Alright... let's do this.

____

A few weeks passed like that. Everyday I'd walk onto the school grounds with Lexi by my side, but no sight of Flynn anywhere.

The spare seat next to me in maths and bio grew cold.

His table across the way at lunch remained vacant.

I missed his smile.

I missed his eyes.

I missed his heart.

But life went on. One assignment after the next was handed out—our final internal tasks before the big external exams next term. Yet every time we went through a new assessment, I wondered how Flynn was coping with it all. Was he still doing his education from home? Would he stay on track? How was he going in maths?

Of course... I tried texting him these questions.

And in the first week, I called every day.

But the calls rang out.

The texts went unanswered.

And I heard nothing from him.

We were three weeks into the term when I finally saw him again. And the reunion... well, it was far from how I imagined it going.

"Callie," Miss Fischer whispered to me in the middle of bio in second session on Wednesday. "It's time for you to go."

Head whipping up from the paragraph I was reading in my textbook, I glanced over at the clock on the wall, eyes going wide.

"Shit," I hissed, quickly throwing my things together.

"Callie," Miss Fischer warned.

"I mean... Oh shoot?" I tried, blinking at her innocently.

Miss Fischer and I glanced at each other a couple of seconds until finally her face softened and she said, "Hurry along."

Things together, I bid Sara goodbye and walked outside to collect my bag. Everything in and zipped up, I headed over to the office to sign out. 

Mum was already inside waiting for me, paper signed to excuse me from school for the rest of the day.

"Have a good appointment, Callie," one of the office ladies said as I pulled open the student door into the reception area. After giving them a small thanks, I joined mum as we walked out of the office.

Though we didn't make it far when a familiar face came into view, bringing my feet to an immediate stop.

Eyes on the ground, bag over his back, non-school uniform shirt adorning his torso, Flynn was slowly making his way towards the office unaware of me standing right in front of him.

"Flynn," I immediately called out, unable to stop myself.

His head snapped up, and immediately our eyes met.

Though there was an unfamiliar vacancy in his eyes—one that I had never seen before. And one that I hated.

But as he recognised me, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly and his eyes softened.

"You've got ten minutes," mum whispered into my ear. "I'll be in the car."

With that, she took off past Flynn, leaving it up to me to close the distance between us.

"Hey," he mumbled, though he was looking anywhere but me.

Not knowing what to say or do, I did all I could. I took the final steps that separated us and threw my arms around him.

Flynn's body was rigid for a couple of beats of my heart before his arms gingerly came around me. 

But his hold was weak. 

Friendly, not loving. 

And he felt distant.

Pulling back, I glanced up at him to search his face. Though he took my slight retreat as an invitation to completely drop his hold on me and take a small step back so that I was no longer touching him.

"How... how are you?" I stupidly asked, knowing the answer because it was clear on his face.

Flynn gave me a small shrug, then looked to the ground.

"Have you... have you been getting my texts?" I then asked.

He nodded, but didn't open his mouth to speak.

"Why are you... are you coming back to school?"

"I'm just picking up my things... my teachers have been leaving work I can do at home and I pick it up once a week."

"Well um... I can't stay long but I just want to say—"

His head snapped up as his eyes met mine then he glanced behind him towards my mum's idling car. "Wait, why are you not in class?" he asked as he turned to look back at me.

"I have a doctor's appointment."

"A doctor's..." He momentarily glanced down towards my leg before meeting my eyes. "Are you okay? Is everything okay?"

I gave him a small nod, shocked he was worried about me with all that was going on. "I'm fine," I said softly, taking a small step towards him, closing the distance he had put between us before.

But whatever closure I thought we had achieved from his care for me disappeared as I came closer. Immediately, he took a step backwards. "Then why are you—"

"Just a checkup. I have to visit my prosthetist every now and then as I acclimatise to my leg."

"Oh... right," he said, eyes going vacant once more. "Sorry... I forgot."

Shaking my head, I reached a hand out and placed it on his arm. "You've got enough going on."

But then he shrugged my touch away, making my heart throb.

What can I do to help him? I wondered. "I have so many questions I want to ask you," I started, including where he was been, how is he, how are his studies... so on... but I was conscious that mum was waiting for me so I had to get to the more important parts first. "But I just want to say that you're welcome over any time to talk."

