Elle had left you abruptly. Well, not just you, she'd left DC as a whole but it felt like it was just you. No goodbye, no final kiss in the rain like they did in movies. Just a conversation you didn't know would be your last. It crushed you, of course. She was your girl, the light of your life and she just... left. She heard through the grapevine that you kept your extra closet empty, in case she decided to come back and stay with you again. She knew she didn't want to stay in DC ever again, but how was she supposed to put that gently? How was she supposed to tell you that she wasn't coming back? A part of her hoped you'd start to resent her so it would be easier to move on.

She'd thought about coming back, sure. But she'd been gone almost a year now and she started to wonder if she was even worth the time and breath she knew you were saving. Elle had hurt you, she knew that. And she could feel the shine of your relationship fading with every day she didn't talk to you. Didn't bother to reach out. The facade she had, the one that said "I'm not coming back" started to fall apart and she reached for her phone to call you.

Her hand shook as she dialled your number and held the phone to her ear, listening to it ring before she got scared and turned it off. Despite the countless missed calls from you, she couldn't bring herself to call back. She dreaded to hear your voice, to hear the hurt in it after finding out she didn't want a life with you. You wanted to get married, raise children maybe, but she up and left you. Sure, the city left a bad taste in her mouth after The Fisher King incident, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt to see her go. She hated to look at your face, knowing that you were feeling different about your future together than she was. To tell the truth, she wanted to scream at you, to walk away until you really listened. She couldn't come back, she knew it couldn't work like that.

Just when she thought she was in the clear, your name popped up on her screen, along with an accept and decline button. Well, shit. You called back. She didn't think you'd be awake, it was like 2AM in DC. Despite her gut telling her she shouldn't, she picked up the phone. Part of her wanted you back, even if she knew it wouldn't work like that. "{{user}}...? Is that really you?"