His girlfriend was staring back at him, eyes void of emotion and unblinking. “Why won’t you answer me?” he exploded, anger brimming over the top of his stoic facade. He had been trying to get a response from her for hours now. No matter how much he pried, prodded or poked the matter, she gave no hint of response.

He had messed up. He knew that. That’s why he was here. Trying to fix things. But of course Addie did not want to hear it. Maybe they set themselves up for failure. They were complete opposites after all.

He was charismatic and popular, the epitome of charming smiles and shiny blonde hair. She was quiet and smart, and yet possessed something so intriguing in the way she spoke that drew him in like a magnet.

He looked back up at Addie now, remembering the first time they had met. She had been sitting in English class, devouring the pages of a worn book. Finn and Cam had been tossing a tinfoil ball around the room coyly behind the teachers back. A risky toss from Finn somehow found itself directly on top of a book. A worn book. Addie’s book.

She had said something witty that flew straight over their heads.

But that hadn’t mattered. She had captivated him. More than the popular, superficial top of the food chain girls he had been with before. No, Addie was nothing like those girls. She was special. And she was going to be his.

He got everything he wanted in life. Addie was no exception.

The moment it all fell apart was flashing back to him now in streaks of color and snippets of past conversation. He had received a text from Addie. Three simple, seemingly inconsequential words. “We need to talk.”

He had grabbed his coat and headed straight to her house, not even bothering to bring his cell phone with him.

Addie sat at her front porch, standing slowly and reluctantly as he rounded the block to the slate gray house with wilted flowerbeds beneath each window. Her cell phone was gripped tightly by quivering white knuckles.

No one spoke for a moment.

“We need to break up.” Addie said.

He stared at her. “Break up?” He repeated incredulously. She nodded almost imperceptibly.

His stomach lurched as he clenched his fist and squeezed his eyes shut. This couldn’t be happening. Nobody broke up with him. Especially not people like Addie.

“What do you mean break up?” He spit, voice louder and more rugged than he had expected.

“Can we...can we go somewhere more private?” She squeaked, nervously looking back inside her house. Her parents must have been home.

“Yeah, fine.” He said irritably. The pair of them walked to a lonesome field that the football team used to practice on that had since been abandoned. The dead grass crunched beneath their feet as they stood face to face once more.

Their conversation continued there, heating up quickly. Addie yelled at him about a text he had sent her earlier. He yelled back about miscommunication through text.

Then they had reached the point they were at now. Addie in cold fury, not even giving him the courtesy of response.

He was never going to get a response from her. Not even a blink. No matter how hard he tried, the stupid bitch would not speak to him again.

He stared indignantly at the outline of Addie’s pale hand against the grass. Her phone was laying beside her, the last message still glowing faintly against the now dim sky.

“I swear to God I’ll kill you if you do this to me Addie.”

He always did get what he wanted.