Page 76 of Don't Love the Boy Next Door
When they finally catch up to me, I give Eric another smile. Ethan says, “I’ll leave you two lovebirds to it,” and heads into the building.
Eric and I lock eyes.
“Hey,” I say with another smile.
Again, he returns it, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. He swallows and looks around, not really meeting my gaze.
“Why didn’t you return my texts?” I ask. “Were you busy working on the last song for the concert?”
He releases a sigh, running a shaky hand through his hair.
Alarm bells start going off all over my body. Something’s…not right.
“Eric?” I ask slowly.
He finally pins his eyes on me, an unreadable expression on his face. “I can’t do this, Katie.”
“W…what?”
“You and me…it’s not going to work out.”
It feels like the sky has crashed down on me. My head is stuffed with cotton and my chest is as stiff as a wooden board.
“W…what?” I ask again.
He looks around the area like he wants to escape. Then he glances back at me, that same unreadable expression on his face. “I’m sorry, but things aren’t going to work out between us.”
“But…how…why…?” The cotton has grown thicker in my head, making me unable to process anything he’s saying. Thishas to be a nightmare. The worst one I’ve ever had, following my mom’s death.
“Eric,” I whisper.
“I’ve got to get to class.” He strides into the building, not looking back at me once.
I stare after him, tears gathering in my eyes and rolling down my cheeks. No, he wasn’t busy with the song last night. He wasavoidingme.
After the conversation we had at band practice last night…and what he told me at the window…“When we’re apart, it feels like the world is incomplete.”After all the moments we shared…aftereverything…
I hear first period bell all the way from outside. But I just stand there with the tears endlessly dripping down my cheeks. It’s like I have an ocean behind my eyes. I don’t think I’ve cried this much since my mom died.
My head hurts. My stomach hurts. My legs hurt. Myhearthurts. I keep replaying his words over and over in my head, because I must have misunderstood him. There’s no way…
Somehow, I find myself inside the school building. The hallway is completely deserted, since all the kids have already left to class. I lean against the lockers and let the tears fall, splashing down my shirt and the book I have pressed against my chest.
I don’t know how long I stay like this, but some coherent part of my brain reminds me that I could get in trouble loitering out here. I pluck myself off the wall and enter the bathroom, splashing water on my face. But that’s useless because more tears come.
I whip out my phone and shoot off a text to Phoenix.In the bathroom. Need you ASAP.
Then my thumb hovers over Eric’s name. Every part of me urges me to send him a text. To convince him he made a huge mistake. He and I…aren’t we perfect for each other?
Again, I don’t know how long I just stand here in front of the mirror with tears continuing to rain down my cheeks. It feels like this is happening to someone else, like I’m watching a movie. This can’t be my reality. Itcan’tbe.
The door to the bathroom flings open and Phoenix rushes inside. She skids to a stop when she takes me in, her eyes widening to epic proportions. “Katie,” she gasps as she dashes over to me. “What happened?”
My throat is as dry as a desert. The only thing I can manage is a whimper.
“Oh my gosh.” She grabs me into her arms. “You’re scaring me.”
I pry myself out of her grip and cover my face. I thought I had an ocean before? The new batch of tears that explodes out of my eyes is ten oceans combined. It’s not only the fact that he doesn’t want to be with me. It’s the loss of hope and dreams. The hope that I could be happy. That I could open my heart to love. But I just got hit with a huge dose of reality. Because life sucks. Plain and simple. People you love are taken from you. When you try to move on, you just get slapped in the face. What’s the use of trying to be happy when it’ll just make me feel even more broken?
