FicWad

Lynne faced the elevator doors after they had shut, her arms crossed over her chest. She kept a straight face and refused to look over to her and to her left.

"Are you ever going to talk to me?" He asked as he looked over at her.

"I don't have to." She replied coldly and keeping her position. Normally, Lynne wasn't the bitchy type but given the situation she was in she had every right to be one. To make a long story short, Lynne caught her boyfriend of four years in bed with another woman. Now, she was helping him move his stuff out of the Manhattan apartment. The relationship was over.

Standing and waiting for the doors to slide open all of the sudden the elevator stopped and the lights flickered off. Things like this were frequent when you lived in the city, but they never lasted long.

"I think this is going to take a while." He commented as he noticed the emergency lights flash on. "Maybe it's a blackout." He added looking over at Lynne who kept her gaze on the doors. She didn't want to have to look at him. "Lee..." He said, using his nickname for her.

"Don't come near me and do not call me that." She replied harshly as she moved away from him and towards the emergency phone, picking it up. She waited for the voice to come onto the other end. "A major blackout? How long?" She sighed as she heard the reply she didn't want to hear. "At least an hour?" She closed her eyes. She didn't even wait for another reply as she hung up the phone and moved to the corner of the elevator away from him and getting comfortable.

"It's going to be a while?" He questioned stupidly. He was just looking for anything to make small talk.

Lynne closed her eyes tightly as she pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face in between them. She didn't want to have to look at him. She gave him a slight nod and then stayed that way.


About a half hour into their stay in the elevator, Lynne picked up her head catching his eyes, she broke eye contact and looked back towards the floor.

"Can't we talk about this?" He asked as she slid over on the floor next to her.

"Talk about what exactly?" She looked at him. "You want to talk about how I caught you in bed, in our apartment on top of another girl?" She asked sarcastically.

"It was an accident..." He trailed off realizing that saying that wasn't really a good idea.

"Oh, really? What happened? Did she trip and fall and you caught her with your dick?" She said, raising her voice. "I wasn't born yesterday; I'm not a fucking moron."

"No, it's not like that!" He sighed, running a hand down his face. This was becoming all too much for him and he almost wished he never started this conversation.

"Then tell me what it's like. Please enlighten me. Because I don't understand what the hell you can say to justify your actions."

"I went out, I was at the club. We had that huge fight and I had a drink! I haven't had a drink in years, I didn't handle it well. I don't even remember how we got back here. Everything was a blur, baby, please." He was almost begging her. "You have to believe me, trust me I-"

"Trust?! Yeah, right." She spat at him. "Don't use words you don't know the meaning of."

"Trust me, if I knew what I was doing I wouldn't have brought her back here knowing that you would walk in any minute."

"Right, so if you weren't shit faced you would have fucked her somewhere else? Tell me, Pete, how many times have you not been caught? How many times have you cheated on me before?" She asked, looking at him for the first time that whole day. She was actually keeping her gaze on him. She was hoping to burn a hole in him with her eyes.

"None! I swear to god!" He exclaimed. "Yes, I made this one mistake, but it's obvious this relationship isn't even strong enough for me to make one mistake." He said, wrapping his arms around his knees, which were bent up and brought to his chest.

Lynne shook her head and let out a sarcastic laugh. She couldn't believe the nonsense that was pouring out of his mouth this time around. It was really the first time they had talked about it. She never gave him the chance over the last two days.

"What's that supposed to me?" He asked, getting frustrated with her. She wouldn't even talk to him like a mature adult.

"Mistakes are fine, Pete. I've loved you through all your mistakes!" She spat at him. "Hitting me? The suicide attempt? The pictures?" She said fiercely. "I forgave all of your mistakes."

"Hitting you happened four years ago! I thought you forgave me for that?! And, I didn't try to kill myself because of you!" He shouted at her.

"I did forgive you for that because I know it was a mistake. But, I don't know how you can say that cheating on me was a mistake. You can't possibly be turned on by someone when you had no idea what was going on. But, you managed didn't you?!" She yelled at him. He remained quiet and stared at the wall. "What's wrong, Pete? Run out of excuses? Well guess what? I'm not done talking to you, so you can just sit there and listen to me. I don't know where you get off thinking that you can tell me that you love, that you need me, that you want to marry me. You want us to have this huge family neither of us had. And, how I'm the only person who has ever made you give a damn and then two days later, I catch you in bed with another girl! We have fights, it's what couples do! How could you go and cheat on me?! You're so full of shit." She shook her head.

