“Do I see you again?”

“I don’t know right now. Give me some time, you know? Let me figure this out.”

“What do you need to figure out exactly? Maybe I can help…”

“No, no…not right now, ok? Just let me go.”

“I can’t. Not like this.”

We stood in front of the baggage claim, luggage in hand. The drive to Columbus had been awkward, but had nothing on the flight itself. Spencer and I sat next to each other, but we might as well have been strangers. Two people whose only destiny was to share a row of seats on an airplane and never think of each other again. I was worried the weight of our angst would be too heavy for flight.

“Not like this?”

“I have to know, Ashley. I can’t spend everyday worrying that you’ve removed me from your life. Never knowing…”

“Never knowing what?”

“Never knowing anything!”

“Spencer, I don’t know what else to tell you. What you did really hurt me and…”

“You know what, Ashley? Enough. Like, seriously, I’m completely aware of what I did and I’m sorry. I’ve told you over and over but it’s never good enough. And all this coming from someone who had no problem parading herself around as my girlfriend, lying to my family, and taking my money.”

“Oh, I see. So now it’s my fault.”

“No, now it doesn’t matter. If you’re really going to throw us away without even the consideration of a second chance, then I’m not sure I want to…I’m not sure we should be together anyway.”

“Well, maybe we shouldn’t.”

“Fine,” she said, walking slowly backwards into the crowd of people, “run.”

“Run?”

“Run.”

And then she was gone, slipping into the crowd and out of my hands effortlessly.

“What are you going to do?”

“I have no idea. I really messed up this time I think.”

A week later I finally called my best friend, Madison. Socializing wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but I looked for every possible opportunity to talk about Spencer.

“You’ve got to get over yourself, girl. How is she going to know how sorry you are if you don’t call and tell her?”

“It’s not that easy.”