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"I love you, Lucy," Schroeder whispers as he looks directly into Lucy's eyes. They are a vivid resolution blue, like her dress and his shirt. But the girl gives him a smile more false than real, because she knows. Schroeder doesn't fall in love - not with her, not with anyone. With an almost-inaudible sigh, she leans in to kiss him, soft as petals and sososad.
"You say that you do, Schroeder, but you don't," she whispers, "and you think you mean it, but you don't." She runs her tongue over her lips, reminding herself that he had - at least - lusted for her. It offers little comfort. He traces soothing circles on her back, tousled blond hair falling just so over his bright green eyes, saying nothing. For once, he has no response for her.
Lucy blinks back tears of venom as she pulls the blankets up around her naked body, her eyes fixated on the ceiling as though it holds the answer to love. What is its power, that we let it bring us to ruin? He intertwines his fingers with hers, and she doesn't pull away. She speaks just as the silence begins to grow awkward. "I've been so desperately in love with you for so long, and you...you aren't. And you never will be." His grip on her hand tightens as her voice grows softer. She of the fiery temper and boisterous demeanor is no more. "You don't fall in love."
(You're wrong, he doesn't scream.)
"I'm sorry," he murmurs, pressing a kiss to her hair. She smells like sweat and sex and filth and him. "I really am." And Lucy laughs, her body shaking from the movement.
"You aren't, Schroeder," she replies, and she's right, but sometimes the truth shouldn't be said aloud.
"I don't know what to be." How can I love you the way you deserve?
"No, you don't."
His hands fall away from her and he stares at them, as though they are covered in blood. "L-"
"And that's why I can't do it anymore," Lucy says, choking on all the other things she wants to say. She won't break for someone who doesn't care. "Goodbye, Schroeder." She refuses to let him kiss her. She leaves his life the way she entered it, her heels clicking against the ground. The sheets grow cold, and he lies awake, wondering what happened that made him shut her out.