Plot Twist(62)

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” He put his hands up, as if to shield himself from her. “When did you get so angry?”

“I’m not angry. I’m just being honest. You were a jerk!” Her voice was absolutely getting louder, but she found she couldn’t just sit back and let Kyle be Kyle. She’d done plenty of that when they were together.

The waiter dropped off their drinks, and Kyle immediately took a swig from his glass. Sophie wrapped her hands around the cold tumbler, willing herself to calm down. Because while talking to Kyle had never exactly been easy, she found this whole interaction infuriating. Even if he wasn’t totally wrong.

Sophie exhaled and steeled herself to do the thing she’d never done when they dated: confront him. “You know what, Kyle? The truth is that you wanted me to be the easygoing type and ignore that you were always hitting on girls after shows. I saw you do it all the time. But that got really old. And yes, I should’ve just confronted you about it. But I didn’t feel like I could, because then I wouldn’t be that perfect cool girl you needed me to be.”

She thought of Poppy and how she’d be fist-pumping the air for her. She decided to press on, just to make Imaginary Poppy proud. “And what about when I told you that you were addicted to your phone, and you told me I was the one who was a tech addict because I needed a pacemaker to live?” She touched the scar on her chest for emphasis, not that he could even see her doing that in the darkness of the restaurant, but still, it was the principle of the thing.

“Well, uh, you do.” He chewed on a piece of ice as he spoke, and vodka-water dribbled down his chin. “It was just a joke. You laughed at it back then.”

“I always had to laugh at your jokes because of your fragile ego!” Okay, yes, she was shouting now, and it felt really good, too. “That’s why I broke up with you!”

“No, Sophie, you have trust issues. Period. That is why we broke up. Not because I made some clever joke about your pacemaker or because I had adoring fans.”

Sophie rolled her eyes at the fan comment. She already had more fans on social than he’d likely had at any of his shows.

“Kyle Slannis?” Someone tapped on the end of a microphone. “Kyle to the stage, you’re up.”

Sophie’s mouth dropped open. “Did you seriously ask me to meet you at a bar where you’re doing a stand-up set?”

“What? You always loved coming to my shows.” He raised his hands in a what-can-you-do kind of gesture.

“You clearly haven’t been following the fact that most of our relationship was one big lie, on my part.” Sophie stood up, eager to flee. “I think I got all the closure I’ll ever get.”

“Whatever. Can you make sure to close out our tab?”

Sophie ran a hand through her hair and grabbed the end of her messy bun. “Our tab? I ordered a water.”

“Yeah, but I have to go onstage, and you always used to get the tab.” He leaned down to give her a ridiculous peck on the cheek, which she didn’t even have time to swat away.

But when he pulled away, she did have time to grab his vodka and toss the remaining icy water all over his shirt. “This time, the tab is on you.”

“Are you serious right now?” Kyle jumped back from the spot where he stood and desperately tried to wipe the wetness off his shirt.

“That’s something I should’ve done a long time ago.” Sophie’s fists balled at her sides. She turned and walked away from Kyle and the table.

As she exited the bar, adrenaline rushed through her. She knew that she wouldn’t be learning much from this experience with him. He accused her of having trust issues, but what he really meant was jealousy. She supposed she was a little jealous, at times: not wanting to share Jewel with an open relationship, and spying on Kyle to see if he was cheating. Maybe jealousy could be holding her back from falling in love, but it also felt like she’d just picked the wrong people.

Sophie checked her phone while walking to the bus stop, and there was a message waiting from Carla.

Seriously long night. Can we hang soon?

Sophie should’ve been thrilled, but all she felt was empty.



26

DASH

Dash had been in recovery long enough to know that there were good days and bad days. On the good days, he only had brief thoughts about drinking that flickered like a failing light bulb. On the bad ones, drinking became more of a daydream he couldn’t wake from.

More specifically, he’d fantasized about how easy it would be to just head out his front door, cross the lawn, open the gate, and walk the two blocks to the liquor store. He’d buy a dark brown bourbon, bring the bottle to the register, and have his first long pull right there in the store before carrying it back home to fill a tall tumbler. He ached to have the burn across his throat as he swallowed down the one thing that could numb all his thoughts.

He never should’ve agreed to meet Cindy or to help his parents with the speech. Or help Sophie. That last thought crossed his mind, but then he pushed it away. Sophie was the one change that hadn’t been a mistake. While the others had brought self-doubt and anxiety, she was light and air and one of the few people who accepted him for exactly who he was.

But he couldn’t dwell on her for long. He had to stay busy to keep his mind from wandering to how nice it would be to just give in to the inevitable and drink. So he’d decided to take on a bigger-scale project because he needed an outlet to pour all of his feelings into.