One Last Sunset - Ch.3

>The long hallway of bland plaid patterns and slightly off-white walls looms to either side of you. You don't know how long you've been standing in front of this door, just letting your mind run in this sudden state of rationality. The cold drip of melted ice cream runs down both of your hands as you stare at the hotel room door. It's the right number alright—you made sure to check the text five or six times to make sure, but as you stand there with two ice cream cones in your hand you can't help but reflect.

>The high of spending time with her yesterday was more than intoxicating. Every time you saw that sweet smile you couldn't help but chase the high, but now that it's faded you can't help but feel like you're getting taken advantage of again. You went from wanting to spit at her when she first said hello to buying her ice cream and bringing it up to her hotel room. When you close your eyes to look away from the dull brown of the door all your mind wants to think about is running around the arcade with her, playing games with her, getting hugs from her. You told her you would give her a chance, but your heart sinks at the implications now that she's got you completely wrapped around her finger.

>You look down to the tacky plaid floor of the hotel and take in a deep breath. How much did it really matter in the end? If you aren't coming back from this beach, would some nasty manipulation for her own gain really matter that much? You close your eyes, trying to remember that you're supposed to hate her for ruining your life, taking everything away from you, but that hate had already been eroded by apathy for so long... All your brain wants now is another hit of that high, of /happiness/. You know it won't last if for whatever reason you don't die on the beach, but is a few days of joy before the end really that big of a deal? Even if it is with the person that ruined your life, having something to smile about was worth more than anything before the end.

>Your eyes trace back up to the door. A few more days won't hurt. You know she won't care by the time school starts again and you don't plan to be around to face that rejection, but you can't fight the urge to at least try to get a few more positive memories to hold onto before the end anymore. Hopefully whatever's at the end of this won't hurt too bad.

>Before you can overthink anymore, the door clicks open, sending a jolt of panic through your system. You almost drop the ice cream in jump, but quickly switch to awkward fidgeting as Sunset notices you.

"Oh, hey. I was just about to text you," Sunset says with a bright smile. She quickly raises an eyebrow at you awkwardly standing in the hall, looking down to either side to check if there was some reason why. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, I was just, uh..." You lift your hands up to present your gift. "I got you some ice cream. Thought it might be a good way to start the day."

Sunset beams at the offer and doesn't hesitate to snatch the cone out of your hand and get started on it. "Yes! Ice cream is by far my favorite breakfast. Well, brunch now, I guess."

"Yeah..." you say, your face mirroring her joy as you watch her. The rush finally comes back in her presence, but the uncomfortable sinking feeling didn't seem to want to go away this time.

"Well, come on in. Let's not eat out in the hallway," she says, gesturing you back with a nod of her head as she turns around.

>Your eyes can't help but trace down her body. Her loose-fitting CHS T-shirt is normal enough, but the running shorts she had on left plenty of the smooth skin on her legs exposed. You clear your throat and try to ignore the blush forming on your cheek as you follow her in.

>The sunlight from the partially open curtains paints the room and you can see the little hints of Sunset's personality sitting around the floor. You click the door closed behind you and look around the mess she's made. Wires fell out of the TV from a game system and its controllers she had sitting on the floor, as well as clothes she'd haphazardly tossed around after wearing them. A sketchbook sat on the sheets, open to a drawing of a cartoon version of the reggae band you'd seen the other day. Snack wrappers dotted the room and the sheets themselves are strewn every which way so you can only barely make out the teddy bear wrapped up in it all. It's all a far cry from what you expected from the mental image of the intelligent, conniving manipulator you used to know.

Sunset throws herself down onto the mattress and sends the edges of the sheets whipping into the air after her. "So, have anything you want to do today?" she asks between licks of her ice cream.

Another cold drip reminds you of yours still sitting in your hand. "Oh, uh... I haven't really thought about it. Honestly I figured you knew this place better than I would." You lean down to take a bite of your own before it ends up as a puddle.

Sunset shrugs. "Only what I could find on the internet. This is the first time I've been here."

