Rule No. 1: No Romance (GirlxGirl WlW)

Chapter 18

"She won't let me in," I sigh. "Our last argument was... pretty heated." In more ways than one.

"So you were hoping you'd catch her here," she grins, and I'm sure she's having her own mental celebration at getting the slightest confirmation that maybe her guess was correct from the beginning.

"I guess..." I mumble. Relationships have always been an awkward subject to me, I've never been the type of girl that would go on and on about her love interests, not that I didn't feel that way about someone — I just feel incredibly awkward expressing and wording my romantic feelings, among other things. So to finally open up to no one other than a stranger, who happens to be Louise's... stepmother? Definitely wasn't on my bingo card for this year.

"Cute."

"Ok, I'll just go back home," I groan, picking up my purse, I can feel my blood rushing up to my face and even though it's hard to tell when I'm blushing, the simple fact that I am to begin with, irritates me.

"Giving up?"

"I'll let things cool down, there's no use going there if nothing is going to change, I'll just make a fool out of myself."

"You're making a fool out of yourself if you really think that letting things as they are is better than trying to fix them right away."

"Well, I agree to disagree," I shake my head. "I'll just be making it worse, she doesn't want to see me, I should give her space. And we work together, she won't be able to avoid me for long anyway."

"That's still giving up, aren't you just waiting for her to reach out to you first?"

"She's the one avoiding me."

"But that doesn't mean that she wouldn't want you to make the first move. She might not let you in right away but you tried, you went there and you showed her that you care, even though I'm certain she'll budge quick. Now you're the one to decide if she's worth the effort or not."

⁂

I stood there at her door for what seemed like a whole hour, unsure if I really should be doing this. I've turned my back to leave a thousand times, stopping myself before reaching my car and then coming back again... thankfully the streets are completely empty and nobody is able to see this madness, yet it adds a somewhat creepy vibe to it urging me to either leave or just go for it.

I groan, reluctantly ringing her doorbell. I'm not sure if there's a camera where she's able to see me but the automatic doors open about a minute later, now I really can't just turn back around and pretend this never happened.

The first thing I see once the elevator doors open is her slim figure leaning against her door frame, her expression showing both confusion and a hint of annoyance. "It's 2 AM," she murmurs in a hoarse voice.

"I know," I say, even though in truth I had no idea.

"Why are you here?"

"Can I come in?"

"Why?" She raises her eyebrows.

"I want to talk."

"It's 2 AM," she repeats.

"I want to apologize... again," I say firmly. "A proper apology, that is."

"I don't want an apology, Esther," she looks me dead in the eyes. "Apologies are never about the hurt person more than they are about the person who hurt, now are they? Aren't you just feeling bad for using me and throwing me away the second you were satisfied? Is that keeping you awake at night, isn't that why you're here?"

"Louise, I just want to talk," I sigh.

"I don't want to talk to you, I won't bother you anymore like you wanted, and you don't need to feel bad about me so please—"