The Ripple in Our Lives

"The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it"-Chinese Proverb

Anna-Maria leaned her back against the cool marble counter top of her new apartment, a space she shared with her boyfriend who was opposite her, chugging a can of beer, his eyebrows furrowed. She swallowed a lump in her throat and rolled her eyes so she wouldn't cry, using the heels of her hands to push herself off of the counter and towards him.

"Look." She said as she took small steps to the man she loved. It took everything in her not to run at him with her arms wide open, shower him in kisses and tell him that he meant the world to her...but she was able to suppress it. After all he had done he didn't deserve an ounce of her love.

The man threw the can onto the ground and balled his hands into fists.

"No, you look. I'm sick and tired of your emotional bullshit. You are always crying and whining about your job and your friends and I am done. I started a relationship with you because I thought you were hot. I didn't know that I would be treated like a psychologist. I mean damn..." He trailed off, dragging his fingers through his messy hair. His eyes were dazed and glossy; a sign that he had drunken many beers already that evening, as per usual.

Anna-Maria hated that he was right. She hated that she helped his case by allowing tears to flow from her green eyes. She also hated that because she loved him so much she had shared all of her personal feelings with him. To her they weren't rants or pleas for help, but rather her giving up the most intimate parts of her being. She shook her head sadly and grabbed a thick textbook from the counter top, holding it in front of her.

"Look at this irony," she said with a sigh as water flowed effortlessly and seemingly endlessly from her eyes. "I'm studying to be a guidance counselor. I want people to come to me with their issues because I want them to feel better. But you...you don't care if I feel better or worse you just want me to stop talking!" She said the last word as if they were her final, dropping the book onto the floor with a painfully loud thump and theatrically throwing her hands up to cover her face and paw at her eyes.

The next few moments consisted of her wiping at her face and him staring down at the book lying next to his can on the floor. He was breathing in short, angry spurts. Finally, she looked up at him and said, defeated

"Why didn't you tell me? We spent the last five, almost six years together and I never knew that you felt that way."

"I like talking. It's why I was class president our senior year, why I asked you out first, and why I always seem to initiate conversations when we are out with our friends. I don't like listening, and lately thats all you seem to want me to do."

"I don't want you to do it...I need you to do it." She said, blinking rapidly to get rid of the stinging in her eyes. She pulled the sleeves of her sweater closer around her, pretending for a second that it was a tight hug from the boy of her dreams instead of one of her many defense mechanisms.

He only shook his head, taking steps closer to her. "You don't love me. You want me to be here so you have someone to hold you. You are a needy little girl, that is all. You were warned by many people that you were fragile and shouldn't run into the arms of the first guy who was interested in you and that is exactly what you did. You are an emotional wreck, a crybaby, and honestly I've only kept you around because my friends say you are good company at their parties. That is it." With every word of his speech flowed five and a half years of love and laughter onto the floor in a heap of garbage. Anna-Maria felt faint.

She hadn't realized how angry or strong she was until after she had shoved him with all of her might, sending him staggering back and forcing him to step onto the metal of his beer can. He yelled a bit in pain, not a shriek but a small recognition of its existence on his foot.

Without thinking, Anna-Maria said "It's your fault for always leaving your damn cans all over the place."

That was when it happened. He retaliated.

The boy she had spent the last five years with. Her date to her senior prom. Her first kiss. Her best friend. Her roommate.

Hit her.

_*_*_*_*_Hi guys! Sorry if this chapter was a bit short but I felt that was a good place to end it! I'm sure some of you are itching for the introduction into what makes this a RHPS fanfic, and I assure you that it is coming but you NEED this backstory to understand the rest of the book, capisce? I hope you all enjoy, and feel free to leave me any comments, thoughts, suggestions, theories and more