Page 20 of Still Love You

I keep walking. I don't want to talk to him. I understand he's going to date other girls, but he doesn't have to parade them in front of me. That's just rude.

"Willow!"

I'm almost back at our spot when he finally catches up to me.

"Willow, stop." He grabs my arm.

I yank it away. "I'm going home."

"Willow, I didn't do this. I had no idea she would be here."

I'm not sure if I believe him. This doesn't seem like something Silas would do, but maybe he's changed.

"Would you please just sit down?" he asks.

I glance down at the blanket he brought. It's the same one we used when we were dating and would come here for movie night. He even brought a pillow, because sometimes I'd fall asleep midway through the movie and he wanted me to be comfortable. And the snacks. He brought all my favorites. I wonder if he stocked up on them before I came back to town. Stupid Silas. He always does all these nice things that make it nearly impossible to be mad at him.

"Willow?" he asks.

I nod. "Let's sit down."

"Why don't we move back there?" He motions to the far end of the park where there aren't any people around. I help him pick everything up and we find a quiet, secluded spot.

Once we're seated, I say, "You can go out with her. My mom could probably come pick me up." I pluck a blade of grass from the lawn and run it between my fingers, focusing on its smooth texture to distract myself from the hurt I'm feeling right now.

"I don't want to go out with Kristy. I told you, I had no idea she'd even be here."

"She came with Trent. She was obviously here because of you." I toss the blade of grass aside and lie down on the blanket, knees bent, my eyes on the bright moon above us.

"But I didn't know that until just now. When I talked to Trent earlier, he didn't say he was bringing Kristy here tonight. He shouldn't have done that. He thought he was helping me, but..."

"Helping you?" I sigh. "Silas, you've never needed help getting a date."

"That's not what I meant." He lies next to me, propped up on his side. "He was trying to make me feel better. Trying to get my mind off things."

"What things?"

He looks down and pauses for so long that I think he's not going to answer, but then says, "Today was really hard."

"Why? What do you mean?" I think I already know why but I want to hear his answer.

"It was hard seeing you again." He looks up at me. "It's not that I didn't want to see you. I did. I've been wanting to see you for two years. It's just that...once I did, I wanted things to go back to how they used to be and...I know they can't."

I feel wetness in the corners of my eyes because I can feel the hurt in his voice and I can see it in his face. And because I feel the same way. As soon as I saw him, I wanted to go back to how things were. The moment he appeared at my door, I wanted to run up and hug him and tell him how much I missed him.

"So Trent was trying to get you to move on?" I ask.

"In his own idiotic way, yes."

"Maybe you should. Move on." I choke on the words because it's not what I want. But I love Silas, and I want him to be happy, and in order to do that, he needs to move on.

A long pause lingers between us.

"Is that really what you want?" he asks. "For me to move on?"

I swallow past the lump in my throat. "Yes."

"If you wanted me to move on, then why did you get so upset when Kristy asked me to go out with her?"

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