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“Who is who?” I ask, finally giving him my attention.
“Who’s the reason you didn’t get with Daniella?”
I look away from him again because this is the type of shit that annoys me. “There is no who.”
He’s still staring at me, the tiny lightbulb in his brain flickering.
“Wait a minute...” he says like he’s a damn detective on SVU, but I already know where he’s going with this, so I cut him off.
“No.”
“You don’t even know what I was going to say!” He steps in front of my view, ruining the last good thing about this balcony.
“Yes, I do, and the answer is no.” I want to go inside to get away from him, but there are just more people in there I’d rather not talk to.
“Alright, man. If you say so...” He takes a step back, and I hope he’s about to go inside.
“I do.”
Holding his hand up to his ear in the shape of a phone, he says, “We could call her up, you know. Have a little reunion sesh.”
I give him the finger. “Go inside.”
He laughs but does as I say. Before closing the sliding door, he can’t help getting the last word in. In a rushed voice, he spits out, “I always thought you guys were cute together!” before slamming the door and disappearing into the party.
Fucking Chad.
I pull out my phone but there are still no messages from Claire. I should have figured as much. She made it clear that she wanted to do this on her own—whatever this is. I’m not sure how a shitty trip to Florida is expected to get you over a breakup, but then again, I did worse things after mine. She is uptight...maybe Florida will help her let loose a little. Maybe she’s already having fun and moving on, and maybe I should just shut up and be happy for her.
30
Claire
It’s taking everything in me not to cry.
Garret hasn’t called again, which I know is a good thing, but it doesn’t necessarily feel good. I think it’s safe to say our relationship is officially over. I wouldn’t call that last phone call closure, but it’s probably the closest thing I’ll get to it.
My Airbnb has two bedrooms, so I got to take my pick of where I would sleep, but both beds have light bedding on them. The blankets here are so thin.
Probably because this is Florida.
And Florida is hot.
But when you’re lonely and sad, sometimes it’s nice to wrap yourself in a thick blanket. Sometimes it’s nice to let a heavy quilt hug you and swallow up all your worries. I miss my bed at home. I miss Violet.
There’s no way she’d let me wallow. She’s not the wallowing type. She’d have had me up, dressed, and out on the town before I would have been able to protest. Then Garret would have called me while we were out at a club, and I would have tried to hide my phone from Violet because she would have wanted to talk to him.
Pulling the blanket up around me a little tighter, I smile at the thought.
As much as I miss her, I’m glad that I’m here. I’m not exactly the nightclub type, and going to one when I’m on the verge of tears sounds terrible. There will be plenty of time to go clubbing once I get back to New York. For now, I’ll just stay wrapped in this wispy blanket and try to get some sleep.
Opening my phone, I click on my contacts and see Aiden’s name. Knowing he’s here gives me a sense of comfort, and I can’t help wondering what he’s doing. I’m tempted to message him, but I’m not sure if it’s because I actually want to talk to him or because he’s my closest ally right now.
He’s the only person who knows what happened.
He’s the only person who knows I’m even here.
31
