Love Happens

22. "I'm nobody, but you can call me Kirstin."

"Talk?" I asked, lowering my gaze to my shoes.

"Yeah," Cage said, sounding tired. Something ticked in me. What did I do?

"Um, alright. What do you wanna talk about?" I murmured.

"You know what I wanna talk about," Cage said, glaring at me.

"Actually, nope." I shrugged. "Just tell me."

"Okaaaaay," Cage said, with a slow, exaggerated eyeroll. "I need to get one thing clear. Whatever happened yesterday was a big mistake. Whatever I said in the stupid restaurant about me liking you and you being special and shit... I didn't mean it."

Ouch.

I literally felt like I'd been punched in the face. Wounded. For one second, it was like someone tore my body open and ripped my heart right out of my chest.

And what the heck happened to Cage?

I found myself raising my eyebrows. "Oh?"

He glanced back to where his friends were, distractedly. And at this time, I stared at him. This boy was Cage. His messy hair, sharp jawline and blue eyes were once features that I would have found attractive. But right now, they looked horribly ugly to me. His eyes weren't gorgeous anymore, they just looked dead, lifeless.

And that's what made me realize. Was Cage okay?

He looked back at my face, before saying harshly: "Yeah, so I just wanted to clear that out with you before we leave tomorrow. Oh, and Kit. Don't take it too personally, alright?"

I crossed my arms across my chest, staring at him. "Personally?"

"Yeah, cause I don't want any of your friends coming over and screaming at me for breaking your heart or shit."

I had to take a deep breath to steady myself. Cage was being an utter complete asshole. And all I wanted to do at this point was strangle him, then cry for endless hours, eating ice cream and watching The Notebook.

I just stared at him. There had to be a reason. Did I do something wrong? Why was he saying all of this so suddenly? There had to be a reason.

Cage stared back at me, suddenly looking a little less annoyed and more regretful. Well, too bad, you asshole, you screwed up.

"Well, I appreciate the fact that you decided to share your opinion with me," I finally said, slowly. "But, I don't care anymore.

I swirled around, marching away stiffly. Don't cry, Kit, I tell myself. Don't you effin cry.

And then, I heard him yell, "Kitteh, wait!"

I wanted to slap him. Was he seriously such an asshole? What was wrong with him? I thought... I thought we could have been something.

But no. All boys are the same. He probably realized he's still in love with Maya or something.

"What do you want?" I snapped, turning around to face him. He was closer than I wanted him to be, his hands running through his hair frustratedly, him muttering incohorent words under his breath.

"I'm really..." he paused, hesitating. "Nothing, just... Are you gonna be there at the party tonight?"

Party?

"You know, the farewell party both schools organized? It's gonna be right here on the beach, and everybody's coming. Are you?"

I hate him.

"No," I said, bluntly. "Why do you care? I mean nothing, remember?"

"Oh come on. Its a party. Tanner's your friend, right? Tanner's gonna be there," he said, rubbing his palms together, looking up at me desperately