Happy Endings

31. over

"I long for you, just a touch of your hand. You don't leave my mind. Lonely days, I'm feeling like a fool for dreaming."

☼

A week.

An entire week.

Probably the worst-best week of Vic Fuentes' life if someone were to ask him. But somehow, he managed to survive all the frenzy and crazy events and milestones that life had planned for him.

He officially made it through college a second time around, which was incredibly wild to think about, but he felt so proud of himself.

He officially finished his student-teaching internship.

He officially turned in all his finals.

He was officially free to follow the career path he so desperately wanted.

He was officially graduating—ceremony and all—in a couple of weeks and his family was planning a big celebration for it that he was looking forward to.

He was going to start applying for new jobs soon.

He was breaking up his two-and-a-half-year relationship in a couple of hours.

He couldn't stop thinking about someone who chose to ignore his entire existence...

Just the usual week. Pretty normal weekly activities for Vic Fuentes.

Everything was going so well for him but that Saturday morning he felt particularly shitty. He woke up too early, way too early for a weekend without alarms, instantly got consumed with thoughts of Kellin Quinn like that was his new normal now, and took a long time debating getting out of bed and carrying on with his day.

He didn't want to carry on with today.

Vic supposed making an appointment to break up with his long-term boyfriend wasn't exactly ideal, but he had to give himself a deadline, or else he'd never do it. He had to do it. Plus, it was the only time during the week that they could spare a couple of hours to see each other. That said everything. Either way, he was coming over and Vic would lay it all out on the table and say goodbye to the life he'd known for almost three years.

He was scared, and anxious, and felt like he could vomit any second, but it was the right thing to do. He finally understood there was no going forward with them.

Saying he never had real feelings for Matt would be a lie. Of course he had feelings for him. He loved him, or the idea of him at least. In the beginning, they were perfect for each other, chemistry blew through the roof, and the attraction was there. But now everything was different. Vic couldn't find any of those feelings anymore, he thought of Matt and his heart didn't race like it used to, he thought of Matt and he only felt dread.

It didn't make sense, but at the same time it did. They'd been on the verge of breaking up for so long, that Vic didn't know how they lasted until now. Maybe Vic was too scared of being alone after all and that's why it never happened. He always forgave and forgot, always put in the effort, always rekindled their romance one way or another, and always fixed Matt's mistakes as if they were his own. All because he thought that was love.

But being in love didn't justify any of it. He should've never forgiven him for cheating that one time and God knows how many other times, he should've never ignored Matt's foolish choices with other men and with substances and the bottle, he should've never accepted his unhealthy lifestyle and tried to be a part of it, and he should've never believed all the times he claimed he loved him. Matt never did. At all. Vic was finally seeing that clearly.