The Heartbroken - S01 E149

Story 2 years ago

The Heartbroken - S01 E149

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 149

Unbelievable. How could he have done all

this? All this, just from a dream I had. And it

wasn’t even remotely close to a bad one.

Suddenly overwhelmed with both

gratefulness and guilt, I turned to him. “You

didn’t have to do all this.”

“I wanted to,” he replied without missing a

beat. He poured some chocolate on both of

the mugs and handed one to me with a

small, reassuring smile.

“So,” he said when I took it from him.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s stupid,” I replied, shaking my head..

“Really. All of… this wasn’t necessary.”

“Give me some credit,” he said, lightly

bumping his shoulder with mine. “I know

you enough to know that you’re upset.”

My eyes snapped to his.

For a long time, we just looked at each

other, and something about the way he

was looking at me compelled me to speak.

So I did.

I told him about the dream, and the visit to

the hospital. I told him about the images

that kept bothering me when I tried to fall

back to sleep. He kept his eyes on me the

whole time, listening without once

interrupting me, and something about the

way he seemed to absorb every word made

me feel like he genuinely cared.

When I was done speaking, I couldn’t help

but say, “I told you it wasn’t anything

important.”

He didn’t say anything for a beat, then he

looked away and threw a small shell to the

inky black ocean. “Seems pretty important

to me.”

“Not enough for you to do all this.” I

gestured to the blanket and the food

splayed out in front of us. “I just wanted to

talk.”

“Well, we’re talking.”

“We could’ve done that over the phone.”

“Well, yeah, but you sounded upset.” He

nodded, tearing his gaze away from the

ocean to look at me. “What else was I

supposed to do?”

I didn’t answer, too busy reminding myself

to breathe.

“You know,” he said, turning away to look

back at the ocean, “that was really brave of

you.”

“What was?”

“Going to the hospital.” He reached up,

placing a hand on my head to, as I

expected, ruffle my hair. He wasn’t smiling,

but there was something about the

thoughtful quality in his gaze that made my

breath catch in my throat.

When he released me, he shifted in his seat

to grab the guitar. He started strumming

something familiar. He was looking at the

fret board, eyes downcast, head tilted to

one side, and I watched him, transfixed.

When he began singing, I realized the song

was Collide by Howie Day.

Why did I always find myself loving the way

he sang, even though his voice was far

from anything special? It felt like each word

was ripping through me, breaking down

the walls I’d put up around me.

His eyes flickered to mine, and when our

gazes locked, he grinned.

The sight sent a shiver down my spine.

Images of him flooded my brain. The way

he cheerfully smiled when he said we were

going on a picnic, a basket in one hand. The

sad look on his face when he told me about

Sam. The way his face lit up when he was

with his friends. The vulnerability reflected

in his eyes whenever Sarah was mentioned.

The way his eyes crinkled whenever he

grinned.

The way he would kiss me, gentle and

patient, never rushing anything, making me

feel like everything was real.

I thought about all these things, almost

involuntarily as his voice filled my head, and

I couldn’t believe that there was ever a time

when I thought badly of him, when all this

time, he was the type of guy who wouldn’t

hesitate to get out of bed in the middle of

the night just because I sounded upset.

The butterflies continued to flutter about

uselessly, not just in my stomach, but every-

f-----g-where, and it was like I could feel

them in every crevice of my existence.

It was impossible to ignore now, right here,

with my heart jumping like a f-----g

gymnast to the rhythm of my perpetually

misaligned thoughts.

I was falling for Seth Everett.