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“Because this isn’t real,” Sid said. His back was still to the group. “It never was.”
The ground beneath me gave out, and I felt like I was falling down a black pit. I’d never been more humiliated in my entire life. Rebecca let go of my hand and looked disappointed. We’d come so far in our relationship, but Sid exposing our lies had shattered it in a matter of seconds. Most of our friends looked confused.
“Itlookedpretty real,” Mindy said. “I guess I don’t understand.”
Sid took a deep breath and then turned to face everyone. He wouldn’t look me in the eye. “Kat and I faked the entire thing.”
“I knew it!” Frank shouted.
“Shut up,” Mindy said. “I want to know why. Why would you lie to your friends and family about something like that?”
Sid paced. “I offered to be Kat’s date to the gala to get her parents off her back as long as she agreed to be my fake girlfriend to get my mom off mine. It wasn’t supposed to go past that night, but then Kat’s mom was attacking her, making her feel like shit, and I blurted out that we were engaged. Then the damn gossip rag got a hold of it, and it blew up from there.”
“Didn’t you trust us to keep your secret?” Mindy asked. “You lied to us all.”
My chest felt like it was caving in, and I couldn’t breathe. I panted and tried to suck air into my lungs, but it wasn’t working. No one seemed to notice that I was suffocating.
Sid grabbed at his hair. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
“What do you mean?” Frank asked.
He glared at me. “We weren’t supposed to get close. I was helping her out.”
Rebecca frowned. “Helping her out?”
“Yeah, with your parents.”
I shook my head and stood. “It might have started that way, but then things changed between us. At least they did for me. I’m such a fool. Here I thought we had a connection, but I was wrong. So wrong.”
He said nothing, and it sliced the wound in my chest open further. I looked down, expecting to see a gaping hole where my heart used to be.
“Is this because of—” Frank started to ask.
“This has nothing to do with her!” Sid shouted. His face was murderous.
“So there is something going on with your past,” I said. “I told you about mine, but you wouldn’t open up about yours. At least I was brave enough to share my past with you. But even though I told you how embarrassing that whole situation was for me, you went and exposed us to everyone like it all meant nothing.”
He grabbed fistfuls of his hair, looking slightly deranged. “This entire thing has gotten out of hand. You moved into my house and took over. We didn’t even talk about it, Katerina. You just moved all of your stuff there while I was away and then moved into my room.”
“I did not move into your room. To your house, yes. But that was because ofyourlies.”
“I did it to help you,” he yelled. “I didn’t ask you to move in or plan a fucking wedding.”
Anger exploded through me. “I only started planning our wedding because your mom, my mom, and our friends ambushed me.”
He shook his head. “Take some responsibility for this. You jumped at the chance to be with me so you could find your happily ever after. That’s what you were doing in Vegas, right? Getting ready to marry someone even though they didn’t love you? Just for a shot at happiness.”
Embarrassment and rage swirled inside me, making my body vibrate. I wanted to kill him for what he’d just said, but I also loved him. The pain of losing him and the hateful things he was saying overwhelmed me, and I collapsed into my chair.
“Too far, Sid,” Rebecca said.
“What was that before the tree-lighting ceremony? A goodbye fuck?” I asked with tears in my eyes.
His head snapped to the side as if I’d smacked him. “No.”
“Were we not making love?” A whimper escaped me.
He hung his head.
