31 Day Writing Challenge #2: Day 4 - 'Red Plaid Shirt'

It still smelled like her. She's worn it so much, it was as if her scent had become embedded in the fabric. Most girls stole their boyfriend's hoodie or jumper, maybe a t-shirt, but not his girl. No, for Ivy it had to be his red plaid shirt.

He could see her now: curled up on the couch reading during restless nights, wearing nothing but lace boyshorts and that shirt; dancing around his kitchen in that shirt, making breakfast and wearing that shirt; practicing her routines in that shirt; tearing through the house looking for 'her' shirt; movie nights with Ivy wearing the shirt as a dressing gown and Ivy borrowing the shirt to 'complete her outfit'. There were more photos of Ivy in his red plaid shirt than there was of him in it. Any time he wore what was technically his shirt, people would ask why he was wearing his girlfriend's clothes. He could almost hear her laugh and gloat that she'd always said it really was her shirt. 

It was her shirt, Emmet knew that. It may have been from a mens department and Emmet may have bought it long before Ivy ever borrowed it, but it was Ivy's shirt. Always had been, since the first time she tried it on.

Every memory of Ivy in that shirt was bitter sweet and made him smile. All, except one. Ivy's tear-streaked face contorted with pain, fury and disbelief as she threw the shirt at him. The day he got his shirt back was the day he lost his girl.

Ivy would never forgive him for what he did or for the words he said. Pretending that he didn't feel the same, that he didn't want her anymore, had been the hardest lie he'd ever had to tell. It had torn his heart to shreds. But he had to do it. She wasn't going to go, she was going to stay trapped here, because of him. She was going to give up her dream, for him. She was going to give up her chance at everything she had ever wanted and worked for her whole life, solely because she loved him.

He couldn't, he wouldn't, let that happen. He wouldn't let her make the wrong choice. Ivy O'Neill deserved better than a life stuck here with him.