Paper Hearts

02. r u s h e s

||i dedicate this chapter to Alanda, who never fails to inspire and amuse me.||

||This was not proof read, so beware of the mistakes. HAPPY LATE FOURTH OF JULY.||

🂱 🂱 🂱 🂱 🂱

The morning seemed normal compared to all the others. I had talked to Tomas earlier and he'd agreed to meet up with me at the mall in half an hour. It was our Saturday ritual. Every Saturday we'd always hang out, no matter what obstacle fell upon us.

I was getting ready, rummaging through my closet to find some sweatpants to match the t-shirt I had already picked out.

Once I'd found the perfect pair of sweats, I threw them on and practically ran down stairs. I walked into the kitchen, grabbing a piece of bacon and my hairbrush from the counter.

Almost everyone that was close to me knew that this was usually my morning routine everyday. Nothing was sane around my home unless majority of the household was asleep or my parents were at work.

Tomas always complained to me about how he and his younger brother were constantly bickering, ready to pick each other's eyeballs out. Every time, I'd laugh and say how lucky he was that he at least had a sibling to argue with. When my parents were gone, my house was quiet. It felt like there was this nonexistent spirit that would blow away and signs of joy when it was just I around here.

But I knew myself that I had to get used to it, because when I grow up and get my own apartment, this was how it was going to be when no one was around. Quiet.

It was as if on cue, the doorbell rang. I walk to open my door and there, leaning against the frame of the door, was my best friend. Well, my guy best friend.

"Hey," he said. His eyes flickered behind me. "Are your parents home?"

"No, they left early in the morning for some business trip." I reached out and grabbed the keys to my house from the side table.

"Really?" Tomas had a look of disbelief, which wasn't a surprise. He'd always be shocked when they'd leave me extremely early in the morning. "Where'd they go this time?"

I picked at my fingernails. "Tom," I placed my free hand on his shoulder. "You don't need to worry every time they leave me home. I'm used to it, and trust me when I tell you that. They'll be back in a day or two, like usual."

Tomas opens his mouth, about to interject, but suddenly thinks otherwise when I raise a brow at him. "Fine, fine." He grumbles. He spins his keys around his finger and links him arm around mine. "Shall we?" I laugh and allow him to lead the way.

"Your car or mine?" Usually, we traveled everywhere in his car - not that he cared too much about his – I just loved his car with an unexplained infatuation that Tomas was probably jealous of from time to time.

"Yours." He immediately answered, turning us in the direction of my Toyota.

"Yours it is," I smile at the frown on his face and change our direction. "Sorry, dude. But you know how much I adore your car."

"Yeah, you love it more than me." He mutters, releasing his hold on me.

I stop and glare at Tomas. He knew more things about me than my own parents, which said a lot since I wasn't one to tell someone my life story – or even a part of it.

And one of the major pieces of information he knew about me, Tomas just practically threw it out the window. "Tomas," I catch up to him and wrench the car keys from his possession. "You know that besides my parents, I only love one other person. Because I'm only capable of loving one thing – or person – at a time." My heart just didn't have enough strength to love many people, because I had to face it at one point in my life. I was weak. If someone were to break my heart or decide they didn't need me anymore, I wouldn't be able to handle it. I would become a walking corpse.