she can feel the woeful emotions that seep off him and grab at her chest — her heart pinching slightly. the moment was too heated, too strong, she couldn’t shut it off. she didn’t want to feel all these things, but they just sunk into her — a cocktail of sadness, love, anger, and even fear. she shook her head, lips draw into a stiff pout while warm tears began to spill over the corners of narrowed eyes. the salty liquid slowly trailing down the side of her face and dripping of her chin. ‘ i get it now. ’ she said, her voice cracking just slightly. her knees grew wobbly, and she dropped down to the couch while arms crossed tightly around her chest as she looked up at him.
‘ so you were playing pretend then, huh ? that’s all this was ? pretend ? — lying to yourself about how you felt — lying to me — ’ she huffs, a deep sigh forced from her nose.
she pauses for a moment, brows knotting —- she thinks about all the moments that may have led to this, all the times she read him while he was unwilling, unaware. but she’s upset and feeling foolish for thinking she could be close to someone again. for thinking it wouldn’t end up the way it always does.
she had hoped they were different.
‘ you didn’t have to be something different — you could have been yourself. did you think i wouldn’t accept you ? ’ she wipes a tear away with the back of her hand. ‘ i thought i knew you. the real you. but you haven’t been honest with and now ? now you’re upset ? ’ she shakes her head. ‘ you’ve been leading me on — that’s what it feels like. peter — you gave me hope. ’
it’s a repeating feeling, that peter is suffocating. the thought of it only makes this worse. can she feel this, his emotional collapse? he isn’t sure why he’s starting this fight. he isn’t sure why this anger isn’t subsiding or why, for the first time ever, his love for her isn’t enough to quell his rage.
he’s breaking and she has a front row seat to the show. and he’s breaking her too; he can feel it, the destruction he’s causing and all peter wants is to hold her and tell her he’s sorry and he loves her but even he can see they’re past that. all he can do is embrace the torpedo wrecking his life.
“you’re right,” he assures, his voice regaining the edge he’d almost lost. “i’ve been lying to you. for a long time now.” he doesn’t quite believe that’s the truth of their situation, but he’s already accepted that they’re past the point of no return. so why bother trying to fix them?
“here, i’ll make this for you now: the man you’re seeing right now is who i am.” this angry man scorching the earth like a child throwing a tantrum? it’s peter at his very core.
who else could he possibly be?
“i didn’t mean to lead you on. not exactly, anyway. i didn’t mean to hold all this in, keep it secret. not from you. but now it’s out; you know how i feel. if you can’t handle this version of me, decide that now and leave. i’ll be just fine without you.”