Shoutout to @Mocha_Gangsta I love your writing<3 All 3 of her works are available on her profile, give them a look!

Warning: language

Ronan's POV

You know those days? The ones where things just keep going from bad to worse, and you tell yourself, well, it can't get any worse than this, right? But then, it does.

Today I was having one of those days, and I told myself that there really wasn't anything that could make it any worse as I made my way to Mason's car. The universe, however, had other plans, and that was when I heard someone call me. "Ronan! Wait!"

I didn't need to turn around to know who it was; her voice was one I could recognise anywhere. I internally groaned as I dropped my duffle bag on the ground. Then, I spun around to look at the woman I had spent months actively avoiding as she jogged to catch up to me.

Siobhan Ivory looked the same, even after all the months apart. The only real difference was her hair, but I had become accustomed to her dying it a new scandalous colour every few weeks. Now, as I looked at her, it was a mix of light purple and black strands tied up in her famous messy bun; the one that she had once explained was fashionably messy and not actually messy.

She probably had her contacts in, since her glasses were nowhere in sight, and she was wearing loose ripped jeans and the jersey I had given her with my name and number on the back. At this, I frowned.

She had no right to be wearing my jersey after what she had done. She had no right to be watching one of my games, let alone try to talk to me after such a terrible match. A few months ago, I would have been relieved to see her after a game like that, but not now, not anymore. Things had changed.

I didn't have the energy to tell her to leave, the same way I didn't have the energy to fight Amelia. Any will I had left after that game had been used up in the dressing room and the second I stepped out, I felt numb.

While I had somewhat willingly obliged to Amelia's orders, I wasn't going to let that be the case with Siobhan. I couldn't, not after everything that happened. I owed that to myself. To her, I owed nothing.

The numb feeling didn't falter as we looked at each other. I was grateful my heart didn't pound in my chest and ears the way it used to around her, and I didn't feel the hurt I once did after what she had done.

An awkward silence hung between us, but I refused to break it. Since I wasn't the one seeking conversation, I wouldn't be the one to initiate it.

"Ron, hey. How-how are you?" she stuttered. I noticed her fidgeting hands and her wrung fingers, a tell that she was nervous, and I hated myself for relaxing and feeling the need to soften towards her. I hated that a part of me missed hearing her say my name like that. I hated not having her there to calm me down after my games like she did for years, as my best friend as well as my girlfriend.

We had known each other since high school; our mothers were once good friends, and the Ivory's had moved into town a year after my parents' death. Siobhan and I had clicked the second we met, and were attached at the hip every day since.

It was hard, losing a girlfriend and best friend in one go. I remember Mason warning me, telling me that if things went south with Siobhan and I, it would be hard for this exact reason. I had pushed his concern to the side, thinking that there was no way anything could go wrong between us and that there was nothing she could do that I wouldn't forgive.

I wish I could smack some sense into my past self; how wrong he had been.

"You don't get to call me that," I tried to keep my voice as monotone as possible, not wanting to give away anything. The last thing I needed was for her to get the wrong idea when, in reality, this was just a moment of weakness.

My words must have come out harsher than I thought, because I saw Siobhan physically flinch at them. I shouldn't feel guilty, I told myself, hoping the feeling would go. But it didn't. I cleared my throat. "What do you want?"

"What Conner did was shitty," she tried, her words quiet as she was clearly trying to beat around the elephant-sized bush. "But I'm glad you-"

"What. Do. You. Want." I repeated. I was burnt out and tired and angry and everything and nothing at the same time. I didn't have it in me to deal with her. If she kept this up, I'd either give in or lose it, and I didn't want to do either.

Her honey brown eyes, the ones I'd spent years looking into, suddenly glistened with unshed tears, and I knew the dam was about to break. You shouldn't care, my mind told me, but my heart didn't fully agree.

"I just want to talk," she croaked out from between her wobbling lips. When she bit them with worry, she almost had me. Almost.

I couldn't do this. Maybe on a good day, but not today, not now.

