Page 5 of Rewriting the Story

“We’ll be in the car,” Grant says as he shoves them all away.

“Wait!” Paige shouts, even though she’s fifteen feet from us. She runs over to Amelia and hugs her one last time, almost knocking them both over. “Please call me when you land. And don’t forget about me while you’re across the pond.”

“I could never forget you, P. You know that.”

“Okay, sorry,” Paige says as she slips from Amelia’s hold. “I’ll be in the car.”

Oliver opens the passenger door for her, knowing she won’t be able to drive through her tears, before he shuts it and jogs to the driver's side.

The door shuts, and I look at my girlfriend's beautiful face, her eyes filled with tears.

“Don’t cry, Mills. It’s going to be fine.”

One tear falls from her eye before she speaks. “Henry, I can’t do this.”

“Yes, you can. You’re going to get on that plane, and you're—”

“You misunderstand me. I can’t get on that plane as your girlfriend.”

What?“Wait, wh—”

“I’m breaking up with you.”

Five words, and my heart shatters. Five fucking words is all it takes. I know how powerful words are, and those five strung together in succession are some of the most painful I’ve ever heard. She has to be joking, right? Amelia makes some weird jokes sometimes—her humor isn't for everyone. This seems cruel, too cruel for her to joke about.

“W-what?” I reach out to grab her hand, but she pulls it away, grabbing her suitcase instead. “Amelia,” I whisper, shocked at her sudden coldness.

“I don’t want you to be here waiting for me, Henry. I don’t want you to wait for me when I don’t know if I’ll ever be back here again. You needto move on and find someone who can love you, create a family with you, and that’s not me.”

I’ve never heard her so devoid of emotion before.

“What are you even saying right now?” I don't even recognize my own voice. “You're breaking up with me? You’re serious about this?”

“Yes. I can’t give you what you want, and it’s for the best—”

I take a step back from her, her words punching me in the chest, my body recoiling at her tone. “We can make this work. We talked about this, and you were on board with doing long distance. What happened? Why are you doing this to us?”

I need answers, but she stands there silently, not giving me any. Is she really going to throw all this away? Why? Is she scared about the long distance? There has to be something. As far as I’m concerned, this came out of left field, and I need answers if she’s serious.

My heart needs to know why she would do this to us—to me.

“I love you, Amelia. Iloveyou.”

“I warned you, Henry. I told you not to fall for me, and you did anyway.”

“Because it was so easy to fall, Ames. You made it so easy to love you,” I whisper. I’m staring into her eyes, trying to find any sign of life for us, but I can’t see anything.

I used to be able to read her like a book, like song lyrics spelled out across her forehead, but now, I don't see a thing. Her eyes are devoid of emotion, only tears filling them.

“Forget about me and find a girl who will love you, because I can't, Henry. I told you in the beginning that if you fell, it would only end badly. I’m sorry it came to this, but—”

“You don’t get to break my heart and then apologize, Amelia. You knew what you were doing when you agreed to make this work.” I shake my head, my emotions and thoughts running rampant. I’m normally acool headed person, but as she breaks us, I can’t think straight. “I love you,” I repeat, as if that will do anything.

“I don’t love you,” she says, but I know she’s lying. Her words say one thing, but her actions from the past year say otherwise. So she didn’t mean she loved me when we first said it to one another in that parking lot? She didn't love me when I gave her every piece of myself? She didn't love me when we passed our headphones between one another? What about when we traded our favorite books? What happened to every whisperedI love youbefore we fell asleep and woke up tangled with one another?

God, I feel sick.

“It’s over, Henry,” she says with finality before she looks down at her phone. “I have to go, or I’m going to miss my flight.”

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