“Never have I ever been suspended.”
“Nope.”
“Detention?”
I grin. “Once. Talking.”
“Shocking.”
We move through childhood stories. Awkward middle school phases. Bad haircuts. College mistakes.
Then his tone shifts.
“Never have I ever been married.”
“Neither have I,” I say.
He nods.
“Never have I ever been engaged.”
My stomach tightens.
I hesitate.
He notices immediately.
“You have?”
“Yes.”
He doesn’t flinch.
“About a year ago,” I say quietly. “We called it off.”
“Why?”
I trace the condensation on my water glass.
“We weren’t aligned anymore. Maybe we never were. We’d been together for years. It was comfortable. Predictable.”
“And?”
“And I realized I was building a life I didn’t want.”
He watches me carefully.
“It wasn’t dramatic,” I continue. “No betrayal. No explosion. Just… slow drifting.”
“That can hurt worse.”
“It did.” I exhale. “But honestly? The relationship had been over long before the engagement was.”
“So you moved.”
“Yes.” I meet his eyes. “I wanted a place where no one knew me as half of a former couple. I wanted another chance to fall in love.”
The words hang between us.