I wordlessly picked up my bag and made to leave, not giving Siobhan a second glace as I did.

She stayed put for a moment. Then, I felt a hand wrap around my bicep roughly. "Ronan, just let me explain," she pleaded.

I snapped.

"Explain what, Siobhan?" I pushed her hand away. "Huh? What do you want to explain? I don't want to hear it, for fucks sake." It was a strain to keep from yelling.

"I-"

"I don't want to hear your lies. I don't want to hear your excuses. I don't want to hear you try to explain why the hell you hurt me, or why you shattered my trust in you. I don't want to fucking listen to you tell me why you broke my heart, is that so bloody hard to understand?"

"Did our relationship mean nothing to you?" Tears slid down her cheeks and dropped to the ground. "All those years, Ronan, you're just going to throw them away? Just like that?" She shoved me half-heartedly as she screamed the last question at me.

"You meant everything to me. Everything!" I took a step back as I bellowed at her, not caring about anyone that might hear us anymore.

"You were all I fucking had! You're the one that didn't care about us. You're the one that threw it all away, not me. Don't point your bloody finger at me!"

"I'm the one that's trying to fix things. Oh no, you're the one that's running away, Ronan, as if it was all nothing! Some everything I was to you."

I don't know if I was the one that had unconsciously taken a step closer to her, or if Siobhan was the one to close the distance between us. Suddenly, we were chest to chest, and I was looking down into the eyes I had once loved as she screamed at me.

I stayed like that for a while, looking down at her as she glared up at me, both of us breathing heavily. The electricity that I had once felt between us, I felt a spark of it somewhere inside me in that moment. Siobhan felt it too, judging from the way her pupils dilated.

My hands itched to wipe away the tears that stained her cheeks. They ached to push the strands of stray hair behind her ear. They begged to hold her face between them.

Instead, I swiped them through my hair, frustrated at the internal conflict I was having, and looked away from her. I couldn't do this. I couldn't be around her. I couldn't let her hurt me again.

"Why did you have to break my heart?" I whispered softly, mostly to myself, as I looked up at the grey sky.

"I'm sorry Ron. God, I'm so sorry for hurting you. I promise I didn't mean to," Siobhan's words rang through my ears and echoed in my mind and heart.

It took everything in me to say, "I'm sorry too, Siobhan." The name that I once uttered like a prayer now felt foreign leaving my lips. "I'm sorry I can't forgive you."

I think I heard her heart fracture in her chest at my words, but that didn't stop her from grabbing my arms and forcing me to face her.

Regardless, I refused to look at her, instead choosing to focus on a car parked a small distance away from us. I knew I'd give in the second I let my eyes meet hers.

"Ronan," she begged. "It was a mistake, you have to believe-"

"I think that's enough."

Amelia's voice rang through the car park. She had this authoritative aura about her, the kind that demanded your undivided attention in her presence. I'd felt the pull of it when I first met her.

Now, it made my head snap to her as she approached us.

Her eyes switched between Siobhan, her hands gripping my arms, and me. Her lips were curved in a frown, her eyebrows slightly scrunched. Her hands were balled into tight fists at her side.

A quick sweep around the lot let me know she was alone. When she got to us, I noticed her subtly wedge herself between Siobhan and me, forcing Siobhan to drop her hands. I took the opportunity to take a step back as I watched Amelia curiously.

Honestly, a small, cowardly, part of me was relieved that she put a stop to whatever Siobhan was about to say. I didn't trust myself around the woman I had once loved, that part of me still loved, and the probability of me giving in to her pleading grew with every second I spent alone with her. This was why I had gone out of my way to avoid her in the first place.

Siobhan, on the other hand, didn't seem pleased by Amelia's interruption. I saw her soft eyes narrow at Amelia as she openly scanned her from head to toe, sizing her up.

Amelia spared only a glance at Siobhan before turning to me. "Come on Ronan, you promised to go to that thing with me, remember? We're running late."

