Page 70 of Once in a Lifetime, Part 2

Mano had already filled in the rest. For me…

Ody let out a breath that sounded almost like a laugh. “For this,” he said. “She loves me. She cares about me. She’s been showing me that for two years. And you…”

I was just another one of those girls. Something to pass the time.

“You don’t know how to love, Mano.” A tear slipped down his cheek.

Mano’s hand lifted instinctively, reaching for him. To touch him. To stop the tears. But he pulled it back immediately, dragging it to his face.

Ody saw it, but he didn’t understand it.

All this time, he thought Mano felt something. And in the end… he was just another distraction.

“Say what you brought me here to say,” Ody said, his expression turning cold. “Finish it. Like a man.”

Mano went still, one thought repeating in his head. Make him leave. Keep him safe. Even if it destroys everything.

“Look at me,” Ody said, leaning forward. “Look me in the eye and say it. Tell me I was right in Serifos. That I was nothing to you.”

Mano dropped his gaze, his breath catching. Don’t do this, Ody… Please. Just go.

“You don’t even have the balls to say it,” Ody said through clenched teeth. “Don’t worry. I’ll make it easy for you, Mr. Jones. We’re done.”

Mano’s eyes snapped up.

Ody pushed his chair back and stood. Then he turned and left, Mano unable to look away.

His hand came up to his face. His fingers curled, his forehead pressing against them as he hid himself. His throat tightened and his vision blurred, as the first tear slipped free.

“Not bad.”

Mano’s head jerked up. His tear-filled eyes met Andreas’s.

“You actually care about him,” Andreas said.

Mano’s expression hardened, anger cutting through everything. “Fuck you,” he said, his voice rough. “You’re fucking sick.” He shot to his feet and walked out.

Ody couldn’t stop the tears on the way home. The second the door closed behind him, he broke. He didn’t make it to the bed, only collapsed onto the couch.

His eyes opened early the next morning, heavy, swollen from crying. He grabbed his phone. Dozens of messages from Steve and Chris filled the group chat. Anna had texted too. But he didn’t go to her. He didn’t want her arms, her touch. He wanted his. And it hurt knowing he couldn’t reach for them anymore.

His throat closed up. Mano didn’t feel the same, and the ache wouldn’t stop. The group chat kept lighting up with plans for clubbing that night, messages piling up as they asked him to answer. He didn’t.

A little later, Steve called. He asked why he wasn’t replying, and Ody brushed him off with a vague excuse.

“Be ready at 12:30,” Steve said.

“I’m not coming.”

“Yeah, you are.”

Ody sighed. “Just go without me.”

“Did you fight with Anna?”

“Yeah, you got it,” Ody said, dry, the sarcasm slipping right past him.

“I’m coming with Chris to pick you up.”