“You’re breaking up with me?”
It’s just not working out.” Brian was looking everywhere but at me. Come to think of it, he hadn’t been able to look at me since I walked into his dorm room. I should have known right away something was up. That and the fact that I had to seek him out rather than him seeking me out were both dead giveaways that I didn’t have him locked down as tightly as I had thought. I had gotten too confident and stopped paying attention to those kinds of things.
“What’s not working out? I thought we were in love.” OK, I thought he was in love. I have never been in love. And I mean never. But I wasn’t about to admit that out loud. It’s not part of the game.
“I don’t think we were.”
Ouch. This statement actually hurts so much it takes me by surprise. This isn’t supposed to hurt. Apparently I had been under a false impression of where our relationship was heading. Realizing this makes it easier than usual to drum up the tears. “How can you say that to me?”
“I mean, I don’t think I love you as much as you love me.”
OK, this is just embarrassing. On the one hand, it’s good to know I played my part well. On the other hand, I never want a guy to think I’m more into him than he’s into me. Especially since it’s never true. Sometimes I overcompensate. Apparently I made that mistake with Brian. I won’t make that mistake again.
Unfortunately, there’s not much I can do to rescue this situation. Either I insist I love him more than life itself and prove his point, or I admit I don’t really love him all that much, and no guy wants to hear that. Not out loud at least. And he’s being so direct that I don’t have a way to subtly imply I don’t feel as strongly about him as he feels about me.
Balls. Now I have to find some other sap and start all over.
Since I’ve never been one to try to salvage the unsalvageable, I do the only thing I can and run out of the room crying.
That’s when I stumble upon Owen in the hallway.
“Hey, Keira. What’s up?”
“Oh, hey Owen.” I let him see my tears while making a show of trying to hide them from him.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.” Rule #1: Always play hard to get, especially with information.
“It doesn’t look like nothing to me.”
I sigh heavily and say, “Brian just dumped me.” Trying to cry while looking like you’re trying not to cry is not as easy as you might think. Fortunately, I’ve spent a lot of time perfecting the art.
“Aw, come here.” He immediately envelopes me in a big bear hug, and I won’t lie, it felt kind of nice. His arms were big and strong and his whole body felt solid. And given how quickly he rushed to comfort me, he was a sucker for a damsel in distress.
Lucky me.