Deboned Fish for Her, Left No Room for Me Chapter 05

Deboned Fish for Her, Left No Room for Me Chapter 05

I gave a small, humorless smile.

Ignoring the messages still flooding in, I swiped my finger across the screen and shut my phone off.

The plane cut through the clouds.

Gold light spilled across the wing.

In the past, I would have taken a picture right away and sent it to Keaton.

I used to love telling him about the flowers blooming outside my dorm.

The surprisingly good soup in the dining hall.

The cat sleeping in a patch of sun by the steps.

Those were my happiest little moments.

I wanted to share them with him.

But Keaton had only looked at me in silence and said, sounding deeply tired,

“Marlowe, I’m busy with lab work. I don’t have time for every tiny thing that happens to you.”

I had frozen for a second.

Then I nodded quietly.

Later, Cecily sent a few screenshots into our group chat.

They were all conversations between her and Keaton.

They had messaged each other on twenty-nine of the last thirty days.

I could not process it.

Cecily popped up in the chat, furious.

[Marlow, let me yell at your boyfriend. He’s barely trying.]

But I did not think he was dismissive at all.

Because Keaton responded to every single thing she said.

The same Keaton who had told me he was busy replied to her almost immediately.

[Easy, Cissy. I’ll make it up to you with ice cream.]

Neither of them sent another message after that.

They left me staring at those screenshots, trying to make sense of the ache in my chest.

The plane announcement came on.

Five minutes until landing in Cypress Harbor.

I wiped away the tears that had started falling again, turned my phone back on, and posted a photo of the

sunset over the airport to Instagram.

This time, I did not have to wait for someone who would never respond.

While I was waiting for my luggage, Keaton called.

This time, I answered.

Even from thousands of miles away, I could hear the anger in his voice.

“Marlowe, what are you doing now? You’re not answering texts or calls.”

“Cissy and I aren’t waiting for you. Take a cab when you land.”

Before I could speak, he hung up.

Then he sent me an apartment address.

He still had not realized I was not in Hartwick.

More accurately, he did not care.

Because as long as he turned around, I had always been behind him.

I smiled faintly.

I wondered how long it would take him to realize I was no longer running after him.

Dragging my suitcase through the wet heat of Cypress Harbor, I spent the day looking at apartments.

Keaton and Cecily had returned to their apartment in Hartwick early, ready for a comfortable nap.

I found a decent studio and went shopping alone for the things I needed.

Far away in Hartwick, Keaton and Cecily were picking out matching toothbrushes, matching towels, matching mugs.

Little by little, I adjusted to life in Cypress Harbor.

The rain that came whenever it felt like it.

The iced tea with lemon locals swore by in the heat.

The heavy air.

The slower streets.

Two weeks later, Keaton went to a reunion with some old classmates.

Someone mentioned me, and only then did Keaton realize how long it had been since I last contacted him.

His phone no longer lit up with my messages.

The silence around him finally started to feel wrong.

Cecily noticed something off about him and asked softly,

“What’s wrong?”

After a long silence, Keaton finally answered.

“Don’t you think Marlow’s been dragging out this breakup tantrum for too long?”

Cecily froze.

Her fingers tightened around the strap of her purse.

Then she quickly smoothed her expression.

“Marlow is just childish. Big temper, short memory. She’ll be fine once she calms down.”

“But I’m worried.”

Keaton cut her off.

“Marlow is too trusting. Too easy to fool. She’s alone in Hartwick. I’m worried.”

An old classmate who had overheard them leaned over with a strange expression.

“Marlow went to Cypress Harbor. You two… didn’t know?”