The Heartbroken - S01 E169

Story 2 years ago

The Heartbroken - S01 E169

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 169

I hoisted my bag higher up my

shoulder, making sure that all four

doors of my car were locked.

Sometimes, the locks didn’t exactly

work as well as they should.

It was a routine I’d gotten used to

in the two years I’ve been using my

car, but now it made me feel a dull

ache in my chest, reminding me I’d

soon be back to driving it again to

school since I won’t be getting

rides to school from Seth anymore.

I tried to dismiss my thoughts,

looking up instead on the looming

white house in front of me. I

looked down to check the piece of

paper in my hand to make sure I

got the right address. I’m pretty

sure I did, because I recognized

Warren’s van parked a few yards

away.

I found myself thinking back to the

night before when I told him we

should “break up.”

He looked at me for the longest

time, his face an unreadable mask

before it broke into a small smile.

“Oh, god, Alyssa and Lily are going

to cut my balls.”

I blinked in surprise at first, unable

to come up with an appropriate

reaction, and though I knew he

was only joking, I couldn’t help the

slight stab I felt at the thought of

him worrying about his balls while

I worried about my heart.

“Your balls,” I echoed flatly.

“No offense,” he said, his lips

quirking into a small smile, “but I’m

more worried about losing my balls

than I am of you heartlessly

dumping me, considering that I’m

more… attached to them.”

In spite of myself, I burst out

laughing at the pun. “That was

terrible.”

“You laughed.”

“Still.”

“Anyway,” he said, letting his smile

fade to reveal a more serious

expression, “we’re calling

the whole thing off.”

I swallowed. “Yeah.” I looked away

from his unreadable eyes and

continued. “We only started this

fake relationship because of Cedric

in the first place. Now that I’m done

with him, this whole thing should

be too.”

I fought the emotions trying to

claw into my voice as I verbalized

my thoughts. The only thing I could

manage to do was pray he’d keep

his promise about us staying the

same, about being friends despite

the fact that we’d “break up.”

He placed a hand on the top of my

head and ruffled my hair. “Yeah. It

should be.”

I couldn’t figure out what exactly

he was feeling as he said these

words, and I relied instead on the

familiarity of this gesture to

reassure myself that we were still

the same people despite everything

else.

“So, you’re really done with Cedric?”

he asked when he removed his

hand.

“I hope so.”

“What do we tell everyone?” he

said and from there, we tried to

plan ahead.

At the end of the night, he offered

to stay until Mom got home, but I

shook my head and refused. I

wanted to call Hail and talk to her

about the “breakup” as soon as

possible.

When I walked him out the door,

he seemed almost reluctant to

leave.

“Friends?”he asked me, holding his

arms out as he turned to me.

I let out a sigh of relief as I all but

rushed to accept his hug, burying

my face in his chest and letting his

warmth envelope me. “Friends,” I

agreed.