School ReYOUnion

Chapter Twenty Eight

I have opened a couple of doors, peeked inside the darkened rooms, only to be disappointed not to find Mitch inside them. But when I see the door opposite to the one I have only just opened, I stand in the upstairs hallway just knowing that Mitch is on the other side of that door. Call it a sixth sense, but I just know that he is. Mitch is my moon, and I am his tide, so I am being pulled towards him. Silently, we are bound by the gravity and the power of our love.

Opening the door slowly, I'm not prepared for what I see. Sat in a poorly lit bedroom, Mitch is sat at the end of a stripped bare bed, looking so unbelievably sad. "Mitch?" I call out to him from where I stand in the doorway, sounding deceptively calm.

He doesn't turn to the sound of my voice, he remains exactly where he is, sat so sadly on the end of that mattress. "I'm surprised you even noticed I had gone, you and my brother seem to have so much in common." Still, he won't look at me. His head just hangs low and his voice is cold and exact.

Stepping into more of the bedroom, I quietly close the door behind me. "I have been looking everywhere for you?" I'm still trying to sound calm.

Inhaling hard, Mitch sits taller before anxiously clasping his hands together. "Really? That kind of surprises me, Rebecca, because you were certainly having a lot of fun with Marcus." His tone is contemptuous, with a possessive sarcasm woven within his dull and troubled voice.

I know he's upset.

I know he's angry.

But I'll not let him keep talking to me like that.

Now standing just in front of him, I stare down at Mitch with grains of regret deep within my heart. "I don't deserve that. You know I don't." Inside, I feel like I am crumbling, but my words to him now, sound strong and unfaltering.

Only then, does Mitch look up at me. In his eyes, I see such potent misery. In their dull blue depths, I see unsaid anguish. A stab of guilt now buries itself inside the cavity of my chest, burying itself deeper and deeper. Something is tormenting the man that I love, and here I am, scolding him for the way that he is talking to me. Before I even know what to say, or even know what to do, Mitch has grabbed me by my waist and is just clinging onto me with his head hard against my stomach. "I'm sorry. You're right. You don't deserve none of this...none of it."

He's crying.

God, he really is crying.

His sobs are being smothered by my stomach, as he holds me so desperately tighter. So I let Mitch squeeze me. I let him squeeze me as tight as he wants, for as long as he wants. His hurt is now mine, because I love every single thing about this man.

Every ache.

Every flaw.

I want to love him regardless.

I will do that for Mitch. No, I want to do that for Mitch, because he gives meaning to all of the boundless love that I now have inside of me.

Him...he's my emotional earthquake.

To fall for this incredible man is like being buried beneath a landslide of love—natural but frightening.

Lowering myself to my knees, I nestle my body comfortably between Mitch's parted legs. "Whatever ghosts are haunting you now, I am here to help you scare them away." Taking his hands into mine, my own eyes are becoming filled with tears that are there because any pain of his, is equally now mine.

Staring into my tear-stained eyes, Mitch's head then heavily drops with shame. "I'm so sorry. I was jealous about Marcus. It was all my jealousy talking." His fingers curl themselves around mine as his head slowly lifts. "I really am sorry, Rebecca."