The next morning, he sent another, wishing me a good morning. He sent me cute messages that whole week, and they always made my day. He’d even sent emoticons, because I’d told him he was lame for not using them. This continued for a solid week and then it just…stopped.
I always waited for him to text me first. I knew he was busy, and I didn’t want to bug him, despite how badly I wanted to hear from him.
The first day of no messages, I thought nothing of it. I assumed he had his hands full with work and couldn’t get to his phone quickly enough.
But then another day passed and nothing.
On the third day, I began to worry, so I sent him a text to ask if he was okay. The bouncing dots popped up to show he was about to respond and I waited…and waited…
Nothing.
44
KANDY
He’s busy. He’s a CEO. His hands are full. That’s what I told myself, though deep down, I was finding it hard to stick to. Fortunately, Mom came to my room with good news, just two days before I was about to head off to college.
Cane was coming over for dinner.
As soon as I got the news, I hopped off the bed and rushed to my closet to find something nice to wear. I went with a soft pink dress that made my boobs look bigger and my waist narrow.
I hadn’t heard from him in five days. I didn’t know if he’d had a trip out of state or what, but since he was coming over, things were going to be okay. I would see him. Even though I was curious why he hadn’t checked in, that was all that mattered.
I straightened my hair and did my makeup, taking my time on the wing of my eyeliner. While adding my mascara, the doorbell rang, and Dad called my name, which meant my time for getting ready was up. It was time to greet our guest as a family, like we always did.
“Don’t give too much away,” I told my reflection. “He’s just a friend. A friend. Nothing happened.”
I drew in a breath and nodded at myself before going past the stacked boxes and bins in my room to get to the door. I made my way down the stairs and stepped around the corner just as the door swung open.
He was the first thing I saw. His hair was freshly trimmed and appeared like it was lightly fingered with gel. He had a bottle of red wine in his hand and held it up when Dad greeted him. Dad accepted it, and they did their brotherly handshake and hug.
I stood a few steps away, breath dwindling, my legs locked, as he stepped through the threshold and smiled at Mom before giving her a hug.
When he was done with her, all that was left was me.
His eyes met mine first…but they weren’t soft, per usual. They were hard and distant. Cloudier than they were the week before. I frowned instantly. These weren’t the same eyes that I’d last seen. These weren’t the soft, mostly green, sincere eyes that looked at me with nothing but love and adoration. They were gray and unreadable. I blinked rapidly as he looked away to peer over his shoulder.
And then I saw her.
She came through the door with a short red dress on, her makeup flawless, and her hair half-up, half down. She gave my parents a hug around the shoulders with a smile and chimed, “So good to see you guys!”
When I saw her, my heart fucking failed me.
I wanted to swallow, but couldn’t. I wanted to run, but knew I wasn’t allowed to overreact. I wanted to slap the shit out of Cane right where he stood, but knew it would have started a shitstorm that he apparently wasn’t worth. I hated that I couldn’t do anything but stare and look helpless. My eyes became hot and prickly, and I dropped my head when Cane met up to Kelly’s side.
“Wanna help me get the dinner set up, sweetie?” Mom asked. I looked up at her and nodded, and I swear I wanted to cry on the spot. My heart hurt so much. My stomach was in knots. What was going on? Why was he doing this to me? Why was she with him? He wasn’t hers; he was mine!
How could he…
“Yeah,” I said to Mom, and followed her to the kitchen, doing my best to ignore the conversation Dad was having with Kelly and Cane about his new line of wine coolers.
While I helped get the food on the table, I tried wrapping my head around what was going on. I had no answers or solutions. I knew we were only supposed to be friends, but why did he go back to her so quickly? Was it that easy for him to get over me?