Break-up Blues [n.h. short story]

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"Sometimes a little heartbreak is a lesson, and the best

thing to do is just learn the lesson."

-- Jon Voight

BREAK-UP BLUES

I BLINKED MORE THAN ONCE, THE GEARS in my head turning while I tried to understand what was happening. All I could focus on was his blue eyes and how this could happen.

"I... Don't... Understand," the words came out choked and it was then that I felt it; the emotion in my throat nearly strangling me, the sting in my eyes and the sudden ache in my heart.

I searched his blue eyes for anything that meant he was joking, that he really didn't mean this. But, he couldn't meet my gaze. His eyes were down, focusing in on his feet, and his hands were shoved into the pockets of his jeans. There was something in the way he frowned that made my heart stumble.

He really meant this.

"Niall," I choked out his name. "Why? Tell me, please, I don't understand how you could..."

His eyes flew to mine the moment the words were out of his mouth, his blue eyes ablaze with anger. The sudden anger on his face, directed towards me, shocked me so much I stumbled back.

"How could I? How could you? I have done nothing but dote on you and be the best boyfriend I could be because that's what you deserved. Rae, the last straw was pulled and I don't think I can be happy in this relationship anymore."

My head was spinning with confusion as I tried to make sense of what was going on and understand what he was saying. What had I done that made Niall so unhappy, so hurt, that he'd break up with me? I didn't understand anything at all.

"Niall, please, tell me what-"

"No," he cut me off.

And I stopped speaking altogether.

It wasn't because he said no, it was the expression on his face that made me stop speaking.

He looked so broken. Those blue eyes I once loved because they nearly sparkled with happiness held so much pain in them--pain that I was causing. His eyes were glossy, tears on the verge of spilling over his pale cheeks. Never before had I seen Niall in such a state.

My lips were glued shut after that, my limbs frozen by my sides.

"Raevyn," he called me by my full name and I flinched. He even sounded broken. "I can't... I can't do this anymore, okay? Please don't contact me. I'm going back to Ireland on Monday permanently, keep the apartment if you want. I-I gotta go. Bye."

Niall pushed past me, his shoulder barely brushing mine. I didn't dare turn around and watch his retreating back. I knew that if I did, I would cry, and that's the last thing I wanted to do right now. Instead, I let him walk away, not moving until my feet began to ache. Then, I slowly made my way back to the apartment Niall and I used to share.

It was empty.

By the time I walked into the apartment, all of his things were gone, leaving me very few things with exception to the furniture and dishes. I bit down on my bottom lip as I looked across the apartment. So many good memories were implanted in this apartment. Ones of Niall and I baking, kissing, watching movies on the couch, watching him play his video games, listening to him sing and play on his acoustic guitar...

But there were also bad memories, too. Like the time Niall and I fought so badly I ended up sleeping on the couch for two nights, neither of us talking to the other. The screaming matches we've had over the past few months. The nights where things would end up shattered on the floor.