Cupid's Two Sides

Chapter 2- the Other

As the year went on, Caine lost interest in me, choosing instead to pursue a girl who I just knew would shatter him. We became best friends, him and I, and I kept telling him that he would only get hurt, but he was blind.

"I think I'm in love with her," he confessed to me one day, "but she never seems to give me a second glance." He was twisting his shirt anxiously, and when he looked up, the pain in his eyes almost broke my heart.

You can't have Caine, he's your best friend, I reminded myself sternly. I forced myself to look him in the eyes and I tried to feel nothing as I spoke.

"One day," I said softly, "she's going to see you the way you deserve to be seen- the best thing to ever happen to her."

He looked away, sighing, telling me that he'd never felt this way about anyone before, and that's when my heart broke for real. His voice cracked as he tried not to cry, and I couldn't even look him in the eye like the monster that I am.

"She's going to come to her senses, you'll see," I told him with a bravado I didn't feel.

A few months later, after Christmas had passed and a new semester had begun, I showed up to school and she was cuddled into him, all smiles and laughter. Caine looked up at me, and the expression on his face was one of glee.

I forced a smile on my face and left, claiming that I had to do something. I actually went to the bathroom and pretended like I wasn't crying.

Madison was just so much better than me, I guess. The mystery violinist had no place in his life anymore except that of advisor.

I pretended to move on, dating other people, but it never felt right. I always had to force myself to look away and pretend to be happy for them, because they were the perfect couple... Or so it seemed.

Madison turned out to be ruthless and manipulating, just using Caine for her own personal gain. She emotionally abused him, and after a five month relationship, left him broken in the dust. He couldn't trust anybody, not after what she did to him.

I helped to put the pieces back together, helped him on his way to heal, and reminded myself that he was just my friend and that's all he could ever be to me. Just a friend.

"Thanks for helping me get over her," he told me quietly one day as we were walking in the hallway. "I never thought she would have broken me this badly, and I'm trying to heal, I really am, but am I worth the effort of fixing?"

Tears filled my eyes as I looked at him. He was so sad and so careworn, so damaged.

"You're worth all that effort and more," I told him, my voice cracking from the effort it took me not to cry. I drew him into a hug, hoping to transfer all the words I could never say through that one little action.