“No. It’s not that bad.”
“I’m going to go game with Colin a little. He’s online.” She points toward the door. “I’ll see you guys later.”
I should probably care what Hannah thinks, and be concerned that she might go say something to Katie that is seemingly innocent but serves as kindling to my sister. But there’s a more pressing question that has me hitting pause. “I thought Ezra graduated and moved to Florida?”
Hadley swallows. “He did. Technically. His parents live there. But then he went abroad with our roommate.” She lifts her gaze to mine, allowing me to see her pain before she shrugs. “It’s okay though. I’m okay.”
“You guys broke up before they got together?”
“I don’t really know all the details. I struggled to listen—or struggled with my willingness to listen—but from what I pieced together they started seeing each other about a month before I found out.”
Her story hits too close to home. I feel offended and outraged on her behalf as well as my own that someone—two people—who she trusted would betray her like that. “He cheated on you?”
“Honestly, it was the breakup with April that hurt more.”
“You didn’t tell Katie and Hannah?”
Hadley shakes her head. “Maybe it was my pride or the fact she was going to Scotland, or that I didn’t want to cause them to pick sides since April was closer to both Katie and Hannah? Maybe I worried they’d choose her over me? Maybe I just preferred ignoring it all?”
I slide my hands from her foot and pull Hadley closer to me, tucking her under my chin. It feels like the most natural instinct in the world. Like I am here to protect and shield her from all the fake friends and opportunistic guys who lay eyes on her. It feels right.
“I used to date Katie’s best friend.”
“When?”
I pull in a breath and hold it for several seconds before releasing it. “We started dating in high school when I was a sophomore, and she was a freshman.”
“How long did you date?”
“Until the spring of my freshman year here at Camden.”
“That’s a long time,” Hadley says. “What happened?”
“A lot. Long-distance relationships are hard. We had little to talk about and were constantly missing each other because of the time zone and my practices. She was positive I was sleeping with other women, no matter how much I tried to assure her, and every week we were fighting over something stupid.” I think back to the long list of arguments that ranged from forgetting the anniversary of our first kiss to not texting her between every class, to not being able to come home for Christmas. “Over spring break, she was planning to come here and then decided to go down to Mexico with some friends. She was mad because she overheard a girl in the background while we were talking on the phone, and so she slept with another guy to get back at me.”
Hadley places her hand against my arm, leaving a mark that I feel all the way to my chest. “I’m so sorry.”
Normally, I hate telling this story, hate discussing my ex, yet the sting that usually comes after revealing how fucked up our relationship had become but sharing this failure with Hadley and letting her into this part of my life feels like removing my shoulder pads after a game, relieving.
“We should have ended things sooner. Things got toxic at the end and maybe if we’d broken up sooner while we were still friends and respected each other we could still be friends. She and Katie could still be friends.”
“It’s not your fault their relationship didn’t last.”
“It got too messy. Too complicated.”
“The cheated-on club is a crappy club.”
“The spiteful, anti-trust, arguing club wasn’t much better.”
Hadley cuddles closer, wrapping her arms fully around mine. “If you ever want to talk about it, I’m here.”
“If you ever need me to remind you that your ex was a fucking idiot, I’m here.” I let my words soak in as I reach for the remote and rewind to the part we missed when Hannah came in, then hit play.
Her eyes drift close within seconds.
“You’re falling asleep, Cutlass. Why don’t we turn it off.”
“Not yet.” She nestles closer. “And that’s a terrible nickname.”