I almost let out a laugh at my surprise. There was no world where Amelia would willingly spend time with me, nor I with her, we both knew that. Yet, she made the lie sound so believable in her attempt to try and save me.

"What thing?" Siobhan asked Amelia sharply. She didn't wait for her to respond. "We're having an important conversation that you're kind of interrupting." Gone were the tears and whimpering. Siobhan looked at Amelia like a predator about to attack its prey.

Amelia's gaze on me didn't waver as she waited for me to respond. She had thrown the ball in my court, and she was letting me choose if I wanted to catch it or drop it.

"I have to go, Siobhan."

I didn't miss the hurt that flashed in her eyes as I agreed to leave, and I couldn't help but feel bad for being the cause of it. She's done worse, a voice in my mind chimed, she's done much, much worse.

I didn't look at Amelia as I picked my bag up and made my way to her side. I didn't look at Siobhan as we walked away from her.

I got into the passenger seat of what I assumed was Amelia's blue Jeep as she climbed into the driver's side. When my head fell against the headrest, I let my eyes flutter shut. I was completely, utterly exhausted.

The silence in the car was awkward, but neither of us made to fill it as Amelia started driving. Though I couldn't see her, I felt her eyes on me as she drove. Did she know the way to my house? Was she even taking me home?

"What?" I finally asked her when I couldn't stand her attention on me any longer, still not bothering to open my eyes. Maybe she just wanted to ask for directions, or something like that.

I heard her clear her throat before she spoke. "I, ah, I didn't mean to intrude on, erm," she paused, "whatever that was," she said slowly. Unwillingly, I opened my eyes to look at her. She was watching the road ahead as she spoke, but it looked like she was, worried?

"You just didn't look, uh, very comfortable? Yeah," her eyes widened, "And I wasn't eavesdropping or anything, I swear. I didn't hear what you guys were talking about." She took one hand off the steering wheel and rubbed the tip of her nose. I think I could see a hint of pink on her sharp cheekbones.

"Well, I ah, I might have heard just a little bit?" she admitted, unsure, as she flicked a look at me for a second. "But I wasn't purposely trying to listen in to your conversation. Both of you were kinda loud, you know? And I didn't mean to, just, get all up in your business, that's not my thing. You just looked like you needed to get away."

If I wasn't in such a sour mood, I probably would have found Amelia's ranting amusing. I noticed her grip on the wheel tighten as she continued driving, waiting for me to say something. I don't know why she felt the need to explain herself. Was she worried I'd be angry?

I don't know how long I let the silence stretch between us before I said anything. "Okay," I told her, unsure of what else I should say. Thank you for getting me out of that back there? Thanks for the ride? I owed her my gratitude, but I didn't want to thank her for anything. I didn't want to admit that she had, in fact, saved me. I didn't want to think about what would have happened if she hadn't.

"O-okay?" she asked, surprised.

"Okay," I repeated. Her head bobbed at my answer, and a beat went by. Her eyes narrowed. "Are you fucking serious? Is that all you've got to say?" she asked in disbelief. Oh, here we go.

"Yes, Amelia. That's all I've got to say." I knew I shouldn't really be acting like this, she had quite literally saved my ass, but now I was getting annoyed. I wasn't in the mood for this. I said it was fine, what more did she want to hear?

Amelia slammed her foot down on the brakes and the car jolted as it came to an abrupt stop. I grunted in both pain and surprise as I was thrown into the dashboard. Amelia was smirking at me, victorious, when I glared at her.

"What the fuck?" I barked, not caring how I sounded.

"Welcome home, princess." She pointed behind me, gesturing to my house. "Now, get the hell out my car."

I threw her another nasty look after I got my bag and jumped out. The smirk was still on her lips, and humour tinted her eyes as she looked back at me. When I slammed the passenger door shut, making sure to use a bit of extra force while doing so, she wordlessly left.

As I watched her leave, I couldn't help but think back to what Veronica had said to me. "She might not want to hear it, but she would appreciate it."

Maybe she was right.