The Anatomy of a Broken Heart //Completed//

65. Santana

Dad hadn't even noticed I was gone. He was stuck in a stupor, Maria told me, asleep most of the day, and barely eating anything. Part of me was grateful he could sleep through the pain, and another part of me feared that one day he wouldn't wake up.

"How was the trip?" Maria asked from the floor of my bedroom and propped her legs on my bed. Her pink toes wiggled in the sunshine coming in through my window. I grabbed a pillow and lay on my belly, facing her.

"Kind of uneventful," I said, omitting one particular night that could negate the whole statement. "We came home a day early because there was a storm coming in."

"Oh, didn't you have fun?"

"It's just not really my scene." I shrugged and turned around to look at the ceiling. Paint chipped in the corner and there was a large crack in the plaster which ran from the center lightbulb all the way to the door. Had that always been there?

"Well, you're dating Caleb Rosethorn, so you're going to have to get used to it," she laughed.

I still hadn't come up with a way to tell Maria that what she thought Caleb and I had was over but I figured now was as good a time as any. There were already too many secrets between us, mostly my fault, and I didn't want to keep something else from her.

"About that," I began. My fingers fiddled with the necklace she had given me on my birthday, twining around the chain. I didn't dare look at her, but I could feel her eyes on me. "Caleb and I aren't really together anymore."
"What? Since when? You said nothing happened!" To my left, I saw her legs slide off the bed and then my sister's face was staring at me from above, contorted in worry.

"It's not a big deal. We both just realized we aren't a good fit and decided to call it off. We're still friends." Which was more than what we had ever imagined being.

"But you guys were so good together!" She sounded like I'd just taken away her favorite doll.

"We weren't really, Maria. We dated for a few weeks! Don't be so dramatic."

Something hit me hard in the belly and I felt the wind rush out of me. "I will be as dramatic as I want!" In her hands was the pillow she had just hit me with. "You guys were so cute and I could tell you really liked each other. I don't understand what happened."

"Nothing had to happen. We just figured out it wasn't worth the trouble. And you couldn't tell anything. You saw us together one time," I scoffed, thinking of that night at The Burger Place.

"We go to the same school, remember? I saw when you would hold hands and he'd make you blush or laugh. I saw the way he took care of you when you fell down the stairs. And I've seen the way he looks at you when you walk away."

I couldn't help myself. "What way is that?" I asked.

"Like he wants you to stay for just a minute longer, so he can memorize your face before you go."

"You're insane! You read too many teen fiction novels and they've turned your brain into some romantic mush." I sat up on the bed and turned away from her, pretending to check my phone, but I wasn't really looking at anything. Her words just kept ringing in my ears.

"It was so different than when you were with Jasper."

I whirled around to face her. "Why does everybody keep comparing him to Jasper? They're different people and—"

"And you still feel something for him don't you?"

"What?"

"That's why you and Caleb broke up. You can't let go of Jas."