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✅ Messages marked as read. Mason stared at his phone in mute shock. Every time he'd started to type something -
wait, what? or
what???? or
khaz, wait, don't or
khaz, no or
you LOVE me???? or
you're breaking up with me BECAUSE I'M WONDERFUL? or any of the other ten-million things that went through his head, more messages popped into his phone.
Khaz loved him. So he was dumping him.
He was dumped.
Over text.
Khaz had dropped him as quickly as he'd picked him up. Some distant part of Mason wondered, almost, if it almost made sense - their relationship, such as it was, had been a whirlwind from their very first meeting. Didn't it make sense that their ending would be chaotic too?
Their
ending.
That was when tears began to p***k at Mason's eyes. He turned his phone all the way off, and clenched his jaw, and tried not to cry, but then Madeline appeared at their bedroom door, eyes wide and searching.
"I--Khaz--we...we're not..."
He couldn't quite get the words out; they were stuck in his throat. He had tried to be a good boyfriend; he'd tried to be patient. He'd tried to be what Khaz seemed to need, what he said he wanted. He'd tried.
And Khaz was breaking up with him
because he was wonderful. What the heck sense did that make?
Madeline's arms wrapped around his shoulders and pulled him back onto his bed, and Mason was burying his face in her neck as the tears started to leak out of his eyes.
"It's not--it's not
f-fair, Mads, it's not--" he couldn't finish the sentence still, the words choking him; Madeline ran her fingers through his hair and made shushing noises, the same way she had when he skinned his knee or dropped his ice cream. Her presence was as comforting and as natural as anything in the world, but the ache in his heart...
Mason had never been dumped before.
Mason had never been
loved before - not by anyone other than his sister.
And now that was just...done? Gone? Would he even ever get to
see Khaz again?
Oh, God. The idea of seeing him - his heart clenched at the thought and Mason squeezed his eyes tighter, though it did nothing to stop his tears. It hurt almost as much as the idea of
never seeing him again.
Eventually, Mason fell asleep. It was the fitful and exhausted sleep of the emotionally drained, but Madeline stayed with him and soothed him whenever he started to make the little whimpering noises that meant a nightmare. He slept, Madeline didn't, and when he awoke, exhausted and hollow and confused and sad and sorry, he reached for his phone. Madeline had fallen asleep at some point around dawn, so he had move slowly to keep her from waking. She'd done enough.
Mason
6:24 AM
I hope that someday we can be in each other's lives again. Good luck with everything. If you ever need to talk, you know where to find me.
Goodbye for now, Khaz. Thanks for everything.