You raise an eyebrow. "Really? Sure didn't seem like it."

"Hey, you can find a lot of cool stuff walking around on the beach. We've still got a lot to explore, you know."

"Yeah..." Your smile fades as the doubt pokes at the back of your mind again. You sit down on the other side of the bed, only sparing the occasional glances at Sunset as she tears away at her treat.

"Can we talk for a while?" you ask, noticing the tone of your voice quickly changing.

"Sure. What's on your mind?"

You take in a deep breath and look over at her again. "It just seems kind of weird, Sunset. My grandparent's beach house is a ways away from the town. You coming out here and finding me and trying to spend time with me... it just doesn't make any sense."

Sunset's smile fades from her face as well. All you can see is concern in her expression as you try to read her, unable to find any errant motivations. "Well, is it really that hard to believe that it was a coincidence? Honestly I just wanted someone to hang out with."

"You'll have to forgive me if I have a hard time believing that, Sunset."

Sunset rolls over on her stomach to look at you. "What else would it be?"

"Well, it seems like you came out here with a purpose. Why else would you go that far out of your way to find me? To spend time with me? Don't get me wrong, I've had a lot of fun with you and I don't want that to stop, but you're not the kind of person to spend time with someone without a purpse," you let out. The words felt odd on your tongue. You can't remember the last time you've spoken this much or even cared this much about anything.

You look over to Sunset and see a hint of anger on her face, only for it to snap and leak out as a disappointed sigh. "I don't blame you for thinking that way. I know it's going to take a lot to shake off my old reputation, but..." she lets out a frustrated groan and rolls onto her back, her expression turning defeated. "I guess I'd gotten used to people liking me now. That was probably kind of arrogant to assume you'd move on so fast, huh?"

You look back down to the cone in your hand and take a quick bite of it to get an enjoyable sensation besides the forlorn dread you felt coming. "Things are complicated. I stopped caring for a long time and now that we're, uh... friends, I guess, I don't know what to think anymore."

"What do you want to think?" she asks, looking up to you with some nervous puppy dog eyes that hits you like baseball to the face. You look away and gulp before closing your eyes.

"I'm supposed to still hate you, so part of me wants to think you're just using me for something."

"And the other part?" she asks.

"It's been a long time since I've actually had a good day. Things have been so bad for so long I'd rather not think about anything else and just do what we've been doing."

Sunset rolls back over onto her stomach and looks between you and her ice cream for a moment, nervousness building on her expression. "So... which part is winning?"

You can't bring yourself to look at her. Your mind screams at you to drop this so you can just have a good day where she isn't mad at you, but knowing her there may be a really awful ending in store if you keep going. "I don't know, Sunset. What are you really trying to do here? If you're using me for something, just tell me so I can get it over with and we can stop living this lie."

A hint of determination crosses Sunset's eyes as she pushes herself off the mattress to sit up on her knees. "I'm /not/ using you. Look, maybe I am trying kind of hard to make it up to you, but if you've gone through what I have you'd understand how important it is to make it up to all the people you've hurt."

You can feel frustration building up inside you again. "I've gone through what you put me through, Sunset."

She winces at the intense tone then looks back down into the sheets, dejected. "I know. I know I'll never be able to fix all the hurt I put you through and the damage I've done to your reputation, but yesterday you said you'd give me a chance. Are you still willing to do that?"

Her sweet tone almost elicits an immediate 'yes' out of you, but you clench your eyes shut and shake your head. "I want to, I really do, but you've got to answer my question. What are you really doing here?"

"I..." Sunset looks away or a moment, clenching the cone in both hands close to her chest. "Right now I want to help."

You finally turn over and raise an eyebrow at her. "Help?"

"Yeah. Look, things can get better. You don't have to keep living in the lie that I put you in. I can help, I can try to change something. I made up those rumors about you harassing those girls and I can unmake them too," she says, that spark of determination quickly returning.

