly I took two steps backwards towards the door, continuously nodding my head. “Besides, I didn’t say anything about a relationship anyway.” My eyes narrowed in anger. I could tell in her expression that my words stung a bit. Could I take them back? Did I really want to? “You need to rest. I’m just gonnago.” I wasn’t ready to discuss this tonight. All I wanted to do was make a quick exit and save at least a little face. A huge part of me was angry at her for sending me mixed signals, but an even bigger part of me felt angry because no matter what she said, I crossed the line when I tried to kiss her. My words didn’t help either . Sh e was clearly upset. There were right times and wrong ones. This was the wrong time. And as mad as she was right now, there would probably never be a right one. I was an ass.
    “Yeah, you’re right. I’m pretty tired.” She looked up at me with those tear filled brown eyes. There was no way I could be angry at her when she looked at me like that. Why did I always find a way to screw up around her? It’s almost as if I threw all of the sane things to do out the window before I saw her, causing me to screw up big time. I knew exactly what those sad eyes meant.
    “You lay down and try to rest. I will double check all of the doors and locks, and make sure everything is turned off. I’ll check on you again before I leave.”
    Just as I was about to walk out she called after me. “How did you get in? I locked the door when I came inside.” The fight that was in her