The Heartbroken - S01 E191

Story 2 years ago

The Heartbroken - S01 E191

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 191

I laughed, shaking my head at him

as I clutched the book closer to me.

We started walking, making our

way towards the front porch. “You

do know I’m against watching a

movie adaptation of a book I

haven’t read yet.”

He gave me a ridiculously

persuading look, with his eyes

glinting, catching the dim light from

the streetlights a few lots over.

“Come on, Ky. Are you really putting

your literary values over me?”

A laugh escaped my lips. “Literary

values?”

He stopped walking and turned to

face me, putting two hands on my

shoulders, slightly shaking me.

“That’s not the point. I literally need

someone to talk to about this

ending, Ky.”

“Literary values,” I repeated,

marveling at the unimpressed look

he was giving me. I burst out

laughing and finally agreed.

—

Dinner was surprisingly pleasant. It

wasn’t as hard or awkward as I

(and I suspect Cedric as well)

expected it to be.

Mom was surprised when she saw

Cedric, of course, and she sent me a

curious glance but I shrugged it off.

The food—some dish involving

broccoli and shiitake mushrooms in

this delicious sauce—was already

cooked when we got there. She

was probably just waiting for me to

come home. It was a good thing

Mom almost always cooked more

than necessary (she was, for some

reason, bad at calculating portions

when it came to cooking) so we

didn’t have to worry about Cedric’s

share.

It pretty much went well, with

average, non-squirmy

conversations and really good food

(that I could tell Cedric enjoyed).

After dinner, we went up to my

room so we could watch the movie.

When I pushed my bedroom open,

there was a moment when we

both just stood there, staring at my

room. I knew we were both

transported to the past and all the

times we’d spent here with each

other before.

“Well,” he said, breaking the

uncomfortable silence, “this isn’t

awkward at all.”

I laughed, his remark easily

removing the tension in the air.

“Not at all. Really.”

I stepped into the room and tried

not to think too much of the fact

that the last time he had been up

here, we were still in a relationship.

As I prepared the laptop, I dared a

glance at his way. I almost stopped

what I was doing when I noticed

that he was holding the picture

frame on top of my drawer, the one

that used to hold our prom picture.

He looked lost in thought as he

studied it and I wondered what he

thought of the fact that I removed

our picture.

He looked up and caught me

looking. I looked away and busied

myself with untangling the cords of

the laptop charger, which I’d

carelessly thrown bundled together

the night before.

“That was your dad, right?”

I knew he was talking about the

picture I replaced ours with.

“Yeah,” I replied as I fumbled with

the charger.

I realized, for a second, that life was

like a complicated mess of tangled

wires, and the only way to untangle

them is to work on the knots one

by one, slowly loosening everything

bit by bit until you straighten it all

out.

I was glad I’d sorted out the knot

between me and Cedric.

Behind me, I felt him shift, and

quietly, he said, “It’s a good

picture.”

“Well,” I told him, “that picture of us

was pretty good too.”

When I looked at him, finally

finished with the task at hand, he

was giving me a grateful smile and

I was glad, really glad, that he knew

I meant more than just the picture.