"How, Sunset? You got the /police/ to pick me up in front of the entire school. How are you going to convince everyone that somehow wasn't real?" you shoot back, a sudden fire of anger spewing out of you.

"I'll figure something out, okay!?" Sunset blurts out, her tone loud and full of desperation. She blinks a few times as the air goes silent, then looks down into the sheets yet again. "I just want things to be okay. I want you to be happy and I want what I did to just be a distant memory we can try to forget about." Her fingers fidget nervously around the cone in her hands. The occasional glances from her timid eyes are enough to make you try to put a cap on the anger seeping back through.

"This mistake might not go away so easily, Sunset." You turn away from her and look towards the wall.

You can hear the sheets shuffling behind you and before you know it, Sunset's hand is resting on your shoulder. "This one doesn't have to be forever." You turn to see that familiar, caring smile on her face. The contact sends another wave of warmth and joy through your system, but it barely puts a dent into the doubts swarming your mind now.

"Why me? Why now? I'm a loser, Sunset. I have no friends and nothing to offer you or the rest of the world. I spend most of my time alone on a computer and all I can really do for anyone is offer low-level tech support to my grandparents."

You feel a tug on your shoulder, enticing you to look back over. "I know that's not true. A lot of people at the school liked you before I... well, you know. You have a lot of potential with the skills you already have, you just need some support and I know everything can be better than ever for you."

You twist the cone around in your hand, mulling over the possibility that could even be a reality for you anymore. "You and I both know things are never going to go back to normal, Sunset. Nothing you or I could do would ever fix what you did to my reputation. If I go back to school it's going to be the same as it ever was."

Sunset blinks a few times in confusion. "If...?"

A pang of anxiety hits you at the question. "Uh, yeah. Maybe I want to move or something. Look, Sunset, I'm not stupid. I know someone popular like you would never spend a second with someone like me unless they wanted something. So what is it that you want?"

"I want to be friends," she lets out quietly.

Your throat rumbles out a frustrated groan. "Come on. I know there's more to it than that."

Sunset purses her lips for a moment before finally letting out a defeated sigh. "Okay, okay. I know you hate me and I just want to fix that. If there's anything I can do to make your life better I want to. I've spent a lot of my time trying to right my wrongs and with you I definitely did something really, really wrong. Could you believe me if I told you I just want to bring something good into your life to counteract what I've done?"

"How long do you expect a friendship built on guilt to last?" you ask her, still staring down at the melting ice cream in your hands.

"Forever, hopefully," she says, her hand finally dropping from your shoulder.

You shake your head. "I know you're not that naive, Sunset. How many people besides your close friends do you hang out with regularly?"

"Well, with school events I try to—"

"That's not what I asked. When winter vacation is over how much do you realistically think we'll see each other after you've 'made it up to me'?" you say, a growing harshness in your tone.

Sunset finally looks down to the sheets with a slightly furrowed brow looking like she has an uncomfortable realization on her mind. "I... I don't know."

"Exactly. If all you really want is for me to not hate you I think you might be wasting your time." You let out a long sigh, your mind going back to what was supposed to be your last sunset. "I don't even care anymore."

"Well, you should care. I'm going to find a way to make this better and I'm going to make sure things aren't going to go back to how they were when we go back to school."

You finally look back over to her. "And how are you going to do that?"

"I don't know yet, but you have my word things are going to turn out okay. Just give me a chance, okay? I promise this can have a happy ending," she says, rustling the sheets again as she inches closer to you.

"So, no evil plan? No manipulative scheme? You really just want to make things up to me?" you say with a few tentative glances.

"I swear, I just want to try to make things right. Pinkie promise." Her hand shoots out to you, a single outstretched pinky finger presented.

You almost laugh at the gesture, but decide to humor her and put your finger around hers and give it a light shake. "Doesn't Pinkie Pie kill you or something if you break it?"

Sunset's solemn expression finally gives in with a quick laugh. "Not exactly, but it's not something you really want to deal with regardless."

"I guess I'll take your word for it then."

