Sequel: We're Stuck Halfway ›
Status: 5/6
Sand in Your Shoes
with the wind in your hair
July never really was his month.
It was the month his parents separated, the month his older sister left his family, the month his dog died. It was the month he let go of his father’s name, the month Lola broke up with him.
It wasn’t fair on how she broke it with him just like that. He should’ve gotten a warning, a sign that she was going to end things. He wanted it to be a mutual agreement, a friendly lunch at the diner they usually ate in to talk about splitting.
He wasn’t expecting a heartbreaking phone call on July, much less on twilight while he was at Sedona, at their place. He didn’t want her to be crying and suppressing sobs, and he didn’t assume that he’d be shedding tears himself afterwards.
Honestly, she couldn’t have picked a worse time to break things off. Even if she was too practical for him, she was still his anchor to the ground. He needed her to reassure him that changing his name legally was for the better.
But then he would realize that after reassuring him of his name change, she would start fussing over how he dropped out of college once again.
That was the thing, the cause of their breakup. Back in high school, when they were the cutest couple around, he joined bands and was even the lead singer in one. Since she never talked about it much, he thought that she was okay with it, but when he brought up joining a band with her seriously, she reacted in the worst possible way.
“Are you serious?!” She spread her hands, shoving them into her hair. He knew that action, it was a tell that she was exasperated.
He didn’t understand why she was so mad. When he joined Last Call for Camden and played in bars and garages and basements, she barely gave a damn. She would just smile as he enjoyed himself on stage, hugging him and boasting to all her friends how talented he was. She never brought up the future with him until then.
He answered her honestly, so why wasn’t she taking it the way she was supposed to as a supportive girlfriend?
“I really don’t know,” he lied. He didn’t want her mad, so he lied. He saved the guilt for later.
The next few weeks of the breakup were merciless. He made it a point to show others that he was perfectly okay with the split, pretending that they did it at a diner, not mentioning how she did it over the phone in reality.
That was the first breakup he’d suffered from, so he had to take his experience from observing; he watched in the sidelines as all his friends started to act the slightest bit differently towards Jared, one of his bandmates. He had been eternally agitated over everything when he broke up with his own girlfriend, and Kennedy wanted to be the opposite of that.
He might as well have been as broken as Jared was, but he didn’t want his friends to think of him any differently. He wanted the same old.
He wanted Lola back in his arms.
Even if he couldn’t have her, he continued to act like he did, acting like he was alright 24/7. For days and weeks and minutes and seconds and days, he pretended. He smiled at fans, joked along with them and continued to play his guitar with remarkable skill. He cooked for the band whenever he had the time, went to barbeques and hung out backstage with other bands. He even kept on going to Sedona at night, his private getaway with Lola from everyone else. Her absence suffocated him, but he went on with it. There was no harm in doing it anyway, since no one knew.
No one.
No one but Veronica Nickelsen knew.
It was the month his parents separated, the month his older sister left his family, the month his dog died. It was the month he let go of his father’s name, the month Lola broke up with him.
It wasn’t fair on how she broke it with him just like that. He should’ve gotten a warning, a sign that she was going to end things. He wanted it to be a mutual agreement, a friendly lunch at the diner they usually ate in to talk about splitting.
He wasn’t expecting a heartbreaking phone call on July, much less on twilight while he was at Sedona, at their place. He didn’t want her to be crying and suppressing sobs, and he didn’t assume that he’d be shedding tears himself afterwards.
Honestly, she couldn’t have picked a worse time to break things off. Even if she was too practical for him, she was still his anchor to the ground. He needed her to reassure him that changing his name legally was for the better.
But then he would realize that after reassuring him of his name change, she would start fussing over how he dropped out of college once again.
That was the thing, the cause of their breakup. Back in high school, when they were the cutest couple around, he joined bands and was even the lead singer in one. Since she never talked about it much, he thought that she was okay with it, but when he brought up joining a band with her seriously, she reacted in the worst possible way.
“Are you serious?!” She spread her hands, shoving them into her hair. He knew that action, it was a tell that she was exasperated.
He didn’t understand why she was so mad. When he joined Last Call for Camden and played in bars and garages and basements, she barely gave a damn. She would just smile as he enjoyed himself on stage, hugging him and boasting to all her friends how talented he was. She never brought up the future with him until then.
He answered her honestly, so why wasn’t she taking it the way she was supposed to as a supportive girlfriend?
“I really don’t know,” he lied. He didn’t want her mad, so he lied. He saved the guilt for later.
The next few weeks of the breakup were merciless. He made it a point to show others that he was perfectly okay with the split, pretending that they did it at a diner, not mentioning how she did it over the phone in reality.
That was the first breakup he’d suffered from, so he had to take his experience from observing; he watched in the sidelines as all his friends started to act the slightest bit differently towards Jared, one of his bandmates. He had been eternally agitated over everything when he broke up with his own girlfriend, and Kennedy wanted to be the opposite of that.
He might as well have been as broken as Jared was, but he didn’t want his friends to think of him any differently. He wanted the same old.
He wanted Lola back in his arms.
Even if he couldn’t have her, he continued to act like he did, acting like he was alright 24/7. For days and weeks and minutes and seconds and days, he pretended. He smiled at fans, joked along with them and continued to play his guitar with remarkable skill. He cooked for the band whenever he had the time, went to barbeques and hung out backstage with other bands. He even kept on going to Sedona at night, his private getaway with Lola from everyone else. Her absence suffocated him, but he went on with it. There was no harm in doing it anyway, since no one knew.
No one.
No one but Veronica Nickelsen knew.