I understand everything she’s saying, but she still trashed the pair of sneakers my parents bought me four and a half years ago, which got me across the finish line of the very first charity run I ever completed. Back in high school…with Sloane.
I grit my teeth and wait for the usual wave of nausea to pass. The sneakers were the last link to my high school girlfriend. I haven’t seen or heard from Sloane Bishop in two years now. It took me a year before I accepted our relationship was really over. Sloane asked to go on a break in her sophomore year of college, and I couldn’t deny her. She’d been so overwhelmed and stressed out, it was painful to watch her suffer. I’d hoped she would’ve come to me, let me help her like I did in our senior year, but no matter what I did, Sloane pulled away.
In the end she needed to focus solely on college, and not on our long-distance relationship. Even though the break hurt, I still held out hope Sloane would come back to me when she felt her anxiety was under control again.
She didn’t.
I purged my life of everything that reminded me of her, except for the sneakers. There were simply too many memories attached to them to throw out. Hell, who am I kidding? I didn’t throwanythingout. I shoved everythingin a box and put it in storage, where it torments me on a daily basis. I doubt my mum has tossed it. She knows what the memories mean to me. Fuck, she knows what Sloane means to me…still.
Anyway, back to the point: now the sneakers are in the trash, and I finally have to let go and move on. Not with Amy, though. She’s not the right person for me, and we both know it. Our six weeks of dating consisted of a few pizza dates and sex. Not exactly romantic or intimate.
“Bye, Eden,” Amy calls as she leaves. I turn, but she’s already out the door. I think that’s the end of that, then.
“Shit, sorry, E.” Bella winces. “Is she leaving because of me?”
Snorting out a laugh, I shuffle over to our couch and fling myself down. “Well, yeah. You busted into my room in the middle of the night.”
Bella rolls her eyes. “And? Where’s her sense of humour?”
“She didn’t have one,” I state. “Whatever, it wasn’t working anyway.”
Becca comes out of her and Bella’s room and sits on her girlfriend’s knee. “Eden, maybe it’s time to start picking women you actually like.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Becca glares at me. “Come on, you know exactly what I mean. Ever since you dipped your toe back into the dating pool, you’ve chosen women totally wrong for you.”
“Babe,” Bella warns. “I’m the blunt one.”
Becca shrugs. “One of us has to say something, babe. Enough is enough.”
“I’m sitting right here!” I complain.
“We know,” they answer in unison.
“Creepy,” I mumble.
Becca climbs off Bella and comes over to me, where she unashamedly sits on my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck. “I know you’re still hurting, E,” she says softly. “I wish to fuck I could help or tell you why Sloane disappeared on us all.”
I see tears shine in her eyes. I’m not the only one Sloane pulled away from. Becca has been Sloane’s best friend forever, but since they were in different colleges, Sloane didn’t reach out to her as she usually would. The distance allowed Sloane to slip out of all our lives.
“I know,” I reply, sighing.
“Eden, it’s time you moved on, for real.”
I swallow. “I know. I promise I’m trying.”
All I’ve been doing for two years is trying.
2 years ago.
“Eden, what are you doing here?”
Not the loving embrace I was expecting, but okay. “Hey, babe, surprise!”
Sloane nibbles her lip. “Yeah, I can see that.”
Wow, okay, I’m properly striking out here. We’ve not seen each other in over four months, and Sloane has missed the past three video chats. I figured hopping on a plane and visiting was a sure bet. Clearly not.
