Paper Hearts

37

|| Lucas ||

To be completely honest, I didn't expect her to keep her word. I always thought Victoria Hemmings would always eventually hear me out, no matter how stubborn she got, and I always thought I could resolve things between us.

But this was apparently unfixable. Whenever I was closer to her than she preferred, she would move. Whenever I tried to make eye contact, she would look away. Whenever I opened my mouth to say something to her, she would jump from wherever she was sitting and claim she had someplace to be.

It was frustrating, really. I couldn't help but feel as if it was my fault-I hadn't reacted how she wanted me to when she confessed her love for me, and that was what set this entire thing off. We were now back to square one, and perhaps even less so than that-she did say that, the second we parted ways at the airport, we would no longer be friends, much less together.

I was respectful about it, of course, but it's hard to be respectful about something that you hate doing with all of your heart. I hated having to stay away from her. I hated not being able to kiss her, or feel her hand in mine, or see the ways her eyes lit up whenever she talked about something she cared about. I hated being deprived from all of the things that I had been so used to doing, all of the things that had become staples in my everyday routine. I hated having only a few days left with her until I had to go home and pretend like none of it had happened.

That was what bothered me most. Here, in Florida, I was still Victoria's boyfriend. Sometimes, when her mother walked past, she would kiss my cheek and say something adorable, but the second Laurie disappeared, she would spring away from me as if electrocuted.

I wasn't sure how much longer I'd be able to handle it; it was driving me absolutely insane.

"One more day," she reminded me, sitting next to me on the couch the morning of the wedding. "Can you believe they're getting married today?"

"Nope," I replied, with raised brows. "It feels like it's been ages."

"I know! Four weeks just flew by."

"Tell me about it."

And then we fell back into silence, and she took a sip of her water, flicking through a magazine as tapped my foot absentmindedly, glancing around the room only to find that her gaze was directed at me.

"What?" I asked, in reference to the annoyed look on her face.

"Could you stop it?"

"Stop what?"

"Your foot noises."

Frowning, I glanced down at my foot, and forced it to a standstill. When I looked back up, she smiled.

"Thank you."

I nodded, saying under my breath, "Control freak."

She must have heard me, though, because immediately, she replied,

"Douchebag."

Startled by the intensity in her voice, I frowned at her, and she smiled.

"I mean that in the most endearing way possible."

I wasn't so sure anymore, but gave a weak laugh nevertheless.

Just then, I heard Victoria's mother step into the room, smiling as she worked her hair into a ponytail.

"Can you believe it?" she asked, and Victoria was immediately on her feet and hugging her.

"No," she breathed. "I'm so happy for you!"