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I nod, keeping a big, fake smile on my face. “It’s so wonderful that she’s back. I mean, you must be so happy.”
“Understatement,” he chuckles just before ordering himself a drink.
I watch him talk to the bartender, and the words are at the tip of my tongue.
Don’t ask, don’t ask…
He turns back to me.
“So, is she coming tonight?”
So much for not asking.
His smile turns a little sad. No, wait…it’s pity. Great. It’sthatobvious I’m unhappy in my relationship and dying to see my ex-girlfriend, to finally bring some joy to my miserable life.
“She wasn’t really feeling like partying. I’m sorry. To be completely honest with you, she…” He takes a beat as if testing that he actually wants to share this with me. “…she hasn’t really been herself. I’m trying to give her time to…” This time he pauses to look for the right word. “…adapt. And then, you know, I’m sure you can come visit her or something.”
“Yeah, yeah, for sure.” I try to sound casual. I guess it would have been a little more believable if I hadn’t been nodding repeatedly like those little nodding-dogs people put in their car.
An awkward silence settles between us. I love Jake, because he’s always been the biggest supporter of my relationship with Rose. And now…well, now he just doesn’t know what to do, does he? But if there’s one thing I can do with him, it’s to be ultimately myself about how much I love Rose.
“Jake, did you tell her I would be here tonight?”
His mouth twists before he nods.
I can’t begin to describe the disappointment that weighs on my stomach. She doesn’t want to see me. Of course, she doesn’t. It was hard enough to keep Rose to myself when we were in high school. She would break up with me so she could sleep with other people. She would break my heart over and over again because I wasn’t enough. What was I expecting now that we hadn’t seen each other for almost two years?
Jake’s gaze focuses on something behind me. The joy that lights up his eyes brings me warmth.
“I told her you’d be here tonight,” he confirms again. “And it fucking worked.”
“What?”
I snap my head around. I thought Jamie, his girlfriend, was behind me. There was so much love in his gaze.
It’s not Jamie.
No. Rose just walked into the living room. And don’t we all know when Rose White enters a room?
7
RACHEL
She calls me daddy– KiNG MALA
It’s like she never left. Time stopped in Stoneview; everyone stayed at this party and waited for her to come back. The same people, the same group of friends, the same personalities and imitators. Everyone is here, accounted for, ready to drug up their evening after downing their glasses. But most of all? The same reaction; all eyes on her. Except when they used to come up and talk to her, now no one makes a move. There are hushed voices that only start once her back is to them, sorry smiles and little waves. Only none of this affects her. She spent her high school years being the name on everyone’s lips at Stoneview Prep. This kind of attention doesn’t even raise her blood pressure.
No, she walks in like she owns every single soul in this room. Like we should all be bowing at her feet. She doesn’t do it on purpose; I know she doesn’t. She doesn’t hold herself like a queen. No, queens were always in the shadows. Rose holds herself like a king. Like she owns the power, knows it and isn’t afraid to wield it.
I’m thrown back to her last birthday we spent together. It was two years ago, one of the best nights of my life. I still touch myself to it when Conor falls asleep. This guy never stood a chance, for Rose had already ruined me for anyone else.
She spots Jake and me and walks toward us.
“One last thing,” he says to me before Rose reaches us. His next words are so rushed I barely catch them. “I didn’t tell her about Conor. Okay, bye, enjoy yourselves.”
One second, he’s talking, the next, he’s gone and Rose is standing right in front of me. I’m not short, standing at five-foot-five, but I had forgotten how tall she is. It’s like I’m rediscovering her all over again.
Her jet-black hair is longer than it used to be, it practically touches her ass now. Her skin still has that Mediterranean golden tan it’s always had, and I know I can safely put away my nightmare of a lightless basement. She looks…healthy. She’s skinny, but she’s always been skinny. She seems so normal. Her dark, blood-red lips, that impossible color no one could compare to, are stuck into half a smile. Always that half smile that makes her look like she knows you’re into her. She’s already figured it out.
