Shoplifting Hearts | ✓

15. coffee talks

it hadn't entirely registered in my mind that darwin was with riley. i had passed it off as something minor in comparison to his family issues. but as the days grew into weeks and weeks wove into months, i found myself wondering how they got together during every free second i could scoop out of my day (which, surprisingly, was a lot of time). i didn't have it in me to text him or even visit again because i felt so...unneeded. he didn't even try to contact me. that was, until one day when he came knocking at my door.

"what are you doing here at..." i yawn and glance over at the clock on my oven, ignoring the rapid pace of my beating heart, "one in the morning?"

"i couldn't sleep," he answers, as if it's the most obvious answer in the world.

i scowl, walking back into my apartment as a cue for him to do the same. "you honestly wake me up at the most ungodly hours."

he simply gives a shrug and sits on one of the stools in front of the kitchen counter while i brew up some coffee. "i owe you an explanation."

i pause, turning to look at him. his face is blank, eyes empty as he stares back. "for what?"

"i left you for two months without even telling you how riley and i became a couple. i'm a dick."

i snort and lean against the fridge, wincing as my back hits its cold surface. "that, you are."

"whatever." he huffs, propping his head on his hands. "i'll start from the first time we went to brim's peak. you told me to forgive my mother...but the thing is, i couldn't. not after she betrayed me like that, choosing that damn man over her own son." he stops a moment, looking up at me. i can only gaze back at him with compassion, at which he snaps his eyes away in disgust. i guess he still isn't comfortable with receiving pity.

"anyway, that day at school, riley came up to me and asked if i was alright. i thought about saying yes but, impulsively, i said 'no'. because i wasn't. i felt like shit." he has this weird look on his face, but all i'm wondering is why the hell didn't he tell me? i could've helped. why did it have to be her? "long story short, we skipped school and she took me all over town."

i raise my brows, surprised that it had all happened so quickly. but one constant thought keeps running through my mind, over and over again. did they go to brim's peak together? i almost feel like slapping myself, though, 'cause i bet he takes everyone up there. i bet he's taken the whole damn city.

"i felt really great that day...better than i'd felt in a while." my heart squeezes at the statement. "she told me i should sit with her at lunch the next day, as long as it was fine with you, of course. i told her you wouldn't mind. the days went on like that for a while before she asked me to be her boyfriend. she said she knew that i was with you and that it would be fine if i declined, but i just told her we broke up a week ago. everything worked out for the two of us."

the two of us. as in, darwin and riley. not darwin and i. 

i realize at that moment that i'm not breathing and quickly place my hands in front of me to steady my wavering body. he doesn't seem to notice and continues.

"but that idiot, harley, decided to punch me. i would've hit him too, but a teacher stepped in before i could."

he stares down hard at the granite countertop, one of the few nice things that came equipped with this flat. he looks at it as if it holds the answers to the entire world. i'd push him over and glare daggers at the thing if it did.

not being able to look at his face any longer, i turn to grab the coffee for him. but when i look back, he isn't there anymore.