Every word from him was like a dagger through the heart. She could hear the voice she had loved so much under the more mature tone that had been added to it, the way his tongue would roll on certain words, his inflexion on some syllables. Those things hadn't changed and she hated that it had been committed to her memory, so ingrained in her psyche that she could notice those details even after all those years. His voice paired with the words he was throwing at her were making her more hurt, more angry than she had already been by sampling seeing him again, just sitting there. How dared he be the one saying those things to her, as if he was guilty of nothing, as if she had been the ultimate bad guy in this story and - apparently - still was.
❝ It's hard to know someone when you're never there. ❞ she spat, with all the resentment brought by years upon years of remembering how absent he had gradually become until there was barely anything left of their relationship, until it was hard to even call it a relationship at all. ❝ And it would be bold - and stupid - of you to assume that the lonely, naive teenager you knew is anything like the adult that I became. One that knows better. ❞ she added, with bite in her voice.
She knew his face, even with all the changes, knew every expression of his, she had studied and learnt every part of him for a long time before things crumbled. She could swear hurt was dancing in his eyes, the same hurt that she was trying to hide from hers. She didn't want to stop and consider that though, didn't want to give him grace, to give him the benefit of the doubt when she had been so angry for so long, when he had been nowhere at a time where she needed him the most, when everything had crumbled around her and their relationship had been one of those things. From the corner of her eye she could vaguely see heads popping from the doorframe, curious coworkers probably entranced by the sight of Wally in a verbal fight with the 'new consultant', wondering who she was and what had gone on to create this kind of friction after a few minutes of them meeting. She could easily assume that Wally was very different in his every day life than he was at this very moment. She seldom gave the curious onlookers any thoughts however.
❝ Trust me Wal', my nightmares still very much include you.. ❞ she answered bitterly. She wouldn't add, though, that more often than not, her nightmares simply made her relive those days, forced her into scenarios where he would tell her he never loved her, offered her the official breakup she never had. The collar of his shirt was slightly up, out of place. As if her body had never forgotten gestures that, once, had been such natural habits, she reached her hand and gently tucked his collar back in place, like she had done a million-and-one times when they were young. The hurt and melancholy in her eyes, at that moment, was unmistakable. ❝ I just want to do my job, and then you never have to see me again, just like you want. ❞ she sighed, taking a step back and crossing her arms to stop her hands from moving on their own again.