Harry:Oh. Okay. Of course.
Faith:OMG, you’re mad, and why wouldn’t you be—I’m so sorry.
Harry:No, it’s fine. I understand. Thanks for telling me.
* * *
“Dude.” Preston glanced up from my phone where he’d been reading over my texts from Faith, his expression sorrowful. “Harry, my boy. I’m sorry. That’s harsh.”
“Yeah.” I gave a sharp bark of laughter. “Well . . . what am I going to do? I can’t tell her that she should give me another chance—it’s nothing that I did wrong, or so she says. I can’t exactly suggest that she should choose me over her studies. Or over what looks like is going to be a promising career.”
“You’re not wrong.” Preston nodded gravely. “What if she’s the person meant to discover the cure for cancer, but she decided to date you instead, and no one ever finds the answers? That’s a lot of heavy on your head.”
“Yeah, I guess.” I took a long drink of guava juice and sighed. “You know. It is what it is. Time to move on.”
“Give yourself some time,” Preston advised. “It may be that this isn’t your cuffing season, after all. Maybe you and I are meant to be lone wolves. Maybe that’s the lesson of this particular cuffing season, but the next year . . . next year is ours.”
“It’s possible,” I muttered, but I wasn’t in any mood to be cheered up. This thing with Faith—it was hitting me hard, harder than it should have. After all, we’d only gone out twice, and the second date had been more of a meet-up than an actual romantic outing. We hadn’t made promises, and the truth was, I hadn’t even gotten around to inviting her for Friendsgiving. But still, I was hurt. Maybe it was just my pride, but that shit stung.
“Harry?” Sophia dragged out a chair at our table, draping her purse over the back. “Hey. Preston told me what happened. I’m sorry. I really am.”
“Yeah.” I stared morosely at the table. “Thanks.”
I was aware that my friends were exchanging glances over my head, but I was too depressed to care. “Is there anything we can do to make it better? To get your mind off her?” Sophia’s tone was unusually gentle and compassionate. “I work at seven, but afterward, we could hit one of the college bars and drown your sorrows in cheap beer and sub-par margaritas.”
“Not tonight.” I wagged my head. “Tonight, I just want to wallow. I’m not ready to forget. It’s too new. Too raw.”
They were both quiet for a few minutes. Sophia cleared her throat and looked at Preston. “I guess that makes us six at Friendsgiving, unless you asked Amber to join us.”
“Ah.” Preston tilted his chair back on two legs, his hands gripped the edge of the table to keep him balanced. “I asked her. But she said no.” He pressed his lips together. “She said she just had a bad break-up, and she’s not ready to date again.” He coughed. “But she was super nice about it. Like, she seemed really sorry that she had to say no.”
“Preston, why didn’t you tell me?” I felt like the worst friend ever. “Here I’m whining over here, and you’re suffering, too.”
He shrugged. “Hey, don’t worry about me. I just found out her name a week ago. I had hopes, but no expectations. It’s not like you, who actually went out with the yee. It’s okay.”
I slouched in my seat. “We’re a great example of a cuffing season gone wrong, aren’t we? We all end up alone.”
“Uh, speak for yourself.” Sophia’s eyes narrowed. “I’m still dating Zeke, and he’s been wonderful to me. Ironic, isn’t it, that the person who wasn’t actively seeking cuffing is the one who ends up in a relationship?”
I stared her down, and as I did, something mean and ugly began to take shape deep inside me. “Zeke. Huh.” My mouth twisted, as though I’d tasted something sour. “The only reason you’re seeing him is because Preston and I started talking about girls, and you didn’t want to feel left out. You’re with him because you wanted to show us that you could have someone, too. How long is he going to hang around, though, Soph? How long before you give him the old heave-ho since Preston and I aren’t dating anyone? You’re not in a relationship. You’re seeing friggin’ Zeke to make us feel bad.”
“Dude.” Preston breathed out the word. “C’mon on, now. Don’t do that.”
“No, Preston, let him talk.” Sophia leaned forward, and I knew I was in trouble by the way her eyes glittered. “Let him say what he’s been wanting to say for weeks. You didn’t think anyone would want to date me, did you, Harry? You thought it was safe for you and Preston to make a big deal out of this stupid cuffing season because no matter what happened to the two of you, I’d be here, waiting like always to be your friend, to hang out when no one else would. I was a nice, safe landing spot, wasn’t I?”
“Sophia, I don’t think—” Preston began, but Sophia held up one hand, her gaze never leaving my face.
“When I first mentioned that Zeke asked me out, you made fun of me. You’ve been snarky about him ever since, and you’ve avoided meeting him.” She began ticking off on her fingers. “Preston met Zeke. Vivian met Zeke. Hell, even yourmothermet Zeke. But every time I tried to set up something so you could, you bailed. And don’t think I don’t know why, Harry Davis.”
“Oh, yeah?” I managed to get in a word. “You should tell me why, Soph, since you seem to have all the answers.”
“Because you didn’t want me to have anyone else. Because you expected that I’d wait around for you for the rest of my life.” Her chair screeched against the floor as she slid it back and stood up. “You can play dumb all you like, Harry, but that doesn’t fly with me. You and I both know how I’ve felt about you for years. You knew it, and you ignored it. You pretended not to notice, but at the same time, it was mighty convenient. If no one else came along, you’d still have good old Sophia to talk to, to hang out with, to be the woman in your life, even when you refused to acknowledge me.”
“I—I—” My head was spinning, but Sophia wasn’t slowing down to let me catch up.
“Must have been nice to know you had a safety net all this time.” She stamped her foot, and for the first time, I realized that her bottom lip was trembling. “Must have been nice to know that even if all the women you’ve been chasing after turned you down, I was still waiting in the wings. And then suddenly, I had someone else in my life, someone who put me first and didn’t treat me like some kind of also-ran.” She leaned forward. “Did you ever stop to think, Harry, how it made me feel when you were talking about those other women? Do you know how much it hurt me, every single time? Do you know how hard it was to keep my mouth shut and listen when you went on and on about them?”
Mutely, I shook my head.
