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I turn around to find a girl from my class, Maddie, waving to me. “We’re heading to the library to work on our papers. Want to come?”
I’d love to go with her. I have a lot to make up after missing the past two days, and getting a head start on the next paper would be a great way to take something off my plate. “I can’t,” I say with a sigh. “I’m meeting someone during my break, but if you guys go later this week, let me know?”
“You got it,” she says with a smile before catching up to the others.
Gathering the rest of my things, I swing my bag over my shoulder and head out to the busy streets of New York City to a nearby coffee shop. I told Garret that I have an hour between classes, so he should meet me any minute now.
The walk only takes a few minutes, and before I know it, I’m sitting at an outside table, and my nerves are getting the best of me. I ordered a coffee and a pastry, but now that I think about it, I probably should have skipped the coffee. My anxiety is through the roof as it is, the last thing I need is to add caffeine to the mix.
Nervously picking at the pastry in front of me, I can’t help glancing around the busy streets for any sight of him. The sooner we get this meeting over with, the sooner I can get on with my life.
It takes a few minutes, but as soon as I catch a glimpse of him walking this way, I drop my gaze and practically hold my breath until he’s at the table and says, “Hey.”
My eyes snap up to meet his.
“Wow,” he says with a sense of surprise. “You look different.”
“So do you,” I blurt with a weak smile. I don’t know why I said that. He looks exactly the same.
He’s extremely put together, and for half a second, I let myself wish I had spent a little more time in front of the mirror this morning. My messy bun has gotten gradually messier throughout the day, and the concert tee is so old that the neck is misshapen and stretched out.
Compared to his freshly pressed khakis and blue button-down, I probably look like I’ve been hit by a bus.
But I’m not here to impress Garret.
Giving me an amused raise of his eyebrow, he takes a seat across from me. “It’s great to see you.”
Running into the issue of not wanting to lie to him for the sake of his feelings, I deflect by saying, “You’re right on time,” and as much as I try to make it sound natural, it sounds like I’m just stating random facts about our encounter for the sake of having something to say.
He takes a seat across from me. “Of course, sweetheart. This is important.”
My gut tightens at the pet name. How can a name that used to seem endearing suddenly feel so condescending? How did I never notice how it sounded?
Once he sits, he immediately grabs hold of my hands, and my natural response is to cringe away from his touch. I fight the urge, but can’t help staring down at our hands that suddenly look so wrong together. I wonder if he notices how sweaty mine are, but he doesn’t say anything about it. Instead, he dives right into an apology. “I’m so sorry, Claire. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Pulling my hands away from him, I try to discreetly wipe them on my pants before resting them on my lap. “Yeah,” I say, sounding breathless. “I don’t know either.” I glance around at the other coffee shop goers, already looking for an escape. His eyes are too focused on me, and all it’s doing is making me think of the intensity I feel when Aiden looks at me.
Or how he used to look at me.
When my eyes rest on Garret again, I can’t help wondering why I dated him for so long. I feel turned off looking at him now, and I’m not sure how I never felt this before. Staring at him with newfound clarity, I feel more like Violet than I do myself.
Because he does sort of look preppy and entitled. He looks like the type of guy who would never show his raw emotion, or open up about his mistakes. And if he’s not willing to do either of those things, I have to wonder what we’re both doing here. When he called me before I walked into The Patch, I was so set on finding Aiden that I didn’t even ask Garret why he wanted to meet up. He just kept insisting that he needed to see me, and I eventually gave in for the sake of getting off the phone with him.
“Baby, please don’t throw away the past two years because I was stupid. You know I’ve been going through a lot. Ever since moving in with my dad, I’ve been lost. He’s never there because of work, and you’re always here. I haven’t really—”
“You could have stayed,” I say flatly.
“What?”
My shoulders lift in a small shrug, regaining my bearings. “You didn’t have to leave when you dropped out. You could have kept living in your apartment here instead of canceling your lease early. You could have stayed with me.”
He frowns and shakes his head. “Do you know the kind of stress I’ve been under? That internship last year nearly killed me. I couldn’t stay here.”
I take a deep breath before answering. “I thought maybe you needed some time off and would come back, but for the past year I’ve been the only one making an effort.”
His eyebrows furrow. “I’ve made an effort.”
“By sleeping with Shelly?” I give him a pointed stare. He still refuses to admit what he did, and my patience is wearing thin.
