First Kiss

Chapter 3

Keri
The same day
During lunch, I can tell that something is upsetting Eric. I'm immediately offended that he didn't just talk to me about it. We've been dating since the summer before ninth grade and communication has never been an issue. Granted, the reason is because we're both brutally honest. I wait to talk about it until after school. We hold hands as we walk together in the hallway.
"Babe?" I say.
"Yeah?"
"Is something bothering you?" I ask directly.
He sighs.
"Are we doing this here?" He asks with irritation.
"Doing what? I just asked if you were upset. It looks like you are."
"You know what."
I look at him.
"What?"
"Breaking up."
I pull my hand away and stare at him in disbelief. I feel the tears coming but I hold back.
"What?" I ask sadly.
He sighs for the second time.
"Do you remember lunchtime when Adam and Desiree were talking about boys?"
"Yeah," I say with confusion.
"I saw their excitement and realized that I don't feel that way about you anymore."
I blink away tears, not even trying to fight it anymore.
"How long have you felt this way?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?" I ask angrily.
"I don't. It just dawned on me when they were talking. The whole thing about loving you but not being in love with you."
"Wow. That makes a difference."
"I'm sorry."
"No you're not. You're relieved. Don't try to spare my feelings now."
"I was trying to be gentle but I can see that you want to be bitter."
"You just broke up with me. I have the right to be bitter."
"Okay. Well, I'm going to go."
"Don't let the door hit you."
I manage to hold off on breaking down until I'm alone in my room. I sob into my pillow like I've seen people do in the movies. I figured that would never be me because my relationship was solid. A few minutes later, there's a knock on the door.
"Keri bear?" Teri calls.
I sit up and wipe my eyes. Leave it to my older sister to know exactly when I need her the most.
"Come in," I say hoarsely.
She opens the door and enters the room. I notice the bowl of Neapolitan ice cream in her hands.
"What's with the ice cream?"
"I heard you crying from the other room. I figured that there's only one reason for a teen girl to cry like that. So, I got you some breakup food."
I smile a little.
"Thanks."
I take the bowl from her and spoon a small scoop into my mouth. I savor it since I haven't had ice cream in a while.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She asks softly.
"Not yet."
She nods. She stands up from her place on the bed. I hadn't even noticed that she had been sitting down.
"Can you stay for a moment?" I ask.
"Oh. Sure," she says.
I can hear the surprise in her voice. I don't blame her. I can't remember the last time that I needed her for support. She sits back down beside me. I rest my head on her shoulder. She takes the bowl and sets it on the bedside table to move it out of the way. She wraps her right arm around me comfortingly. She whispers that it'll be okay. I know she's right but that's the last thing people want to hear during a breakup. To distract myself, I point out the obvious.
"You called me Keri bear. You haven't done that in forever."
"Well, we haven't watched Care Bears in forever. I still figured that it was a good time to use it."
"I kind of missed it."
"I miss saying it. It isn't exactly what you would call your sister when she's a teenager."
"I don't care if you do. It's not like anyone else is going to call me anything for a while."
"That's not true. Amelia is still going to call you her best friend."
"You know what I mean."
"Yeah but it doesn't matter. The point is that she's going to be there for you even if he isn't."
"You're right. I haven't even told her about it yet."
"I'll leave you to it then."
I nod. She stands up for the second time and this time, I let her leave.
"Hey, Teri?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
"Anytime."
I smile and grab the bowl of ice cream. I decide to finish it since it's starting to look more like soup. It still tastes good so I don't really care. Afterwards, I feel thirsty so I get some water. I drink two full glasses which hopefully rehydrated my body after all the crying. I return to my room and pull out my phone to call Amy. To my surprise, she doesn't pick up on the first ring as she usually would. It continues to ring until it finally goes to voicemail. She's never let that happen before. I decide to just wait until tomorrow to tell her.