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The description fits Blake’s boyfriend to a T.
“Yeah.” Blake nods. “Thank you. Wait, I don’t have cash to tip you. Mari, do you have anything on you?”
The guy at the door raises his hands. “Don’t worry, the mister took care of everything. Consider me already tipped.”
“All right.” Blake nods, and the guy leaves.
I help Blake bring all the goodies to the living room, where we settle on the couch.
“Are you in the mood for any of this?” she asks.
“I can’t have a drop of alcohol,” I say. “Sugar and fats are the next best thing.” I remove the lid on one of the hot chocolates and inhale the delicious scent, sighing. “I would never have guessed Gabriel Mercer to be the sweet type.”
Blake doesn’t even try to rein in her smile. “The guy’s full of surprises. But we’re not here to discuss him, or me. I want to know what happened to you.”
I take a sip of hot chocolate mixed with cream and let the warm sugar flood my system. “Did I ever tell you I got my heart broken once?”
“No,” Blake says. “I thought you’d never had a serious relationship.”
“Not as an adult,” I admit. “But in high school, I fell for the boy next door.”
“Aww.”
“No, don’t aww. It was the worst mistake of my life. But Johnny Raikes…” I stare at the ceiling while really looking into the past to all those years ago. “He was a jock but smart, one of the best in our class. A nerd in the body of an athlete, he was cute, witty, and charming.”
Blake flutters her hands in front of her face. “I need to fan myself.”
“Yeah,” I say. “He was a dream, and he could’ve had any girl in school, but he chose me. I was a goner the first time he asked me if he could take me to the movies. I swear, Blake, one smile and I was head over heels in love with him.” Before she can make any more gushing sounds, I threaten, “Don’t aww. We hate him.”
Blake scrunches her face in a mean expression. “Loathe him. We curse the day he was born.”
“That’s the spirit.”
“Anyway, we dated sophomore year through senior year, and you know how things feel when you’re fifteen: bigger, better, more intense than everything else.”
“I have no high school romance know-how, but I remember how hard I fell for Justin—blargh.” She makes a retching noise. “I was twenty, but I get what you mean.”
“John was my entire world, and I never wanted anything to change. And nothing did. We had the perfect high school romance, until the night he left.”
Blake’s eyes widen. “He left?”
“Yes.” My mind immediately goes back to that night, and the same wild emotions slam into me. My lower lip begins to wobble, but I refuse to cry. It’s over. I’m over it. It was a long time ago. I take a steadying breath and keep talking. “With no warning, no hint of what he was about to do.”
“I’m so sorry. I had no idea…”
“It was horrible,” I say. “He completely blindsided me. One day I was happy and in love and the next, I was alone.”
“But did you talk about it? How did he leave? What did he say?”
I shake my head. “I can’t go back to that night, sorry.” No matter how hard I fight them, tears roll down my cheeks. “He broke me.”
“Mari,” Blake says and wraps her arms around my shoulders, holding me tight. “Oh, Mari.”
“He made me lose confidence in myself, in the idea of love.” I put my drink down and cover my face with my hands.
“He didn’t break you, Mari. You’re the strongest person I know.”
“I know that, rationally. But deep down, I’m not sure.” I wipe my tears. “I’m having a baby on my own because I couldn’t find a scrap of a man.”
