“Love hurts, I suppose.”  he shrugged his shoulders, turning his back to avoid seeing the tears forming in her eyes.  That sense of déjà vu swept over her again.  How many times had they been here?  In these exact positions?  Him walking away and her struggling to hold it all in.  Lifetime after lifetime they had done this.  Since the beginning of time.  Following the script, this ages old charade, he started to walk away from her.  ”I’m sure we’ll meet again some time.”  Her muffled sniffle tore at his heart like it always did.  Always stoic, this is where he was supposed to walk out of the door and fade into the darkness.  One last look over his shoulder at her.  He would give himself that much this time.  As he turned his head, intent on just revising the script a little, he heard her say the things he had never been able to hear before.

“Please.”  She whispered angrily, refusing to let the tears slide down her cheeks.  Not this time.  Every time he walked away she held her tongue.  Keeping the thoughts deep in her mind as the tears ran down her cheeks.  This time she would speak her mind.  Even if the only thing that heard her was the ground beneath her feet.  ”We both know the truth.  It’s not love that hurts.  It’s you walking away from me that hurts.  It’s being in different worlds when all you want to do is be next to me that hurts.  It’s us never getting that chance that hurts.”  Finally hearing her words to him, after lifetimes of walking away, shattered something in him.  He felt heat rise to his cheeks as it left his feet.  Facing her with his mouth ajar, mind whirling, and tears of his own crowding the corners of his eyes he finally saw her.