The Heartbroken - S01 E238

Story 2 years ago

The Heartbroken - S01 E238

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 238

A moment passed.

Seth’s face broke into a grin and I nearly melted at

the sight of it.

“Your hair,” was the first thing he said.

“Your hair,” I said back, feeling a smile grow on my

face as well.

He took a step closer, so that we were only just five

steps away from each other. I couldn’t make myself

look away from his eyes as I stood there on my

unsteady feet, hearing the crashing of the waves

against the shore over the wind blowing from the

south, sending my short hair in every direction

possible.

“How—how are you? I mean, it’s been so long and

—”

“I’ve been all right.” He shrugged, the smile never

quite leaving his face. “What about you? I heard you

won second place in that writing contest.”

I shook my head, still incapable of having this normal

conversation with him when there were so many

things I wanted to say. “That’s old news.”

He laughed. “Two years, huh?”

It was hard to fully comprehend the situation but I

tried my best to keep up. “You came back.”

“You don’t say?” He took another step closer. His

eyes were glinting with amusement—and something

else I couldn’t quite name.

I drew a breath, trying to keep myself upright. “Any

reason you decided to grace us with your presence?”

“Well, first off,” he said, “I’ll be staying here for the

holiday break with Mom. Second.” The smile

disappeared as his eyes softened into a thoughtful

look. “I found Sarah two months ago.”

I stumbled back, as if he had thrown the last line at

me with a force that was equal to a rough shove. I

swallowed, trying to ease past the lump in my

throat, and forced myself to say something as I

dropped my gaze to the sand beneath my feet. “Oh.

Wow—that’s—uh—how did it—”

“I found out what happened between us.”

“Are you…” I peered up at him, one hand fiddling

with the hem of my sweater. “Are you guys back

together?”

“We’re friends,” he said, and for some reason, I felt

like I’d just lost a load off of my shoulders. “Just

friends.”

If my relief was obvious, he didn’t call me on it. I

drew my eyes back to his and realized he’d taken

more steps closer to me now; close enough for his

familiar scent to fill the air between us.

“So what happened?” I asked him.

“It’s a long story.”

“I’m not in any rush,” I said. “And I think I’m in the

mood for a few rounds of the Question Game. You?”

One corner of his lips rose in a barely there smile

that I knew all too well. “Maybe after I’m done with

the third reason I’m back.”

I struggled to take a breath. “And what’s that?”

He took that last step to close the distance between

us. “I wanted to say hi.”

I bit my lower lip in a futile attempt to keep myself

from smiling. “Is that so?”

Taking a deep breath, he kept his eyes carefully

trained on mine.

“So…” he said. “Hi.”

The word felt heavy with everything we’d been

through two years ago.