"Good. I'm going to try to set things right with all your old friends too. Not saying I'm going to ignore you once we get back, but I'll talk to everyone to make sure things get cleared up."

Your expression finally lightens up as well. "You'd really do that for me?"

"Of couse. I mean it's not like everyone doesn't already know I used to be worst person in existence so it's not a big deal," she says with a lackidasical wave of her hand while looking up into the air.

"Well, I don't know if it will really change anything but I do appreciate the gesture."

"If that doesn't work we can try something else. So, are you mad at me, or...?"

You shake your head, your gut finally settling from the constant churning of confusion and finally letting the warmth of her gesture settle back into you. "I just don't know if I can trust you."

"What can I do to change that?" she asks, giving you those puppy dog eyes yet again and twisting a vice on your heart.

"I don't know, Sunset. These things just don't go away overnight."

"Oh, believe me I know. Just tell me how I can help, okay? I'll try to make it up to you any way I know how."

>You look over at her again and your eyes trace down her arm down to the hand sitting on her thighs. Your mouth opens, almost automatically, wanting to ask for another hug. Your mind is burning with frustration and confusion and all you really want is to feel the high of her embrace yet again. You gulp and look away from her—probably not the most appropriate thing to do.

"Let's just have more days like yesterday," you finally let out.

"I can definitely do that," she says, a bright smile returning to her face. "I promise this will be a winter vacation to remember.

"I hope so." You look back down to the progressivly droopier ice cream melting in your hand and let out a sigh. Today was supposed to be a good day, you wonder why you're still grilling Sunset over things you told yourself you didn't even care about anymore. It was supposed to be a few happy days before tthe end, not soured experiences because of a bad attitude. You bring a hand up to your face and rub your eyes as the disappointment and anxiety starts flaring, but Sunset's hand on your shoulder quickly snaps you out of it.

"So we're okay?" she asks as she shuffles over to be even closer to you. Your heart jumps with giddiness as she opens up her arms to you, tentatively waiting for you to lean forward into her hug.

You don't hesitate to meet your chest with hers and let those caring arms wrap around your shoulders. You rest your chin on her and let out a long, satisfied breath that carries with it all the worries that were strangulating your senses. Finally the world melts away until it's just you and her together again. "Yeah, we're good," you say into the sea of hair your face ends up in.

"Awesome," Sunset whispers along with a gentle squeeze against your shoulders. Your mind is still racing wildly, but the feeling of the sweet embrace finally gives you some respite from your own confusion. You silently wish you could just stay here in her arms for the rest of the day, but the fantasy quickly fades once she pulls away. Her warm, reassuring smile is always a nice sight, but today it isn't the dominating presence in your mind it once was.

Sunset's mouth turns down in shock as she looks over your shoulder. "Oops, sorry." A soft hand brushes against your shoulder, pressing in a cold, damp feeling that makes you jerk forward. "Maybe should've waited until we finished the ice cream for the hug."

The edges of your lips turn up into a chuckle as you both take another bite out of your cones. "Heh, yeah maybe so."

>The race is on as you both accelerate your licking—before too long you'll have to be cleaning it up off of the sheets instead. You both share a few more smiles as the cones slowly shrink after every bite until Sunset decides to break the silence.

"So, now that we've got that out of the way is there something you want to do today?" she asks, her bright, chipper tone returning.

You rub the back of your neck and look away. "Honestly? I was kind of hoping you had something planned."

"Well I have been dragging you around town, haven't I? Hmm... there are a lot of things we could do, but I usually leave the planning up to Pinkie and Rarity, so I've kind of just been acting on impulse," Sunset says, flipping out her phone and looking through something.

"What's your impulse telling you to do today?"

Sunset looks up to the ceiling for a moment before glancing back to her phone. "Hmm. It's not... uh." You watch her blink a few times before casting a few timid glances your direction. "We could just hang out in the room together... I mean, if you want..." she says, her eyes suddenly glued down to her phone screen. You could almost swear her cheeks turned a little redder.

"No grand adventures today?"

