Savannah made it clear that she considered him a burden. I was stupid for not breaking up with her back then.
“Alex, it’s not about Savannah. I promise you that.” I tell him, and it’s the god’s honest truth. She hasn’t even crossed my mind.
He holds my gaze a second longer, searching my face like he’s trying to read my damn mind. Finally, his shoulders drop. “Good,” he says, looking away, scuffing his sneaker on the kitchen tile. “Because Iris is better.”
“I know she is.”
“And you love her,” Alex adds, still in that accusing tone.
“I do.”
He doesn’t say anything at first, picking at the black nail polish on his fingers. “Then why are you fighting? Just apologize.”
“It’s complicated, bud. Sometimes loving somebody isn’t enough. There’s stuff going on you don’t know about, and it ain’t my place to tell you.”
His brows furrow. “Does she know you’re an idiot?”
“Yeah, I think she knows, especially after the other night.”
I frown down at the floor until Alex sighs, stopping in front of me. When I look up, he gives me a small smile. “She’ll forgive you. She’d miss me too much if she didn’t.”
That drags a laugh from me, even if it’s twinged with the heartache I can’t shake.
I haven’t seen her all morning.
She wasn’t waiting for me like she usually does when she gets here before me, but I saw her car in the staff parking lot, so at least I know she’s here.
The wait for lunch feels like it drags on for an eternity. By the time the bell rings and I can go through the line, I’m grabbing random shit, filling my tray with whatever I can get to the fastest.
When I make it to the teacher’s lounge, I spot her instantly.
She’s sitting at the end of the long table, her hair loose over her shoulders, staring down at a salad, dragging her fork through it. Layla’s across from her, saying something that makes the corner of her mouth tug up.
God, she’s beautiful.
Almost two weeks without seeing her, I almost forgot. How am I supposed to think clearly when she looks like that?
I square my shoulders, take a deep breath, and walk over like nothing’s wrong, and my heart didn’t crack at the sight of her.
“Hey.” I sit down beside her in my usual chair. She startles, looking up at me and then quickly stares back down at her food, angling her body away from me enough that we’re not in any danger of touching.
Layla looks between us. “Um. You guys good?”
Iris stabs at a tomato. “We broke up.”
“What? No, we didn’t,” I challenge, the crack spreading with every word.
“Yes, we did,” she says, matter of fact, already deciding how this ends without giving me a say. I want to argue, to fight for her. But I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here.
I just wish she wouldn’t say it like that.
Sofinal.
Layla turns toward me with a glare. “What did you do?”
I freeze in my chair because what do I even say? I don’t understand all this? Every time I think about it, my mind goes blank? I shrug, looking down at my cafeteria pizza that’s lost all of its appeal.
Layla ignores me, taking Iris’ hand, “You okay, hon?”
