I don't love you! GO!
These words were echoing in Wade's head for the umpteenth time as he was numbly making his way back home in the morning sunlight. He had no recollection of where he had spent the last who knows how many hours after he had crashed the grand re-opening of The Fireplace. Now he knew for certain that he had fallen in love with Ember so deeply, and that clearly - despite all the shared moments where Ember had seemed so happy in his company, despite them doing something impossible by changing each other's chemistry with a careful, little touch - she hadn't fallen in love with him after all. He had to get away. It didn't matter where, how far- he couldn't stay any longer. He was hurting so much that the shock of it had rendered him unable to cry, which was anything but like him.
The next moment Wade really paid attention to his surroundings, he noticed that he had somehow made it home. The guard wouldn't let him in.
"I- I should go home, I need to pack", he told the guard.
"Are you okay, sir?" the guard asked, looking worried and with his hands crossed over his chest.
"I'm fine, can I please just go pack?" Wade pleaded tiredly.
"Of course, sir", the guard said, "I just needed to ask."
Wade walked past him and took the lift to his mother's penthouse.
When he opened the door, he heard distant voices. He closed the door and kept making his way to his room.
"Wade? Wade! Oh my baby boy, I've been worried sick! Where in the world have you been? Why haven't you called?" mrs Ripple fussed around her son. His brother, sister-in-law, and uncle appeared in the hallway as well, all looking worried.
"I told her I love her", Wade said quitely.
"Oh, Wade!" mrs Ripple sighed. Her bright smile turned into an expression of concern when she realised that Wade seemed anything but happy, he seemed... lost. "Didn't it go well? I thought you and Ember were doing great?"
Everyone was silent for a long while. Eventually, Wade gulped before talking again.
"I... I thought that I touched her when I told her how I felt", he whispered, "when we played the crying game."
Everyone in the hall look at Wade with concern but no one said anything. Everyone seemed to realise that he needed them to listen, or no one knew what to say. Wade still didn't show any sign of being close to bursting into tears.
"I actually found a way to show her the Vivisteria in the flooded Garden Central", he breathed, this time louder, "she'd always wanted to see it, and I figured out how she could now that the tunnel's flooded. That's what I did for her."
Mrs Ripple placed a hand on Wade's shoulder but didn't say anything. Now she was very concerned for her son.
"After we got out of the tunnel- we actually touched, properly."
Everyone but Wade gasped. Mrs Ripple raised her hand over her mouth in shock.
"It was incredible, it was supposed to be impossible", Wade explained, "it was supposed to be dangerous but... we just created some vapour, nothing bad happened to either of us. She didn't vapourise me, I didn't extinguish her. We actually changed each other's chemistry, have you ever heard of anything of the sort?"
"Wade..." his brother Alan breathed, hardly believing his ears. Most everyone's jaw had dropped.
"We started dancing under the bridge, everything was brilliant... I'd never been happier", Wade whispered again, and suddenly frowned in disbelief, "but when I told her that I'm lucky that I have her, she flipped, she... she just pushed me away, I... I wanted to know what just happened so we ended up arguing, and... she left me."
He covered his face with his hands. He felt his mother gently wrap her arms around him, and tremble sligtly from sobbing quietly. He heard some disappointed sounds from the others in the room. After a moment, her mother released him from the hug.
"Maybe it was a really stupid thing to do but last night I crashed her party", he let out a bitter laugh before staring numbly again, "I just couldn't help myself. I had to talk to her."
Everyone was quiet, waiting for Wade to continue.
"So I told her that I love her. I wore my heart on my sleeve in front all those fire people, in front of her freaking parents for crying out loud!" he exclaimed, sighed, and palmed his face.
Everyone looked at Wade with their mouths open.
"Ehh... that was quite bold of you", his uncle Harold said slowly, breaking the silence. Then, finally, Wade started to show fractions of the profound heartache that he felt was killing him.
"What a fool I was to think she'd love me back..." he whispered, shaking his head. Finally, he was having a hard time holding back tears. Mrs Ripple leaned her head on his shoulder, still sobbing.
"It feels like I'm drowning again", his voice broke, and he gasped. He shook his head slightly, and moved determinedly toward his room, "I have to get out of here." He sniffed before disappearing into his room, and he could hear his mother and sister-in-law wailing as he randomly tossed his stuff into an open suitcase.
Everyone except Lake and Ghibli, who had had to get back to the campus, joined Wade to the port. Everyone was sad but quiet, only mrs Ripple weeped quietly throughout the train trip to the port. Wade could only stare numbly under the bench his mother and uncle sat on.
Next, Port of Element City. This is the final station of the line. Thank you for hopping on, welcome aboard again!
"Wade", Alan, who'd sat next to him, shook him gently by the shoulder, "we're at the port."
Wade gulped, grabbed his suitcase, and followed his family off the train in the crowd of passangers.
He turned around to take one last hopeless look at Element City before following his family into the port.