Sunset clears her throat. "We can go out somewhere if you want, but it just feels like one of those days, you know? We could order room service or get something delivered and play video games together. I do need my zombie-killing partner to help me with a part of Tirek's Revenge that I'm stuck on."

You give her a soft smile, trying to ignore the increasingly annoying doubts poking at the back of your mind. "That sounds nice, actually. I'll try not to sour the fun this time with a bunch of questions and accusations."

Sunset rolls her eyes. "Oh come on. You're right to wonder about me if we haven't gotten to know each other yet. I was pretty terrible to everyone at one point and I know that doesn't go away overnight."

You muster up a slow nod, but purse your lips anyway. "I know, but I just wanted to have fun like we did yesterday. None of that other stuff should really matter, all things considered."

Sunset's smile drops away and she quickly looks over at you with concern. "What's there to consider? You should be looking out for yourself and making sure you can trust me, right?"

You clear your throat and look away from her. "That would be the smart thing to do, sure... but I just..."

Sunset leans in closer to you. "What?"

You close your eyes and chastize yourself for a moment. This conversation certainly isn't going to make today any more fun. You give a quick shake of your head to yourself before meeting her eyes again. "It's nothing. I'm just being dramatic. I'm actually getting pretty hungry. Should we order a pizza or did you want something else?"

Sunset's concerned gaze lingers for a moment and your heart speeds up at the thought of her prying, but she seems to let it slide once she puts a grin back on. "Honestly pizza sounds great right about now. There's a place like two blocks from here too so we'll get it super quick. What toppings do you want?"

>The day quickly gets lost in the sweet smiles a joyous laughs the two of you share together on her bed. After spending an hour or two figuring out a level on Tirek's Revenge between gorging on pizza, Sunset breaks out her CD case filled with dozens of really great games you've been meaning to play for a long time now. The stress from your first conversation quickly fades away as the hours pass and your cheeks get increasingly sore from the long series of jokes you two trade and the occasional spurt of conversation as one of you gets into an amusing story.

>The overwhelming white rays of the sun outside fades to the soft orange glow of the sunset before you even know it. By the time you notice you hardly feel like an hour has passed, but considering the amount of games you both had gone through and the increasing lethargy from the massive amount of pizza, sweets, and snacks you've both torn through, time felt like it was never even a factor anymore. A warm feeling settles into your chest as you ponder in the occasional quiet moments: this is probably what it felt like to be normal, to be happy. Spending time with close friends and ones you love, not having to reflect on constant failures and your own desire to no longer exist, just living in the moment and finally feeling like a person again.

>It's much more than just that, though—every time you look over at Sunset's smiling face, those beautiful teal eyes and that wonderful smile, a pang of anxiety hits your stomach and the butterflies rush in again. Every time you close your eyes your mind gravitates back to that wonderful hug, watching her cute, little, determined face with her eyes narrowed and tongue stuck out while she stares at the screen and pounds away at her controller. Despite the horrible past she's the last symbol of your happiness and you can't help but want more. Between another bite of pizza and focusing in on the games, your mind builds up the fantasy of holding hands, the first kiss, being /together/. The thoughts are intensely distracting to the point where Sunset has to snap you out of it a few times with a quick punch to the shoulder.

>The doubts and confusion refuse to leave, however. Your hate of Sunset had faded away and now you could only center on yourself. Why would she ever want that with you? You couldn't be that important to her. She'd never want to go out with you like that. She's popular and you're a loser, things will go back to how they were after the break. You'd only ever get rejected. She has so many better options than you, it's not even worth thinking about. The endless list of reasons that popped in to try to swat down your feelings weighed on your heart and quickly turned the fantasy into sorrow. A harsh reminder that these are just supposed to be a few fun days before the end.

>The swarm of uncertainty quickly consumes you and by the time night has fallen completely your everpresent smile in her company has faded. The wonderful feelings of her presence are bittersweet once your mind has played its hand to reveal what it really wants. All you can think of now is the harsh future if you did tell her and the lifetime of yearning and disappointment if you didn't.