"It's all true!" He yelled becoming upset. "I want all those things. This was a stupid mistake! I don't know how it happened and I know it was stupid. I ruined everything. So, just get off my fucking back!" He yelled at her.

"Well, you were going to have all those things. But, you did ruin it. Why couldn't you just stay home that night after we had that fight? Why couldn't you just ask one of the guys to come over and hang out? Why did you have to do this to me?" She whispered as she was beginning to feel weak. Her voice was starting to crack and that was the last thing she wanted to happen.

"I'm sorry, Lynne. I am so sorry." He whispered reaching out and laying his hand on her arm which immediately she pushed off.

"Don't touch me." She growled. "Who knows what kind of disease you have now." She again moved away. There was only so much room and so far you could go in a small elevator.

"Lynne, I love you." He looked at her.

Lynne's eyes closed tightly as she tried not to cry. "Lynne, I love you and I know you love me. Please tell me you love me." He almost begged as he cornered her. "Lynne look at me, please." He pleaded with her, touching her cheek lightly and lifting her chin up to look at him. She kept her eyes closed as a few tears escaped.

"Please don't touch me." She whispered, still trying to move away from him.

"Lynne, you always loved it when I touched you." He said trying to get closer to her.

"Pete, please. Get away from me. I hate you." She whispered words that burned at her throat. The truth was she couldn't hate him if she tried.

Two days ago he was everything to her. All her hopes and dreams were in his hands and he chose to ruin that. He went out that night, he took a drink, and he brought the girl back to their apartment. He slept with her in the same bad that they as a couple made love. It wasn't right and it wasn't excusable.

"You don't mean that. You don't hate me." He said as he grabbed her face. "You don't hate me. Take it back, Lynne." He demanded in a forceful tone.

Lynne held strong and held back tears. "I hate you." She said it again as the words got harder to say each time. She wished she could forgive him. She wanted to tell him that even though he hurt her so badly, that she still loved him and wanted to be with him. But, if she did that it made her weak. If you're weak, people will walk all over you, but then again he did it anyway.

"Lynne, you don't hate me, please take it back." He said, still holding her face as he leaned in and kissed her. Lynne didn't pull away, which shocked him. Lynne herself was even shocked. But, she couldn't find enough strength to pull away from him. Finally pulling away she cried even harder letting it all out for the first time.

"I can't hate you." She cried. "I try so hard, but I just can't."

Pete stayed inches away from her face as he felt his heart break more and more each time a tear rolled down her cheek. It killed him knowing that he was the one that caused her pain and there was no way for him to ease it.

"Don't leave me, please." He begged once she had stopped crying.

"Pete, I can't!" She yelled frustrated with him.

"Why not?! You said it yourself, you don't hate me!" He said holding her hands in his.

"Because I can't, Pete. It would be one thing if you just cheated, but I had to see it! I had to hear her moaning your name; I had to see you on top of her! My boyfriend with another girl. How would you like it if you walked in on me underneath some other guy?!" She questioned. "How would that make you feel?"

Pete looked down as the thoughts of her with someone else made his blood boil. "I'd kick his ass."

Lynne shook her head. "And, if I told you it was an accident? What would you say?" She asked. "And, be honest."

"I wouldn't believe you." He sighed, defeated as he leaned against the wall.

"Pete, I loved you. No, I love you. And, seeing that killed me. How can I even go back into that apartment without being reminded of what had happened?" She asked him.

"If you really love me we can get through this." He said. "We could move out of the city. Get a house like we wanted to. And, we don't have to start in a relationship, we can be friends. Work back to a relationship?" He said. "Please can we at least try?" He asked as he had a glimmer of hope.

Lynne's heart fluttered at the ideas. She wanted to say no, but what could she do? She loved him and needed him. Everything sounded so wonderful. And, he did deserve another chance. "We can try." She sighed.

Pete's eyes lit up as he pulled her into a hug and kissed her gently. "I love you." He said as tears stung his eyes and rolled down his cheeks.

"I love you, too." She nodded. Maybe being weak was okay for once. "I promise you that if I ever go near a drink again, or I do anything to hurt you, you can cut it off and do whatever you please with it." He rubbed her back.

Lynne laughed a little bit and looked up as the lights came on and the elevator started to move once again. "Maybe it's a sign." She whispered against him.

"Maybe you're right." He smiled as he leaned and kissed her forehead lightly. The blackout was exactly what they needed.