Page 105 of Obsessed with the Heartbreaker

I was terrified, but I wanted to be brave. Because even if Henry didn’t forgive me, he deserved for me to be brave and tell him how I felt.

That I thought he was wonderful and ridiculous and an asshole and I wanted him to bemine.

My Heartbreaker.

My friends smiled and Eliot patted my thigh enthusiastically. “Then go do it.”

Chapter 35

Antony

The opportunity to face Henry presented itself in the most unexpected way: by going to dinner at his parents’ house. My mother texted me almost as soon as I’d made my decision, asking whether I was free to go to dinner with her at the Campbells, and that they’d told her that Henry would be going.

Was this a thumbs-up from the universe? Maybe. It might have also been a chance to completely ruin everything, but it was too late now.

I stood, hours later, knocking on their door alongside my mother, heart racing and gut churning because, for better or for worse, I was going to talk to Henry today. I would let him know of my feelings.

And that would be that.

We were quickly let in by a smiling Connell Campbell. Ms. Campbell, Marina, was also there, welcoming us, though her smile was slightly weaker, as if worried, and I could see why.

Henry was waiting for us in the living room.

He wasn’t even sitting down, his back impeccably straight with clear tension on his wide shoulders. His light-chestnut hair looked perfect, as always, but his face…

There were shadows under his eyes, his complexion a bit paler. I’d seen a similar look this morning in the mirror, and the thought that he might have been as sad and broken on the inside as I’d been feeling…

It was a relief.

Even if a small one.

As soon as our eyes met, we stood there, frozen, watching each other.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey.”

The urge to fidget was almost overpowering, but somehow I resisted it. I wanted so badly to just walk up to Henry, shake him, shout at him, and just hug him. Pull him to myself and beg for forgiveness.

But that might have been awkward so soon in the evening.

In any case, Connell quickly came, ushering me and my mother to the dining room, where the food was about to be served.

To say it was a tense dinner was falling short of the truth. Connell and his wife made conversation with my mother, while Henry and I sat opposite each other, sneaking glances and barely eating. The meal was fully vegetarian, which must have been an olive branch from the Campbells, but whether Henry appreciated it or not I couldn’t tell.

“So, Antony, have you finally chosen where you want to do your internship?” Connell asked, the desire to make some friendly conversation clear on his face. I didn’t know what Henry’s discovery and confrontation with him must have been like, but he pretended for all the world that nothing had happened. “Any interviews lined up?”

My heart was crashing against my ribs, but I came here ready to face the worst, so I was feeling bold.

Bold enough to say, “I was actually rejected from my top choice.”

The table was silent.

My mother was the first to react, concern all over her face.“Oh, honey, you didn’t even tell me you had an interview!”

I felt Henry’s gaze almost like a physical weight. “I didn’t tell anyone.”

Because I hadn’t wanted people’s extra pressure. Which was really not their pressure at all, but the one I’d been putting on myself. A crushing weight that I was now only reluctantly accepting to let go of.

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