>The night hours nip with a familiar sting of lethargy around your eyes and sucks the energy out of your limbs. You and Sunset are both propped up against the backboard in a bundle of pillows, trading the occasional half-hearted joke at the ridiculously bad comedy you found on cable. You can tell she's getting tired as well, though her tone doesn't seem to reflect the same kind of concealed disappointment you're trying to hide. Anxiety is overcoming your system as you debate on whether you should just come out and tell her your feelings already and get it over with.

You finally clear your throat and cast a few nervous glances over at her. "So, uh... you have any crushes around the school?"

Sunset slowly leans over to look at you, a sly smile forming on her tired face. "Now that's a question I didn't expect to hear. Why do you ask?"

You avert her gaze and try to hide the nervousness building up inside you. "I was just wondering."

"Well honestly? Not really. After everything that's happened, I've just been trying to build friendships and enjoy life with my friends, you know? A boyfriend hasn't exactly been on my priority list."

You gulp and try to stifle your internal catastrophizing. "Don't blame you, I guess. Could unnecessarily complicate things."

"Yeah, they could. If I'm being honest though I just haven't really put much thought into it. Maybe it would be nice..." Sunset says, looking down as her thumbs start tapping each other. "Do you have a crush?"

"Yeah..." your mouth says before you can manage to stop it. You wince, knowing what's about to come. You take in a long, shaky breath and decide that if you're going to be an idiot and have these feelings you might as well get the rejection out of the way now. "I do like someone, actually," you say, the disappointment preemptively spreading through your system.

Another sly smile crosses Sunset's face and she turns over to face you. "Oh yeah? Who is it? I might be able to set you guys up."

You close your eyes and shake your head, your body suddenly going on high alert with panic as you try to just get this over with. "It's you," you manage to get out.

Sunset blinks a few times in surprise. "Huh?"

"I like you, Sunset. I don't know what's going on. I'm supposed to hate you, but..."

"You like me? Like, romantically?" she asks, her tone reflecting a cautious curiosity.

"It's stupid, I know. But you came out of nowhere and spent time with me. You cared enough to talk with me when no one else had in months. You're really fun to be around and insanely beautiful and dancing with you and playing video games and... just everything. I don't want it to stop. I lose myself in the feeling every time you hug me and I just want so much more with you," you let out a frustrated groan and grab your temples. "You ruined my life, Sunset. I'm not supposed to feel this way about you but I do and I think it's ruining everything. I just wanted a friend to have fun with for my last few days and I'm already messing everything up by feeling like this."

A defeated groan leaves your lips and you lean back to let the back of your head knock against the wood. "I just figured maybe it'd be better to get the rejection out of the way early. I don't know. This is stupid. I don't know what I'm doing."

Sunset looks away for a moment. "It's not stupid, it's, uh... just..."

"It is stupid. You've been nice to me for three days and I already think I love you... Might be good to go ahead and ruin this now, I guess."

Sunset has to clear her throat before she looks back up to you. "No... no, it's not ruined or anything," she says, but you can hear the uncertainty plain in her voice.

"I'm not an idealist, Sunset. I know you can do so much better than me. All you wanted to do was make a new friend to have fun with and I've spent half of today just making things difficult," you say, looking down to your hands laying limp in the sheets.

"Hey, things were going to be difficult at the start. I don't blame you for feeling uncertain or... confused."

"I just..." you let out a frustrated groan. "I don't know what I'm doing, okay? I want to be with you but I know it'd never work and you'd never really want me like that. I wanted to just wait so we could be friends for just a little while but... agh..."

Sunset leans over and rests a hand on your shoulder, sending another cascade of those warm, calming feelings through your body and making you let out the frustration through a soft sigh. "Hey, don't work yourself up too much, okay? Things will be okay. I'm not really... well, I don't really know what to say, but I am really flattered you feel that way. Maybe we could talk about this more tomorrow? I know I'm too tired to think straight right now."

