Story Excerpts

Excerpt 21

She shook her head, "No. I don't miss you." And although she didn't believe it herself, she said it with confidence.

"You don't?" He asked challengingly, not quite believing it himself either.

"Nope. I haven't for a while. I missed you a while back, but then I realized it's good you're gone. I realized I deserve better than YOU." She said with a matter-of-factly tone, emphasizing the last word. Although, this is the first time she'd said these words, this is the first time she thought them.

"Well then. I'm glad you moved on," he said with a chuckle, "I did quite a time ago, dear." He said, adding her old nickname onto the end of his sentence.

She cringed at the nickname, the nickname that brought back endless memories. But she quickly covered her uncomfortable state with a small shrug.
"Oh, it's good to hear you moved on too, it was quite a loss, losing me, wasn't it?" She asked, as her confidence rose.

He looked down at the floor at this, and he looked up with an expression she couldn't quite decipher. "Well, now that you say that, it might've been actually. I lost someone who would have never lost me. I lost someone who would've been there always, and someone that just wanted me to be happy. I lost you." He whispered his last sentence, and all the confidence he had coming into the conversation was nowhere to be found. "Wow. I'm so sorry. I-I just don't know what to say now."

She felt a tear prickling down her cheek, "Thank you." Was all she could muster up. "Ever since you left, I've been hoping to hear those words. I wanted to hear the words that you were the one that messed up, and not me. And though I'm grateful to hear those words, I would also like to say they had an expiration date. And they expired before you said them. It's too late, I moved on now." As she said the last sentence, she finally believed she had truly moved on, even if she was unsure just ten minutes ago.

"I see," He sighed. "I should get going now I suppose. See you another time? I missed you." He said, waving goodbye and walking out.

And just like that, the boy walked out heartbroken with realization he lost what could've been his everything, and the girl? She walked out with a weight lifted of her chest and comfort knowing she's free from the thoughts of the boy that haunted her since he left. Her heart had finally healed, just as the boy's had been broken.