The Pages Within [BxB]

Heartbreak

I had been dreading this moment for days. The tension between Ava and me had grown so thick, it was choking us both. Conversations had dwindled down to clipped sentences, the silences between us stretching until they felt like entire lifetimes. We were living in separate worlds, even when we were only a few feet apart. And tonight, I knew it was all going to come crashing down.

Ava had called earlier, her voice flat and barely concealing the anger simmering beneath. "We need to talk." There was no more hiding, no more excuses. Everything I had been avoiding—everything I had been afraid to confront—was now looming over me, unavoidable. I owed her the truth, but the weight of it was already crushing me.

I sat on the edge of my bed, heart pounding in my chest, dread coiling tighter and tighter around me as I waited for the inevitable knock at the door. When it came, the sound echoed through the apartment, sending a sharp jolt through me. I forced myself to stand, each step feeling heavier than the last as I crossed the room and opened the door.

Ava stood there, arms crossed tightly over her chest, her face drawn and tired. Her usually bright eyes were clouded with hurt, frustration, and something darker—betrayal, maybe. She looked like she hadn't slept in days, the weight of whatever was hanging between us pulling her down.

"Hey," I said softly, stepping aside to let her in.

She walked in without a word, her body tense and closed off, like she was holding herself together by a thread. I shut the door behind her, the click of it closing feeling far too final. The silence in the room was suffocating, thick with the things we hadn't said to each other.

"David," she started after a long pause, her voice trembling with barely contained anger. "What the hell is going on?"

The knot in my throat tightened. This was it—the moment I had been dreading for so long. I took a breath, but it did nothing to ease the panic crawling up my spine. "I'm sorry, Ava," I began, my voice hoarse, every word feeling like it was scraping out of me. "I never wanted it to get this bad. But I haven't been honest with you. And you deserve the truth."

Her eyes flickered with confusion, a flash of fear, and something sharper that cut right through me. "What are you talking about?" she asked, her voice shaking. "What haven't you been honest about?"

I turned away, pacing the length of the room as I searched for the right words, but there were none. There was no good way to say what I had to say, no easy way to admit what I had been hiding. I ran a hand through my hair, trying to keep it together.

"I know you've heard the rumors," I said finally, my voice barely above a whisper. "The things people are saying about me... It's not just rumors, Ava. There's truth to it."

The room seemed to shrink around us. Ava's face twisted in confusion, her eyes narrowing as she tried to make sense of what I was saying. "Truth? What truth?"

I swallowed hard, feeling the words lodge in my throat. "It's about Jason," I said, and the moment his name slipped out, I felt the floor drop out from under me. "I've been confused. I didn't want to admit it to myself, and I didn't know how to tell you. But I've been feeling things for him, Ava. I don't know what to do with it. I didn't know how to handle it."

Her face went pale, her confusion morphing into something darker—something I could feel twisting between us like a knife. She took a step back, her fists clenching at her sides. "Jason?" she spat, her voice rising in pitch. "Who the hell is Jason?"

I opened my mouth to explain, but she wasn't done. "You've been pulling away from me because of him?" she demanded, her voice trembling with anger. "All this time... it's because of some guy?"