The warmth quickly fades, but you give her a gentle nod anyway. You don't really know what you were expecting, but this still doesn't leave you feeling very good about anything. "Yeah, that would probably be fore the best."

"I do really enjoy spending time with you and I pormise you didn't mess anything up," Sunset says, doing her best to put on a reassuring smile through her fatigue.

"If you say so..." A sinking feeling grows in your stomach as you refuse to look at her.

"Why don't we finish the movie then we could talk about things in the morning?"

You finally glance over at her, but the embarrassment building up inside you doesn't allow you to linger for very long. "Sure, yeah. We can do that."

"Awesome," she says with a big stretch and a yawn.

>The usual series and jokes and laughs had long since faded away into the night. The nervousness in your stomach grows with each passing second of silence as your mind races through every little thing you might've done wrong today, or yesterday, or ever, really. Your heart aches after the lack of reciprocation, but you shake your head at the feeling—you always knew it was going to be like this. Sunset would never be anything more than a friend for you, as much as you wished it could be otherwise.

>You take in a deep breath as the cold emptiness finally returns to completely wash away the happiness of the day. You turn to Sunset to let out a long apology again just to see her eyes closed and her head leaning back, her mouth slightly open as she gentle slides across the headboard towards you. You can't help but let off a tired smirk yourself at her adorable napping. A lump forms in your throat as her gradual descent into the sheets lands her cheek against your shoulder.

>You let out a somber sigh as the fantasies of doing this more often fill your head. The monster you hated for so long looks so peaceful and beautiful as she snores away against you, but this time it's not her that you're afraid of. You push through your fantasies and imagine all the ways you'd make this relationship—or even just the friendship—go horribly wrong. All the arguments you'd have over your insecurities, all the unneeded jealousy and stress you'd bring into her life. It'd never end well for her and you know it. There's so much work you'd have to do on yourself that it'd never be worth her time, even if you could manage to fix things.

"God, I'm such an idiot," you whisper as your rub one of your eyes and internally chastize yourself, wishing you could've found some way to spend another few days with her without messing things up, but that doesn't seem like it's in the cards anymore.

>You quietly slip away from Sunset, putting your hands up against her to gently set her down into her sheets. Despite the horrible feelings gripping at your mind, you still can't help but smile at her sleeping form. She looks like an angel come down from heaven to show you happiness one last time. You know you shouldn't, but you run your fingers across her cheek to move some of her hair out of the way.

You gulp as you think of the walk back to your little beach house. It was time, your gut screamed at you. The more you thought about the future past today, the more you know that you're just going to mess up. Sunset managed to pierce through your negativity to have one last good day, but as the confusion and frustration swarms in your mind, you know after this things will quickly fall apart because of you. It's the last sign you need to make that final decision.

"You'll never know how thankful I am for the time we had, Sunset," you whisper down to her as you run your hand gently across her hair, careful not to wake her up. "It was the happiest I've ever been in my life."

You look away and purse your lips for a moment. "I know it might be hard to accept that I'm gone, but I know you'll be better off in the long run. I hope you understand that one day. You have a wonderful life ahead of you and you don't need me to drag it down. I hope you know that I've forgiven you. It's just... better for the world this way now."

>You lean down and give her forehead a kiss and one last light squeeze of her shoulders before wrapping her up in her blankets and rising back to your feet. After all that you need a rest yourself... a long one. You make your way out of her room, careful to make as little noise as possible as you close the door behind you.

>You try to keep your mind centered on the good times of the past few days. When you finally make that walk out to the sea, you want your final thoughts to be happy, even if you know the reason you're out here in the first place is a whole lot of despair. Better to end on a high note, right? After today you knew it'd only get worse from here.

>You let out a yawn of your own as you walk down that endless beige hallway. One last sunset probably isn't in the cards anymore, but the next sunrise would probably be more appropriate. You silently make up your mind and adjust your plans for the last few hours on earth. One more night away from reality before the end sounded nice. Maybe you'll dream about Sunset.