HANNAH

I open the door and walk into the crowded restaurant. I never thought that Jagger would be packed on a Monday night, but to be honest, I'm not one for going out much at night, let alone on Mondays. In fact I think this is the first time I've left my house on a Monday night in a few years. Undoubtedly, everyone else has a much better nightlife than I do.

"Excuse me, are there any tables available?" I ask a waitress who passes in front of me holding a tray with two delicious plates of food.

"We have only one table at the back, over there, in front of that blonde girl," the waitress turns and points to the table with her index finger. My eyes fall on the table in the back, but only for a few minutes, as a green-eyed blonde girl enjoying a cheese sandwich with fries catches my attention.

"Em... great, thank you," I thank the waitress without being able to take my eyes off Casy.

What's she doing here? Well, that's obvious—she's having dinner. But why here, why not somewhere else? God, I wasn't ready to see her again—everything we went through and how mean she was to me still weighs on me. My love for her is still strong and so is my hatred towards her because the wound she left me hasn't healed yet and I know seeing her isn't going to help me with that.

I'm about to turn and leave this restaurant, but just then her eyes meet mine. Her lips part and her pupils widen. We both freeze, staring almost unblinkingly at each other and suddenly the feeling I've heard so much about in the movies becomes real. You know, the we-are-the-only-two-people-in-the-room kind of feeling. I always thought that feeling was just a creation of the screenwriters to make the movies a little cheesier, but no, it's real, because right now all I see is her and all I hear is my heartbeat that only increases as I recall the warmth and softness of her lips on mine.

Without realizing it a tear falls from my right eye and I don't even know why, but it seems that whenever Casy's around, I end up crying. It's as if her mere presence hurts and destroys me, but I still come back for more. Yeah, that's exactly what I do, because no matter what she does to me and how much she makes me suffer, we always end up together.

Wow... I just remembered what I said when we first met—that I don't want her to suck me in like a black hole the way Hardin did with Tessa. But it's too late for that now—the hole has already sucked me in and swallowed me, and now all that's left to do is wait and see where this black hole goes.

I look down, away from her gaze, and turn around, heading for the door. I can't take this pain anymore, I can't keep staring at her. I can't look at her and act like I've forgotten about her completely, when I actually did just the opposite. I can't pretend what she did to me didn't break my heart, when that's exactly what it did.

"Hannah, don't go!" Her voice shouts from behind me, as a hand grips my arm tightly, preventing me from walking any further.

I'm forced to turn around, but avoid making eye contact with her. I don't want to see her—it's too painful.

"Hannah..." she softly says as she lifts my chin with one finger so that my eyes meet hers.

Those eyes... God, I can't. This is torture... It hurts to see how the first person you ever really fell in love with is so close, yet so far away. It's fucking torture!

"Casy," I move a few inches away from her. "What do you want now?" I ask annoyed, trying to hold back the tears.

"Hannah, we need to talk," she says, repeating the same words my mom said to me a few hours ago. Why does everyone suddenly have something to talk to me about?

"I think we've said everything we needed to say," I say, trying to stay calm. I don't feel like arguing—I've had enough with my mom today.

After saying that, I walk away from her and out the front door, determined to find another place to have dinner.

"Hannah!" She yells from behind me, but I don't even turn around. "Hannah!" She insists, yelling even louder, but nothing she says is going to make me turn around—I want nothing more to do with her.

At that moment her hand pulls my arm and spins me around. Immediately her hands land on either side of my face and her lips connect with mine. It's a quick, wild kiss, full of passion, lust and desire. Her movements are so fast that my mind can barely catch up, but I decide to play along. After all, I longed desperately for this kiss.

As time passes, we both become more comfortable and relaxed, and thus the kiss slows down, allowing me to savor every part of her mouth. Her tongue comes into action and tangles with mine, making me moan. Her hands caress my waist and then move down to... my butt. Her naughty hands squeeze my bum and I open my eyes that I had kept closed until now, surprised by that act. No one had ever touched me like that before and I find it... odd, but at the same time thrilling and hot. I close my eyes again, knowing that I shouldn't be doing this, that I shouldn't have fallen into her trap again and knowing that there are a million things we need to talk about, but at the same time, not giving a shit about all that. I just want to savor and enjoy this kiss, because you never know with her when it might be the last.

I wrap my hands around her waist and we continue kissing, softly and slowly. At that momento, I feel a brush of something against my arm which makes me open my eyes and turn to see what the fuck was that. Casy frowns as do I and when we see three young boys throwing trash and laughing at us. Our eyes widen. Neither of us can believe what we're seeing.

"Get out of here, you fucking lesbians!" The tallest and biggest of them all shouts. He holds a garbage bag from which they take the items to throw at us.

What....?

They keep throwing banana peels, paper balls, yogurt cups, cans and everything else you can imagine a garbage bag holds. We try to move away from them and cover our bodies and faces with our hands, but they follow us and throw even more garbage at us.

"This is what you are: fucking garbage!" shouts a dark-haired guy. He's a bit shorter than the other two and a bit plumper.

"Yeah, why don't you go somewhere else? Nobody wants to see you two fucking kissing, you pieces of shit," says another one. He's blond, tall and the most intimidating one.

Casy and I look at each other and our faces only express the confusion and pain we feel at seeing three stupid people attacking us just for... loving each other. It's baffling that this still happens in the 21st century society.

Casy grabs my hand and we both run away from those idiots. Not knowing where exactly we are going. I follow her until she stops in front of a square. We both turn to see if we've lost track of those fucking assholes and when we see that there's obviously no one following us, we let out a sigh of relief. Casy sits on a bench and I sit next to her. We are both breathing hard and fast, and it takes us a few minutes to catch our breath before we can speak again.

"That..." I start to say, but I don't quite know what to say because my mind is still trying to comprehend what happened.

"Yes," she answers, as if she knows exactly what I mean.

I lean my back against the bench and relax, letting out a sigh. I try to understand what happened, but it's impossible. It was so... unexpected and... horrible that I can barely process it.

We both look down at our clothes, which are left completely ruined and smelling rotten. A tear slips from my cheek, as the voices of those guys replay in my mind. I can't believe what they said to us. I can't believe that just for kissing we have to put up with this shit. I don't understand how some people can do this and still be able to sleep with a clear conscience at night.

My crying intensifies and my sobs get louder, mingling with Casy's. We both turn our heads and look at each other, hurt by what we've just been through. I never thought loving would be so hard. I never thought loving someone so much would be a punishment rather than a blessing. I never thought we would be considered trash just for kissing.

We pull each other close and hold each other, crying, letting the pain hit us, but knowing that our love is stronger than whatever those stupid people say. Knowing that no matter what they say, what we feel won't change. Even how bad she treats me can't change the love I have for her. Because I know this is stronger than anything else. At least for me—I just hope it is for her too.

I try to regain my composure, but Casy is still crying. The way she closes her eyes shut and her brows draw together in a frown expressing sadness and pain, breaks my heart. The way she presses together her lips forming a line and her pale cheeks redden and get stained with quiet tears makes me wanna hold her and kiss her till she feels better. And I do just that. I stroke her back and kiss her cheek, trying to let my affection comfort her. I stroke her hair and close my eyes, reviving the kiss we just had, which was definitely better than the first one.

She pulls away from me and stares at me. She wipes her tears with her hands and smiles weakly at me. I smile back and move closer to her. She puts her hands around my neck and I do the same. Our foreheads touch and we are so close we can feel our breaths and smell our perfume.

We look at each other again and our lips meet for the second time tonight. The kiss is soft and salty, as our lips are stained with tears. It's a sweet kiss, though, laden with pain, anguish and regret.