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Remi rubbed her temples. “Colton and I were on our way to the park when the paparazzi surrounded us. They caught us holding hands and asked if he and Liz were through.”
“Oh no.”
“Yeah. Instead of saying yes, he and Liz are done dating, he dropped my hand so fast my head spun. Then he stepped away from me and told everybody we’re just friends.”
“But he only did that because everyone thinks he’s dating Liz.”
“That contract was up last night. He told me so.”
“Still, he might have been flustered being caught with another woman before he had a chance to officially break things off, right?” Brooke’s mouth dropped open. “You’re not jealous of Liz, are you?”
“No,” Remi huffed. “I’m not jealous. Geesh.”
“Then why are you so mad?”
“Because. He walked away from me. He just turned his back on me to go to Liz.” Tears threatened to come this time, and she blinked them back.
“Yeah, that wasn’t very nice.”
“See? I’m not crazy for being upset, am I?” She sat up in her chair. “What he did was kind of a jerk move, right?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Especially with all that paparazzi around. I don’t usually deal with all of that. It was hard getting out of that crowd.”
“Okay, I see why you’re mad,” Brooke said, but she wasn’t super convincing. It was like she was just saying it to appease Remi.
She folded her arms and looked back out the window at the puffy clouds. She was hoping talking to Brooke would make her feel better, but it didn’t. She was still mad about the whole thing. And hurt. And even though she knew why she was upset, a part of her knew it was a little unreasonable.
Brooke reached under the seat in front of Remi and pulled out her backpack. She unzipped it and took out Remi’s crush book. “I guess you won’t need this, then.”
Remi’s stomach clenched and she reached for it, but Brooke pulled it away too quickly.
“Give me that,” Remi said, her voice low.
“Why do you want it? Colton is a jerk. You said so yourself.” Brooke gave Remi a smug look as she let the backpack slide to the floor of the airplane.
“I just want it. It’s mine.”
Brooke tossed the crush book on Remi’s lap. “Fine. Keep it. But you should spend some time thinking about why you want a book full of Colton pictures if you hate the guy.”
Brooke went back to playing games on her phone. Remi stared down at her Colton crush book. Her book she’d had since she was twelve. There was no way she could get rid of it. Her favorite memories were enclosed in there.
She turned to the first page. She and Colton had walked to the railroad underpass one summer afternoon when they were bored. They’d found flattened pennies that local kids had put on the train tracks. She’d wanted a photo of Colton, so she took a selfie of them. She touched the smooth surface of the photo. Colton’s dimple made her butterflies come to life. He looked so young in the picture. It was the first picture she’d taken of him. The first of many.
She flipped through the pages remembering their summer adventures. There were pictures of Colton on her couch playing video games or in the kitchen sneaking an ice cream cone. She had pictures of them in the park after a bike ride, and photos in their backyard when they would roast marshmallows. Remi’s throat grew tight as she remembered all the good times they’d had. And the hard times as well.
Colton had been her support through her parent’s divorce. It had been the worst time of her life. She very nearly had a tailspin into a major depression. It was Colton who didn’t let her stay in her room all day. He’d come over and just sit on her bed with her. He distracted her with her favorite video games. He let her vent to him about how angry at her father she was. It had meant so much to have him there.
She had fallen hard for Colton when they were young, but something had changed this week. Her feelings had matured.
A tear rolled down her cheek as she thought about how he’d let go of her hand.This is just a friend of mine.Those words had cut through her so deeply. It physically hurt.
She loved Colton. Really loved him.
And seeing him deny any feelings for her and turn away had devastated her.
The speaker system turned on and the captain announced the plane would be landing soon. Remi stuffed her crush book back into her backpack and shoved it under the seat in front of her. Brooke was right. She was being unreasonable. She knew why Colton had done that. It didn’t mean he had no feelings for her.
