Her mouth drops open. Her body tenses like I slapped her. Her eyes are glassy with unshed tears. We stare at each other in bitter silence. Neither of us moves, but she’s further away every second that ticks by. Just before the tears fall, she turns her back to me. She stalks across the room to her shoes and furiously throws them on.

“I can’t do this anymore,” she says to the air. To no one at all.

My mind is racing. My heart is breaking. I didn’t realize my life was a house of cards.

I’m dead silent as she grabs her things and heads for the door. I want her to turn around. I want her to reach out to me. I want her to stay.

She doesn’t.

This feels like the end. Like that stupid fucking egg, it’s shattered into so many pieces it can never be whole again. I knew it couldn’t be real. It wouldn’t last. That doesn’t make it hurt any less.

“Have a nice life, Elizabeth,” I call out as she slams the door behind her.

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Elizabeth

Back at my apartment, sitting in front of my computer, I should be entirely focused on Uforia, but I’m not. I can’t. Thoughts of Austin plague me, smothering me with their demands to be heard. Why do you miss him? Why can’t you stop thinking about him? Why do you want him here with you? When I stop and listen, a wave of satisfaction washes over me.

I’m in love with Austin Jacobs.

Realizing you’re in love is like remembering the name of a song that’s been stuck in your head forever, driving you crazy. You know you know it, but you just can’t name it. Can’t make it real. I finally have a name for the tune my heart has been singing for weeks. Suddenly everything makes sense. I love him. I want to be with him. Not because of the sex, but because he makes me feel like a woman. He makes the bad days livable and the good days unforgettable. He makes me feel like I can do anything, be anything. And now he’s gone.

Realization hits me harder than a slap across the face, sharp and painful. My heart breaks, because I know I’m too late. Tears trail down my cheeks at the memory of my last words to him.

I let myself forget what’s really important. I can’t do this anymore.

My head knows what happened, but my heart can’t understand. I close my eyes and all I see is his face, contorted in pain, disbelief and betrayal. My game forgotten entirely, I collapse into a blubbering heap on the floor, tears and snot streaming down my face.

How could you be such an idiot?