realize more reasons why we’d never work out.”
“Pretty sure it ended the day I fucked up my knee.”
Jade balks. “I told you I wanted you to move in, and you pulled back.”
Her words are like a cheese grater against my flesh—painful and annoying. “I wasn’t pulling back, Jade. I had two practices a day, college, and a fucking job. I was trying to be there for you as much as I could, but you have to realize how much I had on my plate.”
“But you were still finding time to go out with your friends. To go to Raegan’s birthday party. To watch tape.” She smiles like it’s going to lessen the sting of this situation. “Arlo, I was ready to make sacrifices for you, and you weren’t ready to make them for me. I’m not mad at you, and I’m not trying to hurt you. I just know that I’m not the right woman for you.”
“We grow. We change—things change.”
She smiles, but the corner of her red lips pull south like the gesture is a lie. “When you meet someone you’re interested in, you make the sacrifices. You put forth the extra effort. You do whatever it takes to see that person.”
“I don’t know why we’re still arguing about this.” I feel exhausted, dreading this conversation even more because it seems like a waste of time and effort when clearly neither of has any desire to even be friends, so what’s the damn point?
Still, maybe it’s my anger at Liv or feeling rejected again that has me firing back. “I tried, Jade. I came over to your house all the time.”
She scoffs. “For sex.”
“It was more than sex.”
“If it were more than sex, you wouldn’t have forgotten my birthday was a week before the last bowl game.”
The words I was preparing to say come to a screeching halt as I stare at her, shock and guilt deflating the reasons I thought she was to blame me for our outcome. “I had no… I’m sorry…”
Jade shakes her head. “You don’t have to apologize,” she says. “It was a good learning experience for both of us.”
I wince at the sentiment. She learned not to date guys like me.
I blow out a long breath. “You deserve better than that.”
She nods, her smile creeping back into place. “I know. And you deserve to be with someone who makes you want to make all the sacrifices.”
Regret still thrums in my chest. “I’m sorry I was such a shitty boyfriend.”
She shakes her head. “You weren’t a shitty boyfriend. You just never fell for me.” Her lips slip with another frown that she quickly wipes clean with a smile. “Life is too short to settle. We all should want to be with someone who falls as hard as we do.”
I picture Liv and the look in her eyes when I told her I was falling for her that confirmed it was reciprocated. How she’d flown home after learning I’d been cut and expelled from Brighton.
Shit.
“I have to go,” I tell Jade. “I’m sorry again. I hope you find everything you’re looking for.”
I abandon my shopping cart for the second time in two days and get into my Tahoe, driving to their apartment. I’m right by the entrance when I see a black cat dart into the road and have to slam on my brakes.
It feels like déjà vu as I turn on my emergency lights and get out, recognizing Juliet’s leopard print collar. “What are you doing?” I ask.
Juliet rolls to her back in the middle of the road. I shake my head as I make my way over to her, scooping her up like I did months ago.
Juliet howls as she lowers herself to my floorboard, and I shake my head at her. “Only one of us gets to be dramatic today, and it’s my turn.”
I pull into an empty parking space in front of their apartment and reach for Juliet, who hisses at me, her eyes round, looking slightly demonic.
She relaxes as we walk toward the apartment, but her ears remain flat, her eyes darting at every sound.
Rose answers on the second knock. “Oh, thank God!” she says, reaching for Juliet. “How did you find her? We’ve been looking everywhere.”
“She found me,” I tell her.
Rose shakes her head, kissing the wriggling cat.
“Where’s Liv?”
“She went out to look for Juliet again. I’ll message her and let her know she’s back.”
“Rose,” I say, stopping her before she can call Liv. “Does she still like him?”
She finally