She picks a pepperoni off of her slice, popping it into her mouth. “About as well as you’d expect.”
I sigh, losing my appetite, “This is my fault.”
“Let’s not talk about it,” She stands, tossing her napkin in the garbage.
I clamp my lips together to stop the apologies.
She looks sympathetic, “Let’s just call a truce for tonight. We can talk about that another day because tonight I just need my friend.”
I nod in agreement, “Is something wrong?”
“Jameson is getting deployed.”
I grab her hand, pulling her into a hug as she cries, “Shhh… It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay. I just got him back, and now he’s leaving.”
“Are you sure, though? I mean, they said it?”
“Yeah. They are going overseas for a while. Ellie is going to be crushed.”
I exhale and attempt to put on my supportive face. “Ellie is tough. She’s got you and me.”
“I’m going to miss him. I’ve never done long distance.”
I snort, trying not to laugh. “You’ve kind of been doing it for six years.”
She cracks a smile, swiping her wine glass off the counter, “Shut up. Now, what’s going on with you?”
“I saw Ashton.”
Hanna doesn’t say a word as I tell her every detail of my run-in with Ashton, and I tell her everything. She stares at me and listens intently, and when I’m finished, she just gapes.
“Did he hurt you?”
“No, but I think he wanted to. I’ve never seen him act so erratically. One second he acted like he wanted to devour me, and the next, he wanted to kill me.”
“What are you going to do?” She asks.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I don’t want to give him anything. I’m sick of this constant merry-go-round of manipulation with him.”
“Then don’t,” She agrees.
I look to the ground. “This isn’t going to be good for my fitness brand.”
“People will understand,” She assures. “Your story could help someone else who is struggling with what you went through.”
“Everyone will think I’m a fake. The eating disorder kept me skinny, but my health and fitness journey is what happened after I got better. I taught myself how to thrive after years of neglect, and I got better independently.”
“Fuck Ashton,” She states. “Tell everyone the truth and tell him to go fuck himself.”
“You really think I should?”
Nodding, she continues her rant, “He doesn’t own you, Karly. It’s about damn time he learned that.”
I sit here a second and think about what she said. Maybe I will release a statement. I could even go live and do a Q&A. It was time that I took my life back from Ashton once and for all.
My life.