“Things change.”
“Apparently.” She’s looking at me like I betrayed her somehow. Like I owe her something. “What’s her name?”
“That’s not?—”
“I deserve to know. After everything we had.”
“We didn’t have anything, Sienna. We dated for six weeks.”
“It meant something to me.” Her eyes are getting wet now and I recognize this trap. I’ve been in it before. “It meant everything to me.”
This is why I should have just ignored the DM. Why I should have told Juliette about it this morning instead of deleting it and pretending it didn’t happen.
“I’m sorry,” I say, and I mean it. I never wanted to hurt her. “I’m sorry I hurt you. But I’m with someone else now and I’m happy. I need you to respect that.”
She’s quiet for a long moment, staring at her untouched drink. Then she nods. “Okay. I get it. You’ve moved on.”
“I have.”
“Can I ask one thing?”
I should say no. Should stand up and walk out. Should have never agreed to this in the first place.
“What?”
“Is she better than me?”
“Sienna—”
“I’m serious. What does she have that I don’t?”
Everything. She has everything. She’s kind and funny andsmart and she doesn’t play games or manipulate or show up at my work after I’ve made it clear we’re done. She makes me laugh. She calls me on my shit. She looks at me like I’m worth something.
But I don’t say that. Instead I say, “She’s just, she’s right for me. In a way that you weren’t. I’m sorry.”
Sienna stands up abruptly, chair scraping against the floor loud enough that people look over. “I should go.”
“Okay.”
“Thanks for the coffee.” She grabs her bag and for a second she just looks at me. “You know what? I hope she breaks your heart the way you broke mine. I hope you know what it feels like.”
She leaves before I can respond.
I sit there for another minute, staring at my untouched coffee going cold, and realize this was so stupid. I should have shown her the DM and asked what she thought I should do. Should have been completely honest instead of sneaking around like I had something to hide.
Because now it looks like I had something to hide.
My phone buzzes again. I pull it out.
JuJu
How’s your day going? Mine’s boring without you here.
Good. Busy. Miss you.
JuJu
Miss you too. Still on for dinner?
