Page 162 of Colliding with Ten

After almost two weeks with Lennox, even a luxury hotel with the best amenities didn’t feel like a good place to live. His absence didn’t help either. And not seeing AJ made it worse. I felt alone.

Meadow texted, "I’ll be there at ten."

She showed up with two coffees and a paper bag of pastries, including croissants and doughnuts. She sat on the hotel room chair, smiling at me over her coffee. “That California sun looks good on you.”

Lennox had kept me well fed, in more ways than just food.

“California was a good break,” I said, smiling. “And Lennox was great.”

Meadow's eyes twinkled. “I knew he would be good for you.”

I laughed.

She lifted her coffee. “I’ve been waiting weeks to say ‘I told you so.’”

I shook my head, chuckling.

“Don’t ruin this for me.” She dropped her voice. “Was it really good?”

My smile slipped.

Meadow’s expression changed to concern. “Ayla?”

I looked down into my coffee. I tried to answer, but I couldn’t form the words. How do you explain to someone that your heart was breaking, but it was all your fault?

“Hey...”

I pressed my lips together, willing them to stop trembling. “We . . .” My voice caught. I swallowed hard and said, “We broke up.”

Meadow set her coffee down on the bedside table.

“What? No.”

I stared at the carpet because if I looked at her, I would cry.

The tears came anyway. Suddenly, I couldn’t catch my breath. I folded, covering my face, trying to swallow it back.

“Hey.” Meadow was beside me before I realized she’d moved.

She wrapped her arms around me and held me while everything I’d spent the last twenty-four hours keeping locked inside poured out.

Meadow pulled back to look at me. “What happened?”

I wiped at my face, but the tears kept coming. “I left.”

Her brow knitted together.

“I left him.” The words felt wrong. I laughed bitterly. “AJ’s going to be thrilled.”

“No.” She shook her head. “He doesn’t want you upset, Ayla.”

“How is he?”

“He’s busy with football. They think they can make the playoffs. But I don’t want to talk about playoffs. I want to talk about you.”

I told her about showing up at Lennox’s door in pieces and how we spent the next few days doing nothing remarkable. Most nights, I searched for schools online while he studied game film. We were happy.

Then I told her about Dad’s voicemail, blocking his number, and how I got here. By the time I was done, the lid of my coffee had a small dent where my thumb had been pressing without me realizing. “How is AJ doing besides football?”