Page 58 of Feral Touch
“They weren't expensive,” I reassured him. “I got them from the school. They're always handing out stuff like that.”
Ren let out a strangled, choking sound. His face had gone pale, his hands trembling slightly. I could see the tickets shaking slightly in his hands.
“If— if you don't like it, we don't have to go,” I said, confused and growing worried. Did he not like the present?
His face had clouded over, completely unreadable. His eyes went dark, almost vacant, as if his thoughts were a million miles away.
“Ren?” I asked, nervous. Why was he so upset?
He seemed to come back to himself with a start, crushing the tickets in his fist. “I can't go. This was a bad idea.” His voice was dull, almost lifeless.
Hurt gripped my heart like a vice, squeezing until I couldn't breathe. “Do you not like concerts?” I asked tentatively.
He looked away from me to stare blankly at the opposite side of the apartment.
“Ren, what's wrong?” I was really concerned now.
He seemed to swallow hard and flicked his eyes back at me. The blank expression on his face was starting to bleed away as pain took its place.
“I can't—” he cut himself off roughly, then squeezed his eyes shut, his mouth twisting in something like anger. He exhaled heavily, almost a growl. His eyes snapped open, staring over my head at nothing, but with a new hostility, narrowed and glaring. “Just forget about this.”
My breath stuttered, worry and fear welling up inside me. “About what?”
“This!” He gestured wildly. “Us. Just forget it. It was a bad idea,” he repeated.
Something inside in my chest cracked open as my heart splintered into a thousand pieces. How could he be saying this?Whywas he saying this? “I don't understand…”
He growled low in his chest and whirled around, storming off toward the apartment door. He grabbed the handle with a shaking fist and flung it open. He was still glaring, but he wasn't looking at me. He was avoiding my eyes.
“Just forget about us.”
Ren walked out the door and slammed it behind him.
I was stunned and heartbroken.
I had no idea what I'd done wrong, no idea what had made Ren call everything off. He'd been so upset, so angry, that he stormed out of the apartment and left me there alone feeling like someone had taken a sledgehammer to my chest.
I didn't understand it. I didn't understand any of it.
I waited in Ren's apartment, wondering if he'd come back. I sent him a text, but got no response. I called him, but he didn’t pick up.
What had I done wrong?
After half an hour I couldn't wait any longer. The silence of his apartment was killing me. I'd slowly gathered my things, put on my jacket and took my cello out of his closet.
The tickets I'd bought him lay crumpled on the floor, exactly where they landed when they'd fallen out of his hand.
Despite the ache in my chest, I was too shocked for tears. I was almost having a hard time believing it.
Had that really just happened?
Had Ren broken up with me?
I left his key on the kitchen table and dragged my cello on the two buses and subway ride it took me to get home. No chauffeur for me anymore.
When I opened the front door, Nat and Jen immediately paused the movie they were watching.
“What's wrong?” Nat asked as she got up and rushed over to me. “What happened? Why are you crying?”
