She was startled by the sound of his voice.

“How did you know--” she started.

“I heard your car pull up,” He said without turning to face her. “And you’re wearing those damn clogs again. You know, wooden shoes aren’t exactly the best thing to wear when you’re trying to sneak up on someone.”

“I wasn’t trying to sneak up on you,” Maria hissed. [I knew it. I knew it.] She thought. [I shouldn’t have come. I never should have come. He doesn’t need me. He doesn’t want me here. He doesn’t want me. Not anymore.] She took a deep breath.

[Just give him a chance.] Something told her. She took another breath.

“Michael,” she sighed. “I… I… Something told me… I mean it was just a feeling but… I mean I came because…” [Just spit it out.] She thought.

“Maria, why are you here?”

She sighed again. She walked up beside him. “Michael, what’s wrong?” She put her hand on his shoulder.

He missed that. He missed her touch. Her hand was barely touching him, but it still sent a shiver up his spine. He missed the way her touch made him feel. He missed how she made him feel. He missed…

[NO.] He thought. He shook her hand away.

“Nothing’s wrong, Maria. Just go home. It’s late, and you shouldn’t be here anyway.” He didn’t look up at her.

“I’m not leaving.” Maria snapped. [Calm down, girl. Remember, you are Teflon.] She thought. She sighed. “Michael--” she started again.

“If you’re not leaving, I am.” He stood and turned to walk away. He didn’t realize that she was still as close as she was. He nearly ran into her when he spun around to leave. He looked at her. He hadn’t really seen her in weeks. He figured that the more distance between them, the better. But now, they were so close. And the light from the moon was just bright enough for him to see her clearly.

She was beautiful.

His eyes scanned over her face and hair. He looked into her eyes. He missed her eyes. He missed her lips, her hands. He missed her. And he was so close now. So close that he could smell her perfume. So close that he could hear her breathing. So close that…

“Michael?”

Her voice startled him.

“Huh?” He said. [Oh great.] He thought. [She caught me staring.] He shook his head.

“Um… okay… I don’t know where you were just then, but can we please get back to the subject?” Maria asked.

“Yeah sure. I was just leaving.” Michael replied.

“No you’re not.” Maria grabbed his arm. “Level with me, Michael. You said that you heard me come up. You could have left and I would never have known that you were here. If you knew it was me, and you knew that you didn’t want to talk to me, then why didn’t you leave?”

He didn’t say anything.

“That’s what I thought,” Maria said as she let go of his arm.

“Look, Maria, you don’t need to be here.”

“Well I’m here.”

“I don’t need your help,” He spat.

“I think that you do,” She said matter-of-factly.

“You can’t do anything about this, Maria!” He yelled.

“Why won’t you let me try, Michael?!” She shouted.

“Because it’s no use! This has nothing to do with you. It… Look, I don’t need this right now, Maria. Just get out of here!”

“I am *not* leaving.” She growled “Something’s bothering you, Michael. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if I can help. I don’t even know how I know that you’re hurting. But I know that something’s wrong. And I am not leaving until I know that you are all right.”

“NO MARIA! I am not putting you in this! Get the hell out of here. I can deal with this myself! I *don’t* need you!”

He knew that was a mistake as soon as he said it.

“I didn’t mean that,” He whispered.

Maria heard him. She didn’t care. She looked away. Then she looked back at Michael. Her eyes were like ice. She took a deep breath and started speaking in a small voice that got louder and more hurt with each syllable.

“You cold-hearted son of a bitch. You said that you loved me. And all I’m trying to do right now is help you. But you won’t let me. And don’t give me that crap about nothing being wrong with you. Don’t look me in the eye and lie to me. I know that something is wrong with you. I can *feel* it, Michael. Don’t you know that?”

He didn’t say anything. She laughed.

“Huh. I guess not. I honestly don’t know what to do. My heart is breaking, Michael. I mean, first we can’t be together. Then we can. Then we can’t. Then we can. And now you’re telling me that you love me, but we can’t be together because you’re destine to be with someone else, but you can’t be with her because you don’t love her, but you can’t be with me because you love me too much to hurt me, and you haven’t even asked me how I feel. And you expect me to accept all this? And you expect me to forget about you? Forget how I feel about you? Stop caring about you? And let you go just like that? Oh, *hell* no. It’s not gonna happen.”

She flicked away a tear that had managed to escape the corner of her eye. [No. NO.] She thought. [Do NOT let him see you cry. Crying defeats the whole purpose of being mad at someone. Do not cry. DO NOT CRY.]

“You’re hurting, Michael. I know you are. And when you hurt, I hurt.” Her voice broke. Tears started streaming down her cheeks. “I love you, Michael. Can’t you see that?”

He stared at her. He couldn’t move. [She loves me.] He thought. [She loves me.] He was elated. And he looked at her more closely. [She’s crying.] He could see the moonlight reflecting off of the surface of her tears. His heart sank. [Oh no. I made her cry. She’s crying because of me. Oh no.]

“Hey, hey, hey. Maria. Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.” He walked up to her and put a hand on her arm.

“No, no, no,” Maria said as she shook her head. She started to push him away. But he didn’t let go.

“Maria, please.” He put one hand on her waist and the other on her cheek.

He brushed a tear away with his thumb. She looked up into his eyes.

“Please.”