“What are you doing sitting in the cold, weirdo?”
I chuckled. “Waiting for someone.”
“Clay?”
His name sucked the smile off my face like a vacuum. “No,” I said, swallowing. “Just a friend.”
Riley nodded, quiet for a moment before asking, “You ever going to tell me what happened between you two?”
“I would if I knew.”
She frowned. “What does that mean?”
“It means he’s back with Maliyah, but I… I just know that’s not what he actually wants.”
“How do you know?”
I let out a breath, eyeing her for a moment before I turned to face her fully, and because I knew how big of a deal they were to her, I held out my pinky. “Pinky promise you won’t tell a soul what I’m about to tell you?”
Her eyes lit up, complete seriousness washing over her as she hooked her digit around mine. “My lips are sealed.”
And with that promise, I spilled everything.
Not just the version I’d told my dad, which had been sugarcoated and left out many details, but the full story. I told her about our agreement, how it had been fake at first — to which she perked up and declared I knew it! I told her that somehow along the way, things changed. My cheeks tinged red when I admitted that I was a virgin, and how Shawn singing his stupid steamy song had made me panic and beg Clay to help me not be anymore.
Everything.
The observatory, the auction, the days and nights we’d spent wrapped up in each other.
The break.
I couldn’t fight back my tears when I told her that part, and she squeezed my hand in hers, nodding like she knew exactly what I was feeling. After what happened between her and Zeke last semester, I had no doubt she really did.
“So, like I said, I’d tell you what happened if I understood it myself, but I don’t. He just… ended it. And I don’t care what he says about being back with Maliyah, I know it’s not what he wants. I just don’t know why he’s doing this.”
“Do you think he felt bad for hurting her? Or maybe she has something on him!” Riley bounced. “Oh my God, maybe she’s a sneaky cheerleader drug dealer and he got caught up in her web, and now she has him by the balls and he has no choice!”
I blinked. “Okay, I read mafia romance books for fun, and not even my brain went there.”
Riley shrugged. “Could be possible. Just saying.”
I smiled, but it fell quickly as I shook my head, still trying to process what had been plaguing me since he left my apartment that night. “I don’t know. But my Dad gave me some pretty sage advice last week. He told me I might never get the answers I need,” I said. “And that I needed to move on.”
Riley frowned. “Why does that make me want to cry?”
“Because it’s awful and unfair,” I answered. “But… he’s right. I don’t know what Clay’s keeping from me, why he did this, but all that really matters is that he did it. He broke up with me.” I shrugged. “As much as it kills me, I have to just accept that and figure out a way to keep going.”
Riley shook her head. “You’re stronger than I am.”
“Tell that to the ice cream-stained pajamas and mountains of tissue littering my bedroom right now.”
Riley leaned her head on my shoulder, slipping her arm through mine again. “You love him,” she whispered.
My throat constricted. “I do.”
“Isn’t it the worst?”
I choked on a laugh at that. “Yes,” I agreed. “It really, truly is.”
She was quiet for a long moment, and then she squeezed my arm. “I’m really sorry. And also, really mad at you for not telling me any of this. We’re friends, G.”
“I’m not really used to having friends,” I admitted.
“Well, get used to it. Especially because if you ever have a secret pleasure-fest where a man acts out your dirtiest book fantasies again, I want every sordid detail as it unfolds.”
I laughed at that, but then an acute sadness pierced my lungs. “God, that really was the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me.”
“He’s one of a kind, that boy,” Riley said softly, and for a moment, we were both silent. Then, she sat up, nudging me. “But so are you. And you’re going to be okay, no matter what happens next.”
“Thank you, Riley.”
She smiled, and then her eyes flashed somewhere behind me. “Your guest is here.”