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do.
     
    “Can you stay a little longer?” He had looked at me before he left the sound booth to show Tanaka out.
     
    “Yeah, sure. Jace and I were going to hang out tonight, but clearly that’s not going to happen.” I sighed feeling a hint of loss in my heart. We actually had plans for tonight as part of his birthday week of surprises. I figured since I no longer had plans that it wouldn’t matter if I worked until two in the morning seeing as though I didn’t have anything else I had to do. Arashi didn’t look happy with my words. I couldn’t really explain it, but I would swear he glared at me with anger and I wasn’t sure why, but as quickly as the look came to his face he was exiting the room and showing Tanaka to the door. It was in that moment that I realized I hadn’t gone to the bathroom in a while and I hadn’t eaten either. I wasn’t hungry, but I did need the restroom so I went, figuring I could be back before he came back inside. I was wrong.
     

     
    If she mentioned that jerk one more time I was going to lose what calm I had. An entire day of good music and educating work and there she was still sulking about that fool. I got back inside while she wasn’t in the room and something drew me to her sketchbook. I knew if I saw one picture of Jace, one poem about him, that I was going to release all the anger her previous words about him had brought to me. I didn’t find pictures of Jace. I found drawings of me and some of the room, the cellist, all of the equipment. That was good because there wasn’t anything about Jace in sight, even though he was on her mind. That thought made me furious all over again.
     
    When she came back into the room I heard her. I didn’t bother to close her sketch book and look at her. I didn’t bother to turn around and give her a chance to speak before I started talking. “This stops now.” Okay, I hadn’t had my heart broken in a long time. I guess I wasn’t even fully over it myself, but I refused to let her keep with this depressed state of being. I dropped the sketchbook on the chair and turned to face her.
     
    “What stops now? I was just sketching my environment to keep the ideas in mind…”
     
    “That’s not what I’m talking about. That’s not it at all. You, Jace, it stops. He doesn’t deserve your tears, your depression—he doesn’t deserve any of it.”
     
    “It’s not that easy.” She defended herself.
     
    “Do you think for one second that he’s at home moping about losing you? Do you?” My tone was harsh even though my voice was level. “No,” I said when she hadn’t answered. I didn’t really give her time to answer. “He’s not and he’s probably moved on because that’s what guys like him do—they move on. He walked away. If you were smart you would realize he did you a favor.” I realized the words out of my mouth once they were out there. I didn’t mean it how I knew she took it. The shocked look on her face, that expression of hurt in her eyes—I had put that there. I had to fix it, but I was so angry.
     
    “I don’t mean you’re not smart, Topaz. But when it comes to this you’re not being smart. You’re not thinking. You’re giving him something he doesn’t even deserve. He broke your heart. Don’t give him the pieces. Take them and put them back together. He wants to walk away; let him go.”
     
    “You don’t understand,” she nearly wailed. I could see the tears streaming from her eyes now. I crossed the room and she took a step back. I needed to hold her, to comfort her, but at the same time I needed to educate her. She needed to see how futile it was to keep weeping over Jace. I knew he wasn’t weeping over her.
     
    “You don’t understand how much it hurts. How much I thought…I thought he was the one. I thought we were going to be together and when he asked me…when he put that ring on my finger I saw our future together and then he stole it back from me.” She cried. I reached out