Our Hearts Begin to Crumble.

Mia was crying and she was too hysterical for me to understand what exactly she was saying. Her shoulders were shaking and she was blubbering out fragments of worlds.

“What happened?” I asked her frantically. “Who died? What’s wrong?”

She kept on muttering words like “stupid anorexic bitch” and “he’s not worth it”. I was trying to calm her down enough so I would know what exactly she was talking about. I couldn’t cheer her up if I didn’t understand what she was freaking the fuck out about.

“John--,” she let out a strangled breath, uttering his name before letting her entire body convulse again. It was too early in the morning for this.

“What about John? Did something happen? Did you guys get into a fight?”

She nodded her head, wiping away some of her tears with the back of her hand. “He-he b-broke up-p with m-me.”

“What? Why?”

My eyes were wide as I looked at her. John broke up with her? That was something I wasn’t expected. We had only been here for a day, after all. I didn’t think this much could happen in a day.

“Some chick- he said- can’t believe it’s over--,” she was not forming coherent sentences.

I grazed my hand down her back, trying to do my best at comforting her. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know the entire situation. I just knew that John was making my sister upset like his best friend had made me and I wasn’t very happy about that.

So I decided to do the irrational thing. I decided to do the stupid, immature Molly thing.

I decided to go over there and have a talk with him. Because I wasn’t thinking.

I said it was because I wanted to get to the bottom of this situation. I said it was because I hated seeing Mia upset like that.

I lied.

In reality, I think I wanted something exciting to happen. I also wanted to know if Mia was lying, because I his this stinking suspicion that it was Mia’s fault. I loved my sister to death - I could never deny that - but I knew how she was in relationships. She always ended up doing something stupid. I also knew John, and he was a smart, level headed guy. He wouldn’t have broken up with her unless he had a legitimate reason, and it had to be a really good one at that. John took heart break seriously, so I was guessing that if he knew Mia was going to react the way she was with the break up, he had a good reason for inflicting such pain.

Or at least, that’s what I said my reasoning was.

I was amazed that I still remembered where John lived. The streets of Arizona felt foreign in that déjà vu kind of way. It was like I remembered them, but as if I had once dreamt about them, not walked them only twelve months ago.

John’s house looked exactly the same. Everything was exactly the same.

Maybe I was anxious. Maybe I was angry. I didn’t know.

What I did know is that John wasn’t the one that answered the door. John wasn’t the one that greeted me with that shocked face, his hair hanging in his face and his eyes wide. John wasn’t the one standing in front of me as I fumed.

“Is John here?” I asked. I got over the initial shock of seeing him again, and refused to let my eyes wander. I was here for a purpose. I was not here to talk to Kennedy.

“Um, no.” Kennedy was looking at me with confused eyes, like I had just grown a second head or wasn’t wearing a shirt or something. (Not that I think he would have protested to the latter, but whatever).

“Do you know where he is?”

“Out.”

No shit, right?

“Well you’re a lot of help. Do you know when he’s getting back?”

“No.”

“Do you know what the fuck he did to my sister?”

“No.”

“Do you know anything?”

“No - wait, yes. Fuck. What do you mean, ‘what he did toy my sister’? Something happened between him and Mia? When?” Kennedy was standing up now, facing me, and he was looking confused. I was guessing his expression mirrored mine, but I probably looked angry too.

I was angry.

Why did John have to do something like this now? We hadn’t even been here that long! I couldn’t even get a decent explanation either, and that was making me angry. I just wanted to know what the fuck he did to my sister.

“She came home crying, and all she could get out were ‘John’ and ‘broke up with me’. I came over here for an explanation, but he’s obviously not home.” I said.

Kennedy nodded. “I have no idea what went down. I didn’t even know that they’re having problems.”

“I don’t think they’re having problems!” I shook my head. “It was so sudden. They were fine on the drive here, talking and laughing and being ridiculously cute, and then Mia went over there today because she was supposed to meet someone, and she comes back a few hours later in tears and single. I just want to know what’s going on!”

“I don’t know--,” Kennedy started, but I cut him off.

“It’s ridiculous, too, how quickly it can change! What could possibly go wrong in a day? It’s like, the relationship was perfect - there were no faults. There was just two people, working together, being happy, and then one of them - or two of them, I don’t know - has to go and fuck it up, and I don’t see why. Can’t they just leave well enough alone? Does someone always have to create drama? I don’t get it.”

My lips were moving faster than my brain was processing what I was saying. I was rambling. I was talking too fast but I was at the point where I wasn’t totally sure what relationship I was talking about.

“And Mia doesn’t deserve this! She doesn’t need to be hurt! She’s better than that, you know. Sure, she can be a bitchy and irritating at times, but she’s got a good heart. She’s got a huge heart, and she’s always been a hundred percent in everything she does. I don’t understand why someone would do that to her! She doesn’t deserve that! I don’t deserve that!”

Kennedy had this look on his face. The look basically said, “what the fuck?” His eyes were narrowed and his mouth was somewhat open. He was staring at me, just staring at me.

“What the fuck are you talking about, Molly?” He asked, and his voice was harsh, which I hadn’t expected.

Maybe it was my acerbic text message that iced him up, but he was not the same soft, sweet Kennedy I had been expecting. I didn’t know how I felt about that. I didn’t know why I cared. After all, I was over that, wasn’t I?

“Mia!” I screeched. “And John! They’re relationship is in crumbles!”

He blinked at me, before talking again. “You’re not talking about Mia and John.”

“Yes, I am!”

“No, you’re talking about you and me.”

“No, I’m not!”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not!”

“Jesus Christ, quit fucking screeching, will you? If you want to talk about this, Molly, then we’ll talk about this, but I need my eardrums to function, okay?”

Who the fuck was this man? He didn’t put up with my shit. He didn’t let me yell at him and act irrational. He called me out.

I wasn’t used to that.

I also wasn’t acting like the so-called “grown up” I claimed I was.

“I-I-I,” I didn’t know what to say.

I left, in a flurry of turning around on my heel and marching out to the car, where I slammed the door behind me and pulled away from the curb before I strapped in my seat belt.

That wasn’t supposed to happen. That was never supposed to happen.

I wasn’t supposed to see Kennedy. I was supposed to sleep in today, and then go out to lunch with Garrett and have him drive me to the university. Then we were going to have dinner with the entire band (minus Kennedy, I was presuming) and then things were going to be back to normal. I was going to have fun this summer, and then get ready for my first year of college, and that was it.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.