He did not just say that. Ohmygod, he did not just say that.
"You… You what? Ohmygod, Zack –"
"God, Pigeon, call me Hero. You always call me Hero." He begs, grabbing her hands and staring right into her eyes.
She can see so many emotions in his eyes, in those lovely green eyes that she's been in love with from the start. It's shattering her heart into a million pieces because she can see the love in them, in the look he's giving her.
That look, oh, god that look. She's seen it so many times – when he looks at Maya, when Professor and Bumpkin look at each other, and she's even seen it in her own eyes, if people will take a candid picture of her (which they have, much to her annoyance) and she's staring at him.
He really does love her. Oh, no. What has she done?
"You can't. You're supposed to love Maya, and live happily ever after with her! You can't go rewriting the fairy tale now! You'd be the worst prince in the history of the world, just abandoning his princess like this!"
She's rambling, and she's shouting, and she isn't making any fricken sense whatsoever, she knows it very well. She's just trying to find any reason, any reason at all, for him to not love her. She can't break up him and Maya – she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she did.
"Pigeon, she's the one who messed up this 'fairy tale'," The quotations around the phrase, though not used physically, are obviously implied and she wants to roll her eyes at him, "Not me."
"What?" She asks stupidly, her hyperventilating having ceased. Oh, joy. What kind of story is he going to come up with? Doesn't he know that she's impervious to his lies?
"She dumped me today. Today. Over the phone." His voice tightens, and she can see that yeah, this hurt him. A lot.
He loved (s?) Maya. She knows it. So why is he coming over and proclaiming his love for her? Doesn't that make her the rebound?
"But – But why me? Why am I the rebound? When you know how I feel about you? Why would you do that to me?" She whimpers, her voice cracking.
What is this fuckery he's attempting to pull? Does he hate her or something? Why would he tell her such a lie, when he knows, he knows damn well, that she's in love with him?
And that if he tells her he loves her one more time; she'll probably believe it, too.
"Because, Pigeon, I did some thinking. Before Maya even called to dump me, I was already thinking. Actually, I'd been thinking about this for a while. But anyways, I've been thinking –"
"And look how well that train of thought seems to travel." She snorts, trying hard to change the subject. Even a fight would be better than this. Can't they go back to being friends? Sure, it hurt like hell, but it was better than whatever the fuck this is.
This hope that's she's let out.
"This is serious, Pigeon. I was thinking about you. About you, and how you make me feel, and why I feel that way, and what that means for me and just… Just about you in general." He breathes, and her heart races.
This is no story. This is real. He does love her.
She can't let him.
"No, Zack. Stop it. Stop it right now. You are going to let me walk out of your cabin, you're going to look through the girls on your phone, and you're going to forget me. Because I refuse to do this to you." She says firmly; firmly because she's trying not to cry, not because of anything else. Oh, god. She really doesn't want to cry. Pushing him away is, will always be, the hardest thing she's got to do.
