"He looked so angry," I whisper. "I've never seen him like that."
"He's hurt. People do stupid things when they're hurt." She squeezes my hand. "Give him time. He'll figure it out."
"What if he doesn't? What if this ruins everything for him?"
"Then that's his choice to make." She stands up, heading toward my tiny kitchen. "We need wine.”
“Wine is the last thing we need.”
“Girl, I was two minutes from finally getting the thing I’ve been chasing for months. I need wine.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Sorry. You could have stayed and finished things.”
“Wine.”
“Fridge. In the fruit drawer.”
“I like it. Poetic.”
She brings the bottle and flops down. “Ow. A spring just goosed me.”
“Sorry. The apartment is functional, not comfortable.”
“I’m not looking for glasses.” She takes a drink straight from the bottle and hands it to me.
I take a drink and sigh. “We’re going to have hangovers with all this mixing.”
“We’re in college. We’re supposed to be hungover on Sunday.”
She takes her turn with the bottle. "So. Connor. What's his deal?"
"There is no deal. We were just talking. He was nice to me when I needed someone to be nice. That's it."
"Did you want it to be more?"
I think about that.
"No," I admit. "I was using him as a distraction, which makes me a terrible person."
"It makes you human." Keira takes another swallow. "You're allowed to be a mess right now, Sutton. You're allowed to make mistakes, do stupid things, and not have it all figured out. You just ended a relationship with someone you love. You don't have to have your shit together."
“I feel like the villain in this story."
"You're not a villain, Sutton. You're human. Welcome to the perfectly imperfect club. We’re not so bad here."
"He was going to sleep with that girl," I say quietly. "Amber. She was leading him somewhere when he saw me with Connor."
"But he didn't."
"Only because he saw me first."
"You don't know that. Maybe he would have stopped. Maybe he would have realized he didn't want to. You can't know what would have happened."
"It doesn't matter. We're done. I ended it. He's moving on. I'm moving on. That's how this works."
"Except you're not moving on. Neither of you is." She turns to face me fully. "You're both just hurting each other."
I take the bottle and take a very healthy swig. “This sucks.”
