reidmarleyâ:
â i can imagine. â really, though, marley couldnât. her trysts with love were never substantial, never anything real. except for once maybe last year, but she couldnât quite put the words to say how that made her feel. sometimes she wondered if was really even real. time muted the hurt in her heart but it still lingered and stung at the oddest of times. â rosie â â marley spoke aloud as she thought â â sheâs the red-headed vixen, right ? if sheâs who iâm thinking of, i agree. sheâs beautiful. âÂ
she hadnât been expecting patch to answer so quickly but when she does she can only nod her head. â then know that you made your choice with certainty and that it counts for something. it doesnât erase the hurt that rosieâs feeling, but it saves all three of you from the wishy-washy poking pain of indecision. â her words hang in the air. â i donât think you can erase the hurt youâve caused, but maybe you can numb the pain a little. maybe try and talk to rosie. if she doesnât want to now, okay, you should respect that. but time heals sometimes. wait a bit. try again. thatâs what iâd do. â
â i thought i was in love once, â she said, exhaling deeply. â but only once. and really i was in love with the idea of something iâd never have. anyways, to answer your question, though, iâve never loved more than one person at a time. the idea of loving one person at all seems foreign to me actually. â
â i think you know that youâve made the right choice for you. it might hurt, sure, but sometimes the right things do. not all choices are painless, as easy as that would be. â a sardonic smile pulled at her lips. â i hate that you had to make a choice at all, knowing that itâd hurt you in the end. â
Patch's lips quirked up in a soft wistful smile as Marley agreed about Rosie, before she looked away as Marley continued to speak. Her words were soft, but they cut her to the core. She was right of course; there wasn't anything she could do to erase what she had done, but she could always ask for her forgiveness later.
Patch found her eyes suddenly growing misty at Marley's empathy, the way she accepted Patch and what she had down with barely a blink. She didn't placate her, but she wasn't cruel either. Patch found herself pausing to grip Marley's unpainted hand.
"He doesn't even love me back, but I don't care," she whispered, and finally a stubborn tear she could stop slid down her face. She took a deep shuddering breath and gave Marley a soft smile, rolling her eyes at herself. "God, look at me. We're supposed to be having fun, and I'm crying all over you," she said, shaking her head and wiping her eyes.

















