The Heartbroken - S01 E86

Story 2 years ago

The Heartbroken - S01 E86

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 86

Was he ever going to let

me sleep? “We’re fine.”

“I thought I told you

never to settle with

‘fine.’”

“Things don’t get fixed

overnight, Everett.” I

gave up on the idea of

getting rid of him. I

might as well get it

over with. “Why are you

still awake?”

“I did tell you, I find it

hard to sleep without

sniffing you.”

“I’m serious,” I said.

“What kind of horrible,

horrible person calls at 2

in the morning?”

“A person who misses

you?”

“I’m hanging up if you

—”

“It’s Dad,” he said

quickly, silencing me. I

suddenly felt bad for

killing him in my head

thrice. He was quiet for

a while. I was about to

ask him what

happened, but in a voice

that was completely

unlike the playful Seth

he had been five

seconds ago, he said,

“He called earlier.”

Even though I wasn’t

actually related to this

problem at all, a feeling

of dread seized me in

the gut. “What did he

say? Did he find out

about your mom and—”

“No. No, he didn’t. And

that’s exactly why I

can’t sleep, because,”

he paused, and I heard

him sigh, “he’ll be

coming home in two

weeks.”

“Oh.” I didn’t know

what to say.

“Sorry. I just—I

shouldn’t have called

you. Sorry I woke you

up. I just couldn’t

sleep.”

“It’s okay.” It was only

when I said the words

that I realized they

were true. I thought

back to the number of

times I unloaded on

him, way too many

times to the point that

I might have even

stopped feeling

ashamed of showing

him my weak side.

There was no point in

denying it any longer. I

somehow ended up

depending on him a lot,

always being the

closest person I had to

a friend. We’d ended up

in this semi-complicated

relationship where we

knew each other’s

worries and problems.

“What’s your mom

going to do?”

“I don’t know.” It was

only then that I heard

the exhaustion laced in

his voice, here, now,

talking to him over the

static and the

kilometers separating

us. For a moment I

wished I was back in

that room with him, to

at least let him know I

was with him. “Sorry

for waking you up. I

realize now how stupid

it was for me to call.”

I raised an eyebrow at

this. Unsure about what

to do to make him feel

better, I opted to go

along with his obvious

attempt to change the

topic. “Well, that’s a

first. You actually

admitted your stupidity.

Who are you and what

have you done to

Seth?”

He laughed, and I felt

relief wash over me

when I heard it was

genuine, not forced. It

was the first time I

realized Seth had a nice

laugh. “Oh, you know,

the pressure of always

being alert for possibly

getting castrated had

finally gone to my head.

A man can only go so

far without worrying

about his balls.”

“Or lack thereof.”

“Ah, the horror.”

“You do realize that

‘worrying about

possibly getting

castrated’ is

synonymous to

‘worrying about Kyla

possibly leaving me,’

right?” I said.

“Yeah, and I hope you

don’t take it too

personally, but I worry

more about losing my

balls than I do about

losing you. Since, you

know, I’m more

attached to them.”

“Oh my god, that is

such a bad pun.” But I

ended up laughing

anyway, too loud in the

quiet darkness of my

room.

“You laughed.”