it's just a little white lie, adna

[bethlehem]

I can get there on my own. you can leave me here alone.

There is a beat of silence that follows.
Perhaps he had expected a different answer.
Maybe he’d thought she’d tell him that she’d decided she wanted nothing to do with him anymore. And perhaps part of him hoped for it. For her sake. Because he was quite obviously no good for her. Or anyone, really, but she had failed to recognize that from the very first moment they’d met.

He nods and he exhales the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

“Okay,” he says. He does not look away from her, not even as another tendril of silence stretches between them. He does not go to her. He does not collapse around relief. He does not kiss her or pull her into a stiff embrace. He just nods and he looks at her and he collects what he can of his scattershot thoughts.

“Together, then,” he says, decisive.

He knows nothing about relationships. He has never been in love or been loved in return. He does not know what it means to belong to someone or have someone belong to him. He glances down at the ground and then back up at her.

“I don’t want to fight with you anymore,” he says, the expression plaintive. “If we’re going to be together, we have to stop assuming the worst about each other.”

BETHLEHEM

I'm just tryin' to do what's right. oh, a man ain't a man unless he's fought the fight.