I smiled, wondering where Cole had come up with all this stuff.
Next up was a pack of Orbit gum that said, Because he’s finally out of your world.
A bag of Skittles: To remind you there’s a rainbow at the end of every storm.
My favorite strawberry-kiwi lip balm was beneath that with the reminder to pucker up and kiss him goodbye.
I laughed when I pulled out a small bottle of Advil that said, He’s no longer a headache.
Oh, Cole. You are definitely not trying to hide your dislike of Chad anymore, are you?
A delicious-smelling body scrub said, In case you feel like scrubbing off the top layer of your skin so it’s like he’s never touched you.
That might be nice, actually. A sort of cleansing ritual, I thought.
A small package of Swedish Fish was next. Because there are more (and better) fish out in the sea.
I hoped so!
The last item in the bag was a pink lighter: So you can: 1. Light the world on fire with someone else. Or 2. Have a bonfire to burn all the mementos from him. ;) (Make sure to invite me to that one. I’ll bring the firewood.)
I set the lighter on the counter beside all the other things. As I looked over all the gifts and messages and thought about the kind of thoughtfulness behind the gesture, I was suddenly overcome with a wave of emotion like I hadn’t felt all night.
I had been proud of myself for not shedding a single tear when I’d sat in my car with Chad—proud that I hadn’t even cried on my ten-minute drive home.
But this…?
I held back a sob.
This simple yet utterly thoughtful gesture from Cole had my vision so blurred with tears that I could barely read all the notes he’d written me.
I had good friends. I had my mom and brother who I knew cared about me.
But I couldn’t remember the last time anyone had done anything like this for me. I’d always sat on the sidelines watching people receive gestures like this from their loved ones and wished someone would see me and care enough to take care of me like this when I was down.
But no one ever had.
Until now.
I sniffled and wiped at the tears slipping down my cheeks.
I would treasure these gifts and this moment for a long time.
Instead of drowning my sorrows in ice cream and wine like I had originally planned, I took the body scrub, the candle, and the lighter that Cole had given me and headed down the hall toward my bathroom to take a nice, relaxing bath.
Maybe I was already better off than I thought.
17
Cole
“So she’s breaking up with him tonight?” Ethan asked when a commercial break came on during the basketball game we were watching at a sports bar a few blocks from my house. “Does this mean you’re finally going to make your move?”
“I don’t know.” I dipped a tortilla chip into the spinach artichoke dip between us. “I mean, I’ve been working on this plan for a while now. I’m just not sure on how to work the timing of everything, you know?”
“It’s definitely a tricky place to be in.” Ethan picked up a chip and dipped it into the creamy dip after me. “You don’t want to seem too eager and put yourself in the place where she only considers you a rebound. But you also don’t want to wait so long that you leave enough space for another guy to swoop in and steal her either.”
“Yeah, I definitely don’t want that.” I took a bite. “What did you do with Jada? You were in the friend zone almost as long as me. How did you finally get her to see you as someone she’d date?”
Ethan picked up another chip and shrugged. “I basically just had to tell her that I’ve been in love with her ever since we were in high school, and that she either needed to realize that we were perfect for each other or I was going to have to move on because being just friends with her was becoming way too hard.”
“Really? You just put it all out there?” I raised my eyebrows, impressed by his boldness. “What did she say?”
He chuckled. “She said I was a jerk for giving her such an ultimatum.”
“So it didn’t go well?”
He shrugged. “She basically went off on me about how I couldn’t pull something like that right after she got out of a bad relationship.” He took