I love Nate Wesley, and I’m going to lose him.
“You’re fooling yourself if you think he’d still want you. Nate doesn’t want this.” She gestures in my direction. “He wants a real woman.”
I can’t speak. I can’t move. I’m frozen in place while she takes my happiness and rips it apart.
She watches me for a moment longer, like she’s waiting for me to crumble completely, but when I don’t say anything else, she turns and walks away, leaving the yearbook on my desk, open on the photo that will take everything.
I press a trembling hand to my chest, but it does nothing to steady the panic and nausea clawing up my throat, her words on repeat in my head as I break down in the empty room.
Nate doesn’t want this.
He wants a real woman.
He would hate you.
I’ve been sitting at my desk, staring at my freshman photo for who knows how long. Everything is starting to feel blurred, distant, like nothing is real.
The door opens again, and my stomach drops, thinking Savannah decided to come back, but when I look up, it’s onlyLayla.
She steps inside, brows furrowing when she sees the state that I’m in, but I can’t bring myself to hide.
“Iris?” She crosses the room, setting her purse on a desk as she approaches me. “Hey, what happened?”
I shake my head, unable to respond.
“We were supposed to get dinner,” she reminds me, trying to coax me back into the world.
I look up at her from where she stands over me. It’s Layla. The best friend I’ve ever had. I reach for her hand, holding on like it’s the only thing keeping me from floating away.
“I have to tell you something.”
Nate
It’s late when we get back from Layla’s party.
The snow bites at my face as I help Iris down from the truck, and I can still smell cinnamon from those Christmas candles Layla loves so much. There’s glitter all over Iris and me, in turn, from the paper that Layla wrapped her present in.
A snow globe with a picture of them at the school Christmas party, “besties 4ever” engraved on the bottom.
Cheesy as hell, but it made Iris light up.
We’re halfway across the yard when Alex comes down the steps in a hurry, not even sparing us a glance. “I’m heading out.”
“We just got home,” I call after him, but he doesn’t slow down, doesn’t even look back.
“Thought we had a breakthrough, y’know?” I say to Iris as we climb the porch steps. “But it still feels like I’m losing him.”
“You’re not losing him, Nate. He loves you,” she places a gentle hand on my arm. And I believe her.
I trust her, even if I don’t trust myself.
While I’m unlocking the door, she looks around at the decorations. The lights, the wreath, that goofy Rudolph Alex had a fit over when he was a kid.
She watched while Alex and me put everything up, giving usdirections. We had fun that day, right after the championship. But sometime around then, Iris started acting weird. More closed off. She barely touches me lately.
“You’ve been quiet,” I say, attempting to broach the subject as I push the door open. “Everything alright?”
Once we’re inside, she hesitates, picking at her scarf.
