I’d squirreled away. Jayme had offered to come over and be by my side, but the only person I’d wanted next to me in my bed was the one person I wasn’t meant to have.
Over the final month of school, I’d waited for him. My phone never rang with Ollie on the other end, and we hardly passed each other in the halls. Every night I’d go home and cry my eyes out about how much of a fool I’d been to screw things up. While things with us hadn’t been perfect before, at least he’d been a part of my life. After our night together, I became nothing but a faint memory in his story.
The day of our high school graduation will forever be imbedded into my mind, but not for the expected reasons. To this day, it remains the worst day of my life. The entire week before the ceremony, I’d felt the need to talk to Ollie—to tell him I was sorry and try to put things back the way they’d been. I remember having walked across the stage and smiling toward my Grandparents in the audience, while people clapped. Oliver had been one of the first names called, so I’d searched the crowded auditorium for him.
By the time I found him, many more students had filed into the room. Excitement had filled the air, but all I’d felt was sick. What I needed to do weighed heavily on me, and the time had come to make things right.
Calling out his name, he’d turned to face me, but out of the blue, someone had run past me and jumped into Oliver’s arms. Their lips had locked and his hands had held her tight. My stomach had churned at my stupidity of thinking we could have an actual discussion right then.
My jaw dropped when Ollie finally set the girl down, and my heart burned and sizzled into nothing more than dust.
Jayme.
The girl in his arms, lips locked tightly with his had been my best friend, Jayme. She’d looked at me with a smug expression, but before I could say anything, we’d all been ushered back into the auditorium where students whooped and cheered as the principal announced our graduated class.
After the ceremony, I’d found Jayme walking through the hall to her locker. My hands had connected with her shoulders, as I shoved her hard to the ground. Some random guy had grabbed me; while Jayme had screamed out words I’d never be able to silence in my head.
“Don’t be so goddamned jealous, Danielle! Ollie never loved you! You were a sad little puppy to him. He felt sorry for you! We’ve been together since the day after he pity fucked you, so don’t waste your breath trying to defend yourself. He’s been in love with me the whole time.”
I don’t remember what else I said that day to her, but I remember I didn’t stop trying to ring her neck. The guy who held me back was one of Ollie’s teammates from baseball. He’d been kind enough to take me out back and let me cool down before I’d returned to my family.
Ollie never contacted me after that, and neither did Jayme. I’d see them around from time to time but had always managed to escape their line of sight before they’d see me. A month later, I made the decision to go to New York. Losing my best friend and the love of my life had been bad enough. Combined with all the drama that had come with being my mother’s daughter, I’d needed to get away.
But no matter how far I ran—the memories still haunted me.
I studied myself in the full-length mirror. My sleeveless floral print dress hung halfway down my thighs and accentuated the curves on my frame. A brown belt hung around my waist to match the brown jacket I’d thrown over my dress to keep warm. My long blonde hair was in a loose, low-placed bun on my head, with stray pieces pulled out to frame my face. After slipping into my tan flats, I declared myself ready to go.
The date was so last minute; I had no idea where Ollie planned to take me. All I knew was the high school version of myself was dancing on my insides. This was something I’d longed for years and years ago, and now it was happening. With my nerves on high alert, I couldn’t stay in one place longer than a minute without moving