a chance to make things right, didn’t I?
“We can be great again, Danika. I promise,” he said as he stroked his fingers through my hair.
Jared said all the right things, but my stomach twisted in response. I knew in my gut that staying together wasn’t what I really wanted, but I couldn’t force my mouth to open and say the words.
“The jealousy has to stop. You were crazy with Chance the other day, and I was so embarrassed.” I pulled away to look at him.
His jaw clenched. “I know.” He breathed in and out three times before admitting, “I just love you so much that I get scared sometimes.”
Jared wasn’t the type of guy to open up emotionally and be vulnerable, no matter how hard I pushed, so hearing him talk like this was a little disarming.
“Scared of what?”
“Scared of losing you. I can’t imagine life without you. We have so many plans,” he said, zeroing in on the one thing that I wished we’d never talked about.
“I know we do,” I said as my guilt soared. I wanted to say the words Chance had said to me out loud, but I lacked the strength.
“Just not yet, okay? Give me one more chance to make things right. I still want to be with you. I want the future we’ve always dreamed of having,” he pleaded.
Even though I wanted to, I couldn’t tell him no. He deserved more than that, and I found myself agreeing to his request, more out of obligation and guilt than anything else.
I wondered for a brief moment how disappointed my mom would be before I let Jared lead me into the bedroom.
Tried to Break Up
Chance
Things with Danika had gone from whatever the hell we had been to practically nonexistent. I’d done my best to put her out of my mind, but that never fucking worked. It hadn’t worked since the first day I saw her, dressed in all black, full of attitude and that New York fire. I was a lost cause when it came to her. Especially after she told me that the spark between us wasn’t just in my head. Her confirmation had damn near killed me, but I would take that torment any day of the week over the pain of not knowing.
She’d taken our tutoring meetings down to once a week, and it was absolute torture, going six days without seeing her face. Then again, it was absolute torture on the day I had to see her as well. I was a walking contradiction.
Why did no one warn me that having feelings for someone was such a fucking nightmare? Life had been so much easier before I fell for the one girl I couldn’t have.
Feeling sorry for myself, I strolled through campus toward my upcoming class when I heard my name being called from somewhere behind me. I turned around to see a bouncy blonde speed-walking in my direction.
“Hi,” she said once she reached me, sounding a little out of breath.
“Hiii,” I drew out the word, a little unsure of who I was looking at before it all clicked. “You’re Danika’s friend right?”
How I’d pulled that information out of my memory bank, I’d never know, but her smile told me I was correct.
“Her roommate actually. And how’d you know that?”
“Would you be pissed if I said I remember you making out with Mac at our party?” I asked with a slight wince, and she laughed.
“Not even a little bit.” She acted more proud than anything else about her make-out session with Mac, and that alone relaxed me.
“Cool. So, what’s up?”
“I’m Sunny by the way,” she reached out her hand and I shook it.
“Nice to meet you officially. I’m Chance,” I said and she cracked up like I was the funniest person on the planet.
“Listen. Danika would kill me if she knew I was telling you this,” she started to say, and I leaned in closer, my entire body begging to hear whatever was about to come out of her mouth next. “But I just …” She stalled before adding, “I just thought you should know.”
“Sunny, you’re killing me here. Know what?”
“She tried to break up with Jared last night.”
I stumbled back a few steps, as if her words had physically forced me to. “What? She did? Wait, what happened?”
“Like I said, she tried, but he talked her out of it,” Sunny snarled.
And the small sliver of hope that had popped up out of nowhere inside of me exploded into a million pieces