“I’m sorry.” I mumbled, “I’m listening”

“She’s yours, Spencer. She’s always been yours. She needs you” His words were like a slap across the face. I knew that those words should illuminate a light in my heart that had been out for months, but they had the opposite effect. My heart beat a little slower, and I could feel my face grow cold. Emotion began to bubble up inside of me. It was rising fast.

“Oh… she’s mine? Nice to know. Was she mine that whole time she was in Europe? Those days when I called her repeatedly, crying my eyes out? The times when I began calling her cell, knowing there’d be no answer, but calling anyway just so that I could hear her voice on the message? Yeah… she totally felt like she was mine then.” I couldn’t help it. The words were bursting from me like lava from a volcano. The fact that he could assert so boldly that she ‘was mine’ was like a mockery of all the tears I had cried. She wasn’t mine. She was never mine.

“You know she doesn’t deal well with death –“ I couldn’t help it, I interrupted. How could he be defending her?

“I don’t give a shit that she doesn’t deal well with death, Aiden! In relationships you step out of your comfort zone. You let down your walls and allow someone to love even your weaknesses. She couldn’t do that for me. She never let down her walls. That’s how I know she fooled me. Now I can see that it wasn’t real.” Part of me couldn’t believe that these words were really coming out of my mouth. I’d never told these things to anyone. I’d barely even admitted them to myself. Tears were rising. I tried my best to stifle them, but they were hard pressed on making their escape. I could see Aiden’s temper rising.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about” He said coldly, looking away from me finally. A moment ago I’d have been thrilled to break eye contact with him, but now I wanted nothing more than to stare him down.

“Oh I don’t? Oh, yes, of course, how could I forget. You knew our relationship better than I did! You were in the middle of it the entire time!” I used the sarcasm like a weapon to hide the hurt that swept over me, like a fresh sheet of icy rain.