Flynn's brows furrowed as he looked up, finally meeting my gaze properly for the first time in this interaction. "I don't have time to talk, Callie."

"You don't..." I started to repeat him, but the words slowly sank in. "That's okay," I then said. "When you've got time. I'm here. Always here. Just a phone call—"

But he was shaking his head, cutting me off. "I've been meaning to talk to you about this but..." He trailed off as his eyes slowly lowered to the ground, mind seeming to drift off to somewhere that wasn't in the present.

"But you don't have time to talk?" I asked, hoping I could pull him out of whatever dark place he had just gone to.

My heart ached seeing him like this.

Long gone was my Flynn, it seemed.

His smiles, his laughs... they looked like they hadn't crossed his face all this time. Though that was understandable.

"Yeah, exactly that," he whispered. Hands coming to his bag straps as he adjusted its position on his shoulders. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before finally saying, "You need to... forget about me, Callie."

It took a few seconds for his words to sink in. 

But once they did, once my brain finally processed what he had said, my heart gave a deep, painful throb. 

Then my mind began to beg me to question for more.

Because surely I was misinterpreting this.

Surely he didn't mean— 

"What do you mean 'forget you'?"

"I mean... I don't have time for you anymore," he said, still not meeting my eyes, instead choosing to stare at my right shoulder as though it were easier.

It took a few moments to gain my composure, but, when I did, I then softened my tone as I said, "It's okay. I know you have bigger... concerns right now. I'll be here, waiting for you."

But he was shaking his head as I talked.

And he continued to shake his head for a few moments after.

Then finally, he met my eyes and said, "I don't want you to wait for me."

Pressing my lips together, I tried to fight the stinging sensation that was beginning to burn my eyes and heart.

Mum beeped her horn in the carpark, signalling my time was up.

But I couldn't leave yet.

I couldn't walk away from Flynn.

Not when he needed me right now.

Not when I needed him.

Not when we needed to figure this out before we apparently didn't exist anymore. 

"Too bad. I'm going to wait for you," I said, trying to sound sympathetic, but coming off a little too pleading.

Again, he shook his head. And while he may have been staring right back at me, I could see he wasn't there behind his midnight eyes. "I don't want you to. I don't have time for this... for a silly little relationship. So just forget me. Forget us. And... move onto the next guy."

"Move onto..." I said as, again, I tried to process the words that sounded like they were coming from one of my nightmares. "No," I then said, voice wavering. "I don't want to. You and I waited too long to—"

"Callie," he said a little louder this time, a little more cruelly. "It's over. You and me... we are over."

But this time I was shaking my head as he spoke. "You always told me to not push you away—"

"This is a little fucking different than your insecurities. A little more important."

"More..." I was beginning to feel like a parrot continuing to repeat what he said. But a part of me wanted to believe I had to be hearing this wrong.

At no point after finding out his Uncle Jimmy had passed did I think I'd lose Flynn.

At no point did I see us breaking up.

I just thought I had to wait until he was ready... and miss our relationship that had just started.

But now he wanted to—

"Well I don't give a shit what you want," I said. "There's two in this relationship so—"

"We don't have a relationship anymore, Callie. I mean, we had one for like a week but—"

"No. We've had one for four weeks now."

He barked an unamused laugh as he looked away, though those same clouds rolled back in over his face. "I have barely thought about you in the past three weeks... so if there has been something, it's been all in your head."

And that sliced through my heart in such a painful strike I could never see coming. Feeling like I was splitting in two, I was unable to stop the tears that finally burst out from my eyes.

I was torn between begging and lashing out.

His eyes flickered momentarily to me, face falling, eyes closing as he noticed what he had done. But as soon as his eyes opened again, he crossed his arms over his chest and looked over my shoulder once more. "Anyway... I guess it's good we ran into each other. I finally got to tell you that... All the best with everything, Callie."

And then he walked past me.

He didn't glance at me again.

He didn't call out to say he didn't mean those words.

And I couldn't bring myself to stop him.

I couldn't say anything.

Instead, I just felt each little shatter split through my heart as I felt my whole self crack and the waves of agony begin to wash in through the open seams.

...

Sorry?