“Gabe, stop,” Lena said behind him.
Another man emerged from behind Gus, carrying a large cardboard box. I stared him down as Lena tried to pass right by me.
I caught her by the arm. “What the hell are you doing?” Instinctively, I reached for the suitcase in her other hand, snatching it from her grasp.
“I’m leaving.” She yanked her arm from me, and it felt like she ripped my heart out of my chest.
I remembered the pain of betrayal from my first girlfriend. That moment in the driveway, staring at Lena as she callously informed me that she was moving back to California, the pain was unlike any other.
“Why?” I asked, hating the weakness in my voice.
She stared down at the ground.
“Look at me!” I yelled, feeling so angry that my teeth chattered. My fists clenched. My entire life felt as if someone threw it up in the air with little care for how everything landed.
“Don’t make a scene,” she said, keeping her voice low. “Please.”
“Fuck a scene. Why the fuck did you leave me a note saying you were leaving?”
“Hey, buddy, calm down,” Gus said, grabbing my shoulder.
“Get the fuck off of me before I break your damn face,” I growled.
“Stop it, Gabriel,” Lena scolded.
I turned back to face her, my heart beating wildly in my chest. It felt like the ground was pulled out from underneath me.
“I didn’t want to do it this way,” she said.
“What? Look me in my face as you tore my heart out?”
She looked away.
“Answer me,” I yelled. I felt another guy come up behind me and place his hand on my shoulder. I shook it off. “Don’t touch me,” I said through gritted teeth, but kept piercing Lena with my gaze.
“It’s over, okay, Gabe? My album is almost done, and I need to get back to my real life.”
When I’d lost my mother I knew my world would be turned upside down. She was dying. But the decision wasn’t hers. She’d wanted to live. This hurt worse because Lena was making this choice to leave Harlington. To leave me after I’d opened up to her.
I allowed her not only into my home but into my heart. I’d shared things with her that no one else knew about me.
“You used me,” I said, finally. “You used me to write your fucking album, and now you’re walking away.”
She straightened her back and lifted her chin to look at me. “There’s no way you could’ve thought this was going to work out long-term. We’re from two different worlds. I have a career, a life to get back to in LA. You’re the one who offered to be my muse,” she reminded me. “Well, your job is done.”
She abruptly turned. Her back facing me is what sent me over the edge.
“Argh,” I yelled and grunted as I tossed the suitcase in my hand as hard as I could. It bounced against the moving truck, splitting open. The contents of the suitcase, clothes, spilled out onto the dirt and gravel.
“Fuck,” Gus yelled. “That’s going to leave a dent.” He sounded angry, but I didn’t bother looking at him.
I started for Lena, who was by her rental car.
“No,” the other guy with Gus said, grabbing me again.
I shook him off but didn’t continue after Lena as she stopped by her car.
“You’re selfish and a liar!” I yelled at Lena.
