Take What I Can Get | ✓

[3] To Break His Heart

When Kaylee got home, she had the widest grin drawn on her face.

Her feet were dancing along the steps of her staircase as she walked up to her room. She forgot the weight of her bag against her shoulder and how loudly her brother's music played in the hallway. All she could think of was Jonah and the words he said to her before he ran back home.

I like you, Kaylee Oh.

Kaylee giggled to herself as she pushed her door open, throwing her bag off her shoulder without a care in the world. Kaylee couldn't be bothered with anything at this moment, because a certain boy with ridiculously curly hair and goofy grins liked her — her; Kaylee Oh, the girl who hardly spoke out loud and was nothing more but plain and simple.

Jonah Geller liked her.

The more she thought about it, it made Kaylee twirl around her room, humming La Vie en Rose to herself. The more her heart raced and the more her smile grew. Her body was tired from school but she didn't want to stop. She collapsed on her bed, her breaths heavy and her smile facing the ceiling.

She squealed to herself and unconsciously raised both her hands up. Then she saw her fingers and remembered what she lacked. In a second, everything came crashing down as reality hit her once again in her chest, breaking her heart a little more than usual.

Because a certain boy with ridiculous curly hair and goofy grins liked her — her; Kaylee Oh, the girl who had the power to see the red string of fate — an invisible thread the gods tie to the pinky fingers of those fated to meet — and knew that Jonah was destined to be with someone else.

And because Kaylee didn't have that red string tied around her pinky finger, she was not, and will never be, destined to be with anyone.

Jonah Geller liked her. For now.

And that was more terrifying.

—

"How did it go?" Delilah asked Kaylee as she quicken her pace to be aligned with her's.

"How did what go?"

"You know what I mean." Delilah rolled her eyes. "That thing last Friday —"

Kaylee stopped her tracks and turned to Delilah; her eyes as wide as crystals. "Wait, you knew?"

"Of course I knew," Delilah said. "You know Jonah better than anyone else. He's bound to explode if he keeps his nerves all to himself. And since he couldn't tell you — obviously — I was the only option."

"Speaking of Jonah," Kaylee said as they stopped by her locker. She was too focused on their conversation that she was harshly shoving her books into her locker. "Where is he? I haven't seen him all day."

Not even this morning, when she opened the door and expected Jonah to be on the other side, stupidly smiling at her. Mornings were their thing.

"He's scared...and ashamed," Delilah said, although Kaylee could tell by the expression on her face that she regretted telling her. "After what happened last Friday, with his confession failing and all, he's afraid to face you. I keep telling him it's alright since you like him back — "

"Delilah!" Kaylee swung her locker shut. "You didn't actually tell him that. Did you?"

"Of course not!" Delilah replied. "But I did hint it to him though. A lot of times. He's just as oblivious as you are. You two are the perfect match."

Kaylee turned away and looked at the crowd of students behind her. If we were, she thought, then I would have been his.

"You still have two more minutes before the bell rings," her friend said, checking her watch. "You should go talk to him. You know where to find him."

Delilah patted her shoulder before walking away.

Kaylee's eyes scanned through the crowd. She knew what Jonah had first; every Monday morning, English. Kaylee also knew how he looked like every Monday morning — slumped, tired, and he wore mix-matched clothes. He would drag his feet loudly against the concrete floor and he would take ages to walk up to class. He would always stand by his locker, which was at the end of the hall, purposely slowing down his pace as he grabbed his books.

But she hesitated. Because she knew that walking up to him meant that she had to break his heart — and bit more of her own too.

Because he wasn't hers. And she wasn't his.

Because it was the right thing to do.

Kaylee took a deep breathe and dived into the crowd. She quickened her pace, afraid that if she slowed herself down, she'd end up turning around and running the opposite direction. And before she knew it, Kaylee was standing right next to Jonah the moment he slammed his locker door shut.

Jonah jumped. "Oh, Kaylee! Funny seeing you here this fine morning."

From the expression painted all over her best friend's face, Kaylee could tell that Jonah was very close to exploding. A part of her thought he was absolutely adorable. Another part wished she never had thought it.

"We need to talk."

"I'd rather not."

Please let me rip the bandage off quick. "About last Friday—"

"Oh my, is that a new shirt?" Jonah asked, his anxiousness rampant in his tone of voice.

"Jonah, don't change the topic—"

He pointed at Kaylee's plain white shirt, with a small bottle of coke stitched onto its pocket. "Well, it's looking Col-a?"

His joke was bad — the worst that she's ever heard — yet somehow Kaylee found herself laughing. "Oh my god, that was so bad."

The nervousness in Jonah began to slowly die down and he started to smile. "Was it?"

"Yeah," Kaylee wheezed. She looked up at Jonah, noticing the way he focused on her and the way his smile grew a little wider when their eyes met. And for a dangerous moment, Kaylee forgot why she was standing there. "That was the worst joke I've ever heard — God, it's a good thing I like you."

When the words slipped off Kaylee's mouth, Jonah's smile faded and he stared at her as if he couldn't believe what she was saying and couldn't decide whether to be utterly shocked or happy. "You do?"

Kaylee should have taken her words back. She should have shoved them back into her mouth and let them constrict in her throat because it was much less painful than admitting them and knowing that they would never be good enough.

She should have done it. She should have saved herself the heartbreak but— this was Jonah.

"Yeah." Kaylee smiled as she gripped the sling of her bag tightly. "Yeah. I do."