Pieces [Wattpad's Editor's Choice]

57: a.t.o.m.s

Soundful Cloud's lights flicked on even while the sun set over the mountains and still illuminated the clear glass walls. Low-fi beats hummed through the radio, filling the air with House EDM beats. I'd definitely miss this place.

Fortunately, in Mom and Dad's attempt to bond with Phil, they asked him to show them around the city, leaving me time to break off for a little bit. I no longer wore my cap and gown, but kept my dress and heels on as I forced myself inside one minute before seven. Breathe. Inhale. Stop shaking.

Isaac made it clear in a text this wasn't a date. My heart still hammered otherwise.

"Where's your sister?" I asked as I approached him. He leaned forward on a counter wearing a black button-up, dress slacks, and his Vans.

"Oh hey." He spun around and half-smiled, his eyes dropping to my dress. Immediately, he met my eyes again. "She's with the rest of the fam. They're eating pizza a few blocks away."

"Mia seems nice."

"Oh, you'd love her. She loves meeting people." He nodded at the guy behind the counter brewing coffee. "Want anything?"

"I'm okay."

"I wanted to talk to about a few things." He chewed his bottom lip and studied me, maybe waiting for my reaction. "Let's go over there?"

I looked over at the couches where Arrow and I first sat, only this time, no one else occupied that space. The tables surrounding the room and lining the walls were empty, too. We had the perfect view of the city just through the wall in front of the couches. "Yeah, sure."

We moved to a table against the wall and sat down. I looked out the glass at the roads below us, the cars speeding by, the shadows stretching further as golden hour settled upon the earth. Isaac brought the chair across from me close to my right side so he sat only a few inches away.

Oh man.

His expression didn't change, he didn't suddenly kiss me (though I anticipated it), and he didn't pull out a rose from behind his back (which I also anticipated). Just...arms folded across the table, his messy hair sticking up, his dark eyes solemn.

The books always lied. Fiction, I tell ya.

"So...this is it," I said in a low voice. My airway suddenly felt small. "We're done."

"Stop." He shook his head. "We're not doing goodbyes right now."

"No, college is done." But so were we.

He pursed his lips. He knew exactly what I meant. "I wanted to say congratulations. You finished the semester without any distractions."

Did he think he was one of them? "Oh...congratulations to you, too." I hesitated. The way he looked at me...so much distance stood between us, so many bricks formed in the space before us. "Isaac, I'm sorry I ruined your last semester of college."

"You didn't...you didn't ruin my last semester of college, Frannie," he continued. "In fact, you breathed life into it, quite literally, and I feel like I relived my childhood during some moments. I enjoyed studying with you-the times we did-and you made me laugh. You challenged me to think outside the box. You let me open up to you, especially about my family. For that, I'm extremely grateful."

"Well, I didn't do the best job of making you feel important to me."

Sadness pooled in his beautifully dark eyes. And hurt. Lots of it.

"I love you Isaac, and I screwed up really bad. Over and over and over, I just kept...lying to myself about Arrow, assuming he was mine. I was so, so determined to make it work. My brain just fixates sometimes, and when I start something, I have to finish it. If I can't do what I say I'm gonna do, I feel like a failure, even if I know it's not good for me, even if I know I need to stop and start over, or just simply clear the slate. You were always there for me through everything, since day one when you went down to the Wacky Lab with me. You're brave and strong and you have this massive heart I was fortunate to be on the receiving end of, at least for a little bit, and I took it for granted. I was so focused on making Arrow love me just to say I was in control of my own experiment, and I treated you like shit. You came second-every time. And I'm sorry."