A few days went by as I didn't hear anything from Brian. On the third day, I decided to call Jimmy and find out what was going on. But to my surprise, after calling him a few times, he didn't pick up. Were they avoiding me? It was, like, somebody had burst my little bubble and the reality that reached me didn't feel good at all. Brian could leave me just like that if he wanted to and I feared the worst.

I was sick and tired of waiting for Brian to make the first move so I, without really thinking about it well, got in my car and drove to his house.

His car wasn't on its place which made me think that he wasn't probably even home. I got out of my car anyway and marched to the front door. I rang the doorbell a few times but nobody came to open the door.

After a moment I gave up and started walking back to my car. Just as I was about to get in, I heard somebody's voice coming from behind me.

”Are you looking for Brian Haner?”

I quickly turned around and saw an old lady staring at me. She was really short so she had to look up at me. She wasn't smiling at all, in fact, she seemed to be kind of annoyed.

”Uh, yeah,” I nodded, ”Do you know where he is?”

”He went to Miami a few days ago,” she told me.

My face fell. To Miami? Without letting me know?

”With who?”

”I'm sorry, who are you?” she asked me.

”I'm... I'm nobody,” I mumbled before getting into my car.

For the first time ever, I didn't care if I was being rude or not. I was sick of Brian's games and couldn't have cared less about him or his rude neighbor or whoever the hell she was.

I drove back home and sat in my car for a long time, thinking about everything. Why the hell would Brian go to Miami without telling me? And why didn't he answer my calls?

I wasn't even worried about him or his feelings anymore. I was just really, really annoyed and frustrated and to me, we were done. If he wanted to act like a child, he didn't deserve a grown woman as a girlfriend.

But, knowing myself very well, I couldn't stay mad at him for long. If he showed up and apologized, I would forgive him, no doubt.

A whole week passed by as I didn't hear anything from Brian. I had stopped trying to call him and realized that he didn't even want to be in touch with me. If he did, he would've answered his damn phone.

While being apart from Brian, I got a chance to look for a job. I mostly just went to different flower shops around the town and asked if they needed more employees. But, unfortunately, nobody needed me. Moving to New York had started to sound better and better and for a moment I thought that I was actually going to leave. At least I would have a job there, right? At least I would have something there.

On Sunday evening, as I was about to get into bed and ready to pass out, the doorbell rang. I knew right away that it was Brian – who else could it be? I wasn't sure whether to actually answer the door or not. I mean, he hadn't been exactly fair to me, either.

After a moment of thinking and deciding, I gave in and started making my way down the stairs. He had rung the doorbell at least a hundred times when I got to the door and opened it.

Before I could do anything or even really look at him, he grabbed my face and pulled me into a rough kiss. It took me a few seconds to push him away and exclaim his name.

”Do you think that you can ignore me for a week and then come here and attack me like that?” I shouted and wiped my mouth.

Brian took a few steps back.

”I'm sorry,” he said, ”I should've called you.”

”Uh huh? Aren't you going to say anything else?”

”What do you want me to say?” he asked me and furrowed his eyebrows.

”God, you're such an idiot!” I exclaimed and ran a hand through my hair.

”Come on, Soph...” He tried to grab my waist and pull me close.

”No. Leave me alone. I don't want you to just get away with this so easily,” I said and shook my head, ”And I'm sorry for being so rude but I wish you would just leave and come back some other time. I was about to go to bed.”

”But... I thought I could spend the night here,” he said and looked slightly disappointed. I shook my head.

”Goodnight,” I mumbled and closed the door.

I stood there for a moment and only wondered if Brian was doing the same on the other side of the door. A part of me wanted to open the door and fall into his arms but the other part, the tough one, tried to stay strong.

A minute later I made my way up into my bedroom again. I got under the warm blanket and made myself comfortable before closing my eyes. I had already gotten used to sleeping alone so it didn't take me long to fall asleep.

In the morning, as I stepped outside to get the mail, I noticed that Brian's car was there, right in front of the house. And Brian was asleep on the front seat.

I forgot about the mail and walked to his car instead. I knocked on the window and he woke up a few seconds later. He rubbed his eyes and it took him a moment to notice me. When he did, he opened the door and stepped out of car.

”God, I need a smoke,” he mumbled and yawned.

”Have you been out here all night?” I asked him.

”Huh? Oh, yeah.”

”That's a bit dangerous, isn't it?”

”How?”

”Somebody could've, like, robbed you or something,” I mumbled.

He shrugged and stuck his hand into his pocket. He pulled out his cigarettes and lit up one. I watched as he blew out the smoke and I took a step back once it hit me.

”Sorry,” he mumbled and tried not to blow the smoke in my face anymore.

”Look, Brian, I don't know what's going on with you but you cannot just disappear for a week and then come back to me like nothing ever happened,” I told him quietly, ”Especially not after what happened with Val. I can't help but feel that it – that you left – has something to do with it.”

”It does have something to do with it,” he admitted, ”I... I got scared.”

”Scared of what?”

”I don't know. I just... I had to be alone for a while,” he told me.

”So you went to Miami. With who?”

”With... Uh... Jimmy and Matt, Zacky, Johnny, Lacey, Gena, Val and... Michelle.”

”You... You had to be alone so you went to Miami with Michelle?” I exclaimed.

”I didn't go there only with her, okay? There were a lot of other people, too.”

”I can't believe you,” I shook my head, ”You... You're just like everybody else. I thought you were different. I thought you cared about me.”

”I do,” he told me and tried to grab my hand but I yanked it away from him.

”You're an asshole. I'm sorry, but you really are,” I muttered, ”You probably still love Michelle. Don't you? Don't you?”

”No, of course not,” he snorted and rolled his eyes, ”Don't be like that, Sophia. Come on.”

”Be like what? I was worried about you, okay? I gave you space, I left you alone. And I waited for you to call me. I waited a whole week for it, Brian. I even drove to your house and your neighbor had to tell me that you had gone to Miami because you didn't have the balls to do it. I've lost a lot of respect for you,” I muttered.

”Well what do you want me to do, Sophia?” he asked me.

”I want you to leave,” I said, ”I trusted you, I thought you wanted to be with me but obviously I was wrong. So, please, leave. I don't think I want to see you anymore. All you do is break my heart and that's not really nice.”

”Sophia...”

”Please just go,” I mumbled and shook my head, ”I think that this is it. Enough is enough - we're done.”