Adorable

Chapter 10 | Goodbye

"Oh, so now I'm acting awful?"

"What on earth do you mean?" Then, as an afterthought, she stood up and walked out of the room into the hallway, motioning him to follow. He did, and continued when they were alone.

"So it's not awful to sort-of break up with your boyfriend and immediately start kissing his best friend, but it is awful to be upset about it?"

Sophie hesitated. He had a point. "Look, Fitz..." she trailed off.

"No, you look. We need to talk more about this, but not here. I'll come to Havenfield after school." His voice was final, leaving no room for debate. Sophie considered arguing, but she knew that they did need to talk. So they both went back into the lunchroom, saying nothing except to make friendly small talk. They didn't say a word to each other.

*****

As much as Sophie was dreading her conversation with Fitz, it had to happen at some point. Might as well be now. She waited outside for him, sitting cross-legged under the Panakes tree, thinking about her day. She had told Keefe about their meeting. He had asked if she wanted him there, but Sophie decided it was better if it was just the two of them. Having Keefe there would probably upset him more. Then Keefe had given her a kiss, right in front of Fitz. Sophie enjoyed the kiss, sure, but it was hard to really feel it with Fitz staring at them hatefully. So she broke away quickly and awkwardly, saying goodbye and leaping home.

Finally, Fitz appeared at the far end of the driveway and walked straight towards her, like he had known where she would be. He probably had. The Panakes tree was her favorite spot.

Sophie stood up to meet him. "Hi, Fitz."

He ignored her and sat down against the trunk of Calla's tree. He was silent for a long moment as Sophie sat down awkwardly a few feet away from him. He stared at her for several moments, then said abruptly,

"I can't trust you. And I'm pretty sure you won't trust me. So where do you think that leaves us?" He continued without giving her a chance to answer. "If things keep going the way they are... we won't be able to be Cognates anymore. A broken relationship is pretty much the end of any Cognate connection."

Sophie stared blankly. "We can't be Cognates anymore?" She knew this should've occurred to her, but she hadn't wanted to think about it.

"No. You do remember how our exercises work, right? Trusting each other. Telling each other secrets. Keeping secrets. 'Staring into each others' eyes.' You really think you can do that with your e- with me? You'd have to keep a lot of things secret from Keefe that I would know."

Sophie took a deep breath. "So... what do you want to do?"

"I won't bother answering that question. You know very well what I want- the same things you used to want too. But that's over now, and I'm ready to move on. I can't control what you do, but I can make my own decision. And I'm deciding right now that we're over."

The words hurt Sophie more than she expected them to. She opened her mouth, but he continued.

"I'm not going to let this hurt me. I'm moving on like we never happened, and you should do the same. I think you already have, but in case you're holding onto something, let it go. And when you decide you want me back, I won't be there. I'll be doing something I should've been doing all along: living my own life. So... we're over. This is goodbye. For good." And he stood up. Sophie did too. But then he stepped towards her, leaning in before she could respond and kissing her on the lips.

For a moment, Sophie froze. She felt her face go hot, then cold as ice. She was paralized as Fitz kissed her, until he pulled away.

"I'm sorry. For you. For me, too. I had to do that at least once. So... this is goodbye." and he raised a crystal to the light, leaping away.