Page 55 of Revenge Cake

I’m against the practice as a whole, because breaking up should never be about the other person. It should be only ever be about you.

And I would never violate my principles with such a petty vengeance. With such little reward! What’s the fun in posting a meme when you can’t even see his reaction to it?

No, revenge is only worth it if it’s grand and spectacular. Revenge should be the steadily growing shock in his pretty green eyes when you break up with him while he’s still inside you.

I lift my Indiana University acceptance letter into the morning sunlight before snapping a picture with my phone.

I snort out a laugh just before I press the button to post it to my Story. This is so much better than a breakup meme.

I should have my entire list accomplished by end of day.

***

Logan

It’s been five days since my last conversation with Leilani.

I’ve stuck to my list, resisting all urges to contact her. I even taped it on my bedroom wall like Keira originally suggested as a reminder of the commitment I made, and Keira has been sending me daily encouragement, reminding me that the list is not only good for me but good for Lani too. If I want her to get healthy, I have to stick to my boundaries.

I might find that comforting if I wasn’t dying inside.

I can’t do this for one more day. I need to know what she meant when she said she’s learning to live without me. Was she just trying to unnerve me, or is she actually feeling so much better that she doesn’t need me anymore?

I haven’t checked her Instagram once since I made my list. Then again, it wasn’t difficult. Lani hasn’t posted to her Story at all since the start of our break.

Until this morning.

I felt like a saint for not pressing on it the moment it appeared at the top of my feed, but my self-congratulatory high has waned in the hours since then. I’m dying of curiosity, but is it really worth violating my list when it might just be a picture of her morning coffee?

Yes, I quickly decide. It will be worth it to know that’s it’s only a picture of her morning coffee—maybe with one of those heart or leaf designs she likes to make with the foam—and not a picture of her holding her morning coffee with Dean laying in her bed in the background.

I open the Instagram app while I’m driving, blaming my lapse in judgment on the distraction of my mind. Without giving myself a chance to reflect, I press on Lani’s Story. I’m perplexed when I see what looks like some kind of university letter. Lani wrote a caption underneath that says, “So this happened.” I squint to read the small writing on the top of the letter, my eyes skimming the text frantically from top to bottom and back again, over and over before the picture quickly disappears. I only really caught two important things. “I am pleased to inform you” and “Indiana University.”

“I am pleased to inform you” means she was accepted.

To graduate school.

I drop my phone on my lap. “What the fuck?” I shout.

And maybe I can also blame the distraction of driving on my next decision. I pick up my phone, pull up Leilani’s name, and send her a text.

Me: I’m coming over.

I expel a quivering breath, self-loathing and relief flooding me all at once. Yes, I’ve backslid again. But what’s done is done, and now I have to see her. I put on my signal and make an illegal U-turn.

CHAPTER 22

Past—The Night Lines Were Crossed

Logan

“Hey, stranger.” When I whip around, beer splashes out of the bottle in my hand, a cold stream running down my arm. I lift my hand to my mouth and lick from my wrist to my thumb.

“Classy,” Keira says with a wide smile.

My answering grin is so big, I must look like an idiot. Jesus, she’s gorgeous, with her pale blue eyes and dark hair. Such a contrast, just like the rest of her. She looks so sharp with her prominent cheekbones and square jaw, but she’s so soft on the inside. The complete opposite of Leilani, who looks so soft with her full cheeks and big brown eyes, but she’s…

No. I can’t go there.

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