Cassia had been gone for a few minutes and Garrett still hadn't said anything. "Garrett, I'm sorry." I blurt out, not able to deal with the silence any longer.
He looks up from his phone, eyes lingering on me but not saying anything.
I take the invitation to keep speaking. "I didn't want to break your heart but I couldn't make mine -my heart, love something it doesn't. And I know that hurts like hell."
"You got that right." He says softly. "You know, I was just in pain. But feeling like shit doesn't give me the right to act like one." He laughs to himself. "That took me six episodes of Love, Victor and two tubs of ice cream to realize." It's nice to see him smile.
"Damn, who broke up with you?" I say as a joke. My brain spins, realizing how mean I must sound.
"You, Max." You broke up with me and we weren't even together." He laughs. "I had such odd expectations for you. I guess all these movies made me think that my unrequited love would be returned. Also, I should have seen the signs. You fell hard."
I shake my head at him. "Fell in love, that's for sure."
"Also, I don't know how the heck I thought you were gay."
"I guess your 'gaydar' is a little off." I joke.
"I'm not Elle Woods."
"That you aren't." The bell of the door rings, causing both of us to look at Cassia and Jake walking in.
"Do you want to be friends?" We hear faintly.
Jake pauses before responding. "I can't. I love you enough to let you go but that's the thing: I still love you. It's hard for me to watch you and I don't think I can even deal with friendship. I -I need to think about myself here."
I'm almost happy to hear that he won't be around Cassia anymore and the feeling makes a hole in my stomach. I gulp looking at both of them. There's the guilt Cassia was talking about.
Cassia responds with tears behind her eyes.
"Okay. I'll be heading out." He says to all of us. "Cassia, call if you need anything."
I watch Cassia come to sit beside us and grab her hand. God, she's a little broken. She mutters something under her breath causing me to look at her. "You okay?"
"Yeah." She nods. "Yeah, I'm okay." She repeats. "Do you want me to leave while you talk?"
I keep my mouth shut and look at Garrett. He finally looks at Cassia and something seems to click. "No, please. You deserve an apology. "
