Free Pieces of You (Shattered Hearts) by Cassia Leo

from Senia, but you can’t take a few hundred bucks from me?”
    “It’s not the same.”
    “Why? Because it’s me? Would you take it if it were Chris?”
    “Please don’t start with that.”
    Adam has only made one other negative comment about Chris, three weeks ago when we got in a fight over the fact that Chris texted me while Adam and I were hanging out in my dorm—well, we were doing a little more than hanging out. That’s why I erased all of Chris’s texts from my phone when Senia told me what happened between her and Eddie. Adam and I have been straddling the line between crazy in love and Crazy Town ever since everything blew up at Chris’s concert five weeks ago. I’m not surprised that the stress of this impending separation has brought on another Chris accusation, but I’m also not in the mood for it.
    He shakes his head as he takes a step back and my heart stops as a van swerves to avoid hitting him.
    “What the fuck are you doing?”
    He steps forward again and glares down at me. “All right. I’m just going to come right out and say this because I need to say it before I leave.”
    I hold my breath as I wait for whatever he’s about to get off his chest.
    “I don’t like that you’re spending so much time with him. I don’t trust him.”
    I can’t believe he’s doing this now. Actually, I can’t believe he’s doing this at all. He knows the only reason I’ve seen Chris three times in the last five weeks is for the purpose of the open adoption. Is he actually trying to make me feel guilty for that?
    “Are you saying you don’t want me to see Chris anymore, ever?”
    “No,” he insists, but the millisecond flash of hope I see in his eyes at this suggestion tells me that’s exactly what he wants. “I know you have to see him for the adoption stuff, but him showing up at your dorm to drop off pictures or outside your class to pick you up…. Why can’t you just drive your own car there? I just don’t fucking get it.”
    I lean back against the car and gaze at the reflection of the blue sky on the side of the Raleigh Times high-rise building across the street. “I didn’t know you felt this way.”
    “How could you not know?”
    The incredulous look on his face makes me furious. “Because I don’t read minds.”
    “Jesus Christ, Claire, I know you’ve only been in one relationship, but this is fucking common sense.”
    “Are you saying I lack common sense?”
    “Don’t do that. You know what I mean.” He closes his eyes and shakes his head. “Let’s not do this today. I’m sorry I brought it up.”
    He searches my face for a sign of agreement, but I’m fuming inside. I don’t even want to look at him.
    “I shouldn’t have come here. Everything was fine before we left the dorm.”
    He grabs the sides of my waist as his legs straddle mine and I can tell he’s getting ready to kiss me.
    “Stop.”
    “Really?”
    “Yes.”
    He lets go of my waist and steps sideways so he’s no longer straddling my legs. “Whatever you say, Claire.” He pauses for a moment and I know this argument has gone too far. “Maybe we should just take a break.”
    I let out a soft chuckle. “I can’t believe you.”
    “You can’t believe me ? You can’t even look at me.”
    I turn and look him straight in the eye. “I don’t want to take a break, but I also don’t want to feel like I can’t hang out with one of my best friends because you’re afraid of something that’s never going to happen. Chris and I are over. I thought I made that perfectly clear.”
    A blue hatchback pulls up next to us and Lena is in the passenger seat. She’s smiling until she sees the serious expressions on our faces. Yuri leans over her and shoves the trophy through the open passenger-side window.
    “Dude, we got tired of waiting for you in the car,” he says as Adam grabs the trophy.
    Adam sticks his hand through the window to do a little secret handshake with Yuri.
    “Thanks, man. I’ll see you