Her door is ajar, but she’s not inside the room.
Where is she?
In the mirror, my reflection looks, desperate, sad, and purposeful all at once. I breathe in the lingering scent of her perfume, mixed with the musty smell of the old building.
My Liz.
In the corridor, two of the younger cast members walk past me, talking and giggling. They wave at me and I wave back, distracted.
I walk to my office, trying to decide whether to go to her father’s place or to hers. I’d wait until she shows up. I just know I need to see her tonight. I enter my office and the first thing I see is Liz, asleep on my couch.
She looks so small lying there. I close the door behind me, resisting the urge to pick her up and cradle her in my arms, to kiss her neck and breathe in the soft fragrance of her skin, claim her as mine and make sure she never leaves again.
Except she will. She always will.
I lean back on the door. Frustrated. The wood creaks behind me, waking her. She starts, then relaxes when she sees that it’s me. Her eyes water, filling me with a tenderness I don’t want to feel.
“You’re back,” she murmurs.
I’m suddenly angry again. She’s twisting me around, leading me on with hints and words and tears and I’m helpless to it.
“Obviously,” I snap. “What are you doing here? Did you find my couch comfortable? You want to take it with you when you leave again?”
She sighs. “Is your date over already?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“It is my business…”
I laugh bitterly. “Screw you.”
“…because I care about you,” She continues, ignoring my outburst. “and because I’m jealous.”
I hold her gaze as the words flow through me, stirring a fire of possessiveness, longing and hope. “You have no right to be.”
“Well, I am jealous,” she admits with a rueful smile. “Devastated even. Wasn’t that your intention, to hurt me again the way you did at the party the other night?”
The pain in her voice dampens my anger. “If you know that then why are you here?”
“Because that’s how I know you still care about me.” She rises and approaches me slowly, every deliberate step she takes calling to something inside me, something wild that wants to lift her up and put her over my shoulder. To take her to a remote cave and mark her as mine so she’ll never doubt it again.
“I stopped lying to myself a long time ago Aidan. I stopped telling myself that I could get over you. I can’t. I know you feel the same way. Something like what we had…it doesn’t just end.”
She’s right, of course. “It might…if one person ruined it and the other person wanted to forget badly enough.”
“You don’t want to forget. You’d rather hold on to the pain.”
I snort. “Try this, Liz, I have already forgotten.”
“You’re lying.”
I advance toward her, closing the distance between us. Her bottom lip starts to tremble, and I resist the urge to taste it, to feel the sweet trembling against my tongue. “Life is not a script where you write in a second chance romance when things get boring. I’m not your entertainment to spice up your life.”
“No, you’re not.” Her voice is steady. “You’re the man I love. You’re the man I’ll always love.”
I stare at her for a long time. Her eyes are wide, imploring, her lips are begging to be kissed. When my hands finally move, it’s almost of their own accord. I cup her shoulders, feeling her tremble.
I don’t know if I want to push her away or claim her as mine.