Did she love him? No. But rejection always hurts. Worse when you’re still half-naked and wiping someone else’s sweat off your chest.
Possibly, she had known all along thisrelationship would never turn into something real, but there was still a small, stupid part of her that hoped, at least once, someone would pick her and mean it.
Not the fun girl, not the placeholder, only her as she was.
And every time they didn’t, she started to wonder if maybe the problem was her after all.
She wiped his sweat off her chest with the sleeve of her coat. Her skin still itched, and her dignity, too.
It was 3 a.m., and precisely one week before Halloween. So as she left his car, she hugged him goodbye and realized that her 5’3 self almost towered over him.
“Give short kings a shot, they’ll treat you right,” she muttered, quoting that dumb video. Funny how that sounded more like a curse now.
No one under 6’2 should have the audacity to break her heart with that much confidence.
She walked through the freezing rain outside, which matched her mood perfectly at the moment, and entered her pin-drop quiet home. Her soaked heels squeaked against the tile, and the cheap corset dug into her ribs like it wanted to make the night worse.
Too wired to go to bed, she got on her cellphone and started scrolling through TikTok, the app known for its short videos and unsettling emotional accuracy. The algorithm was, as usual, terrifyingly on-point. Clearly, her phone had heard the conversation. Because while technically, it wasn’t a breakup, even if it felt like one.
Every video hit too close to home, with snippets of heartbreak, betrayal, and catchy songs that summed up her entire love life better than she ever could. Even a couple of book recommendations, complete with crying emojis and darkcovers, promising “unhinged romance with actual orgasms.”
She wasn’t sure if she needed the book or the exorcism.
Then her phone went off with a message from him.
Maybe he changed his mind.
Did she even want that? Could she live her life with terrible sex? What was good sex in the scheme of things, anyway?
“Do I need to send you money for a morning-after pill? I want to make sure I don’t have a baby right now.”
Who says romance is dead?
* * *
She FaceTimed Maya because, really, who else could possibly relate to her cursed dating life better than her self-declared forever-alone best friend?
Maya picked up “Jesus, B. You look like you were exorcised.”
“That would imply something holy ever entered me.”
Maya laughed. “Didn’t he have a cross necklace?”
Blair groaned, “He kept it on. I think it was irony.”
Maya laughed harder. “Or defense. Maybe he figured if he finished too fast, the Lord would forgive him.”
“He did finish too fast and quoted Joe Rogan. No amount of prayer can cleanse that.”
“So, what’s the plan tonight? Cry into ice cream? Drink a bottle of wine? Accidentally summon a sex demon?”
Blair rolled her eyes. “Oh, obviously the last one. Gotta keep the streak alive.”
“Just make sure he’s hot and bound by a blood contract. No more freelancing bros.”
Blair tried to laugh, but it stuck in her throat. Her eyes drifteddown to the coffee mug in her hands, lukewarm.
Blair softly added
