It isn’t what you think, OK. Just come back.” The pleading tone in his voice was killer.
“This is pointless, you know. I don’t know you and you don’t know me. I can’t come back.”
“Listen,” his voice was almost a whisper and I wondered if one of his roommates had returned, “I think we can help each other. It sounds fucking corny but it’s the truth.”
“Can’t you see how messed up I am?” I yelled through my tears. “I’m jaded and find it hard to love myself. How am I supposed to help you?”
“You’re the most honest person I’ve come into contact with, that’s how.”
I considered his admission for a moment. He found it hard to put himself out there, that much I could tell. I, on the other hand just threw it all down to be stared at without letting anyone know the real me. I found the idea of letting Mason in painful to the point that I wanted to scream. It was because he was right.
Chapter 5
Leaving Mason’s place had put me in a bad spot. My bed at the shelter was filled the second I threw my locker key on the counter and left. There was no way in hell that I would suffer a blow to my fake ass pride and go back to his apartment. In the end, I slept, if you can call it that, up against a blue city dumpster behind the Target.
Now, I went to school and graduated…I was smart enough to know he would find me and I knew it wouldn’t take him long. There was just no avoiding him. Honestly, I didn’t want to avoid him. Granted the half assed seduction would make things awkward.
I found myself wondering just what happened to him in his past to cause the pain I saw in his eyes. Hell, I didn’t know much about him. It could be something recent. It could have been the fact that he screwed more random chicks than humanly possible or that could have been an embellishment of my sick, sick mind. I sat on my high horse and accused him of judging me but I judged him right back.
With my bag in hand I sought out the bleeding girl once again, hoping Mason would drive by and see me.
I cocked my head to the left as I slid down, ass first to the sidewalk. She was still there, still bleeding, except I thought about the things Mason had told me the night before. Unfortunately, it seems those things were easier said than done because I had run at the first sign of rejection.
“You aren’t helping,” I told the pale painted girl. “You think it’s so easy to change shit, don’t you. If it’s so easy, stop bleeding.”
Had anyone walked by at that moment I would have been committed, no question. Luckily, the sidewalk was almost empty. I was talking to a painting for Christs sake, honestly.
Exhaustion crept up slowly as I sat there. When it became hard to keep my eyes open, I rested my forehead against my knees and let sleep take me.
An arm snaked around my shoulders and woke me. I didn’t know how long I’d been there, sleeping. I knew it was Mason without even looking up at him. He was the only one stupid enough to keep coming back.
“I’m pretty pathetic huh?” I asked him in a muffled voice.
“Just as pathetic as I am, which makes us even. I brought you some breakfast.”
I lifted my head and he shoved a brown paper bag at me. “Thanks.” I took it and pulled a muffin from the sack.
“You know, every time we end up here I find something else about that painting that I didn’t notice before.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked, forgetting about the hell night we’d had.
Mason stood and moved closer to the glass. “Her nails are bloody. It’s not just her eyes. Can you see it, just here?” He tapped at the window.
“What do you think that means?” I refused to budge.
“I’m not sure…it’s a mystery. Just as mysterious as you.” He loomed over me, staring directly into my eyes.
I stopped chewing my muffin and tossed it back into the bag. “I’m sorry about last night OK?”
He kneeled down to my level. “I haven’t ever been fully committed to anything that isn’t music or acting, I just can’t follow through. Yet, here I am…”
I decided to change the subject quickly. There was no way I wanted to talk commitment with him. “You mentioned a