This is part of a story that I am working on.  It’s only the second draft so there is still a lot of work to be done but I have to get some distance from it in order to see how to fix it, so I am tossing it into the ether to see what to do next. 🙂

Trouble

Somehow, after all this time, she wasn’t sure that he was going to be waiting there when she climbed the stairs.

It was ridiculous in a way, there was no way for him to leave without coming down where she was, but still somehow she was never sure that he would be there.

Of course, there were many ways to leave without actually moving your body to a different place… it was possible to check out without moving at all.

She had had men like that before.  They looked at her blankly when she complained, unable to understand why she was annoyed.  They were right there with her, weren’t they?

Even though he had been there in all senses of the words ever since she had taken him home with her, she still didn’t trust it.

 

She still didn’t believe in always.

 

She was too much trouble for always. Sooner or later he would realize it, too, and then he would just take off.  She knew it.

 

She knew just how it would happen. She would think everything was fine but then he would grab his things, his clothes, his feelings, and pull them all away.

 

She tried to pick fights with him sometimes, just to try to have control of the time that he gave up on her. She hadn’t made it happen yet, no matter how ridiculous she acted but she wasn’t convinced that meant he was here to stay. She stayed braced for his exit, for him to back away.  She just always expected there to be trouble.

Because she was trouble.

 

That’s what they had always said about her: she caused a lot of trouble. She made everything more difficult. She wasn’t worth the hassle.

 

It was only a matter of time until he figured that out.