She planned what she would say in each situation, rehearsing it in her mind, until suddenly the professor was dismissing them.

By the time Lauren was pulling onto her street, a feeling of despondency was beginning to overshadow her anxiety.

It was almost seven o’clock. Erin had already been picked up. He would have seen her missed call by now. He should have already listened to her message.

As Lauren walked into her apartment, she realized there was one scenario she hadn’t accounted for.

What would happen if he didn’t call her back at all?

She had been so concerned with making sure she’d say everything right when the time came that she hadn’t even thought about the possibility that she might not get the chance.

Lauren walked into her apartment, stripping off her jacket and throwing it over a chair before she sank down onto the couch, staring at the screen of her cell phone.

After five minutes of silence, she tossed the phone to the other side of the couch and stood up.

She couldn’t keep torturing herself all night. Either he was going to call her, or he wasn’t, but staring at the phone for hours wasn’t going to change anything.

She was going to make herself dinner. Then she was going to take a bubble bath, something she hadn’t done in years. And maybe after that, she’d finally start watching some of the shows that had been sitting in her DVR for weeks.

But first, she needed to e-mail one of her classmates and ask for a copy of the notes from tonight’s class.

Lauren powered up her laptop, signed into her professor’s website, and found the list of students from her class. She scrolled down, clicking on the e-mail address of one of the girls she sat next to and asked for a copy of the notes she’d missed.

Then she closed out and clicked on her inbox, deleting a few spam messages and reading a hilarious forward from Jenn. Just@ finally leasi as she was about to log out, her eye landed on the e-mail from Michael, the one he’d sent a few weeks ago on Erin’s birthday.

Lauren bit her bottom lip, slowly running her finger over the track pad, and she clicked on it, rereading the words that had originally sent her into a panic.

But tonight, they made her ache.

She scrolled down to the bottom of the message and clicked on the song attachment she had refused to open that night.

The first chord broke through the silence of her apartment, giving her goose bumps.

When you try your best, but you don’t succeed

When you get what you want, but not what you need

When you feel so tired, but you can’t sleep

Stuck in reverse.

And the tears come streaming down your face

When you lose something you can’t replace

When you love someone but it goes to waste,

Could it be worse?

Lauren closed her eyes and pressed her lips together, trying to stop them from trembling.

And high up above or down below

When you’re too in love to let it go

But if you never try, you’ll never know

Just what you’re worth.

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you.

The sob that ripped through her throat momentarily drowned out the music, and she covered her face with her hands, trying to catch her breath. But the more she gasped, the faster the tears came until she was only hearing bits and pieces of the song intermingled with her stifled sobs.

…when you lose something you cannot replace…

…I promise you I will learn from my mistakes…

…Lights will guide you home…

and I will try to fix you.

With the music still playing, Lauren leapt from the chair and scrambled out of her room, grabbing her keys from the entryway table on her way out the door.

And then she was running down the walkway.

She hadn’t even thought to grab a jacket; the freezing February air bit at her skin, and a cold drizzle had dampened her hair by the time she got to her car.

Swiping at the tears that wouldn’t stop, Lauren sped down the road that would take her to him. They had wasted almost nine years, and she refused to waste any more time. She had to apologize. To tell him she finally understood.

She needed to tell him she had forgiven him.

By the time she had gotten to Michael’s apartment, it was pouring. Lauren jumped out of the car and ran up to his front door, ducking her head against the freezing, needle-like rain that was stinging her skin.

She rang the doorbell before wrapping her arms around herself; the cold air was becoming unbearable as her clothes quickly beca@ pulled leasime soaked through.

“Michael?” she called, knocking on the door.

When a few seconds passed and he hadn’t answered, she knocked again, a little harder this time. “Michael?”

“Hello?”

Lauren whipped her head in the direction the voice came from, squinting against the downpour. The door of the apartment next to Michael’s was open, and a small elderly woman was standing in the entryway, silhouetted with light from inside.

“Are you okay, dear?” she asked, pulling a knit cardigan a little tighter around herself.

Lauren opened her mouth to respond just as a little voice cut through the darkness.

“Miss Lauren! You came over!”

From behind the old woman, a tiny head popped out, completely throwing Lauren off guard.

But then it clicked. Michael’s neighbor. The girls’ nights.

Lauren waved sheepishly at Erin, swiping at the strands of hair that were plastered to her face.

“Are you looking for Michael?” the old woman asked.

Lauren nodded. “I didn’t mean to disturb you, I just—”

“We’re playing Go Fish! Wanna come play?” Erin called from the doorway.

The old woman smiled and placed her hand on the top of Erin’s head. “He’s out, honey. Why don’t you come in and dry off while you wait for him?”

The icy rain spilled over her cheeks and down the sides of her neck as she stood there, taking in Erin’s tiny, hopeful expression and the look of sympathy the old woman was giving her.

And suddenly her answer was clear.

“No, no thank you,” she said softly, hoping the woman could hear her over the din of the downpour. She forced a smile and waved a good-bye to Erin as she turned and quickly made her way back to her car.

Lauren started it up, clenching her jaw against the violent chattering of her teeth as well as the emotion she felt swelling up in her throat.

Michael had left work, picked up Erin, come home, dropped her off with the neighbor, and gone out. And she knew there was no way he hadn’t checked his voice mail somewhere in there.

He obviously didn’t want to talk to her. And there was no way she could bring herself to be waiting for him in his neighbor’s house, sopping wet and pathetic, knowing that was the case.

If he was angry now, Lauren thought as she drove mindlessly down the rain-soaked roads, she deserved it. After all, he had apologized, had owned fault, had essentially poured his heart out to her, only to be coldly turned away and ignored for the past two weeks.

By the time she pulled into her parking space, her tears had stopped, although she could distinctly feel the sting they left behind. Lauren exited the car and ducked her head against the unrelenting rain, watching as her feet spattered the puddles up over her shoes. She was completely soaked, but she couldn’t feel the cold anymore.

“Hey.”

Lauren whipped her head up as she sucked in a startled breath, coming to an immediate halt when she saw him. She blinked quickly against the raindrops that were assaulting her vision, but she knew she was seeing clearly.