The Final Choice

5 Colby's POV

She let it go that night, but claimed she was tired and got off the phone about ten minutes after that. The doubt never left her eyes, no matter how much I tried to convince her that nothing was going on with me and Stas. 

From then on, it just kept getting worse. Callie would hesitantly question who every girl was that I was spotted hanging out with. I understood why, but there was only so much that a guy could take. 

After being questioned repeatedly, for about two weeks, I snapped. 

"Damn it, Callie!" I yelled, as I ran my hand through my already tousled hair. I saw her flinch in my phone screen, but I couldn't take it anymore. "I'm trying here! I really am, but this is too much. I'M NOT WILL! YOU CAN'T KEEP TREATING ME LIKE I AM!"

All emotion fell from her face, revealing the mask that I knew so well. "Okay," she replied, in a soft, even voice. No emotion at all. 

"That's it?" I said, exasperatedly. "Okay? That's all I get? We have got to talk these things out and you've got to start trusting me, or this isn't gonna work.

She shrugged, like it didn't matter. "What else do you want me to say? I told you before I agreed to try to make this work that I was fucked up. You knew what this was going into it. I knew that it would blow up, so this isn't a surprise." 

I sat down, heavily, on my couch and let out a long sigh. "I don't want to break up, Cal. I love you. You know that. This is all I've wanted for years. I just don't know how to get through this, if you don't at least try to trust me."

Again, she shrugged and it pissed me off. "Stop doing that!" I exclaimed, my voice going louder. "Stop doing what?" she sighed. "Acting like you don't care! Jesus Christ, you're making me feel crazy! If you don't care, then why did you agree to try? Talk to me, for fuck's sake!"

"Don't you tell me that I don't care!" she yelled back, finally showing some anger, some emotion in that expressionless mask of hers. "I care about you deeply. I care about you so much that it's driving me crazy that I'm not around you. Guys need sex, right? Well, you're not getting it from me, and you're surrounded by fucking models! What do you expect me to think?!"

Her chest was heaving, with her elevated breathing, and her cheeks were more rosy than usual. "Look, why don't we just end this now, before it's too late. We both see that it's not going to work. I can't trust you, because I can't trust anyone. It's not about you. Logically, I'm about 98 percent sure that I can trust you. It's that 2 percent that won't stop eating away at me. I can't make it stop. I mean, why would you want me, when you can have your choice of beautiful women, no matter where you are? I'm just plain old Callie. Boring and predictable. Not very pretty, not very active, not very skinny. Not very much of anything. So, let's just please end this, for both our sakes."

I had known it was coming, but that didn't stop her words from driving a dagger into my heart. A sharp, swift pain, like a knife's steely blade stabbed right into my chest. I winced and looked away from my phone for a moment to compose myself. 

"You are so much more than you think. I don't want that," I muttered, keeping my eyes locked on the wall of my bedroom. "Yeah, me either, but I think it's what we both need. I don't want...I can't have you hating me, Colby. I can't have you hating me, and I can see that this will end up that way, if we keep trying to hold onto it," she sighed. 

I looked back at my, meeting her tear filled eyes, and shook my head. "Are you sure that's what you want?" I asked, knowing that I had already lost. Her mind was made up and she was stubborn. She nodded. "It is. I need you in my life, but not like this. Not all of this uncertainty and fighting. I need my friend back."