Page 106 of Getting Over You

Rory considers this. “Fine. If that’s what you want.”

“I have nothing to say to either of them.”

“You showed up here, excited to become somebody else and be Belinda’s doting daughter. Both ventures fell short.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I tell Rory. “I don’t need to prove anything to anyone. And I deserve more than a mother who doesn’t love me or a guy who strung me along. I don’t need love from them to feel loved. And they certainly don’t deserve to hear me say goodbye to them.”

“That’s my girl,” Rory says through a smile.

I know she’s trying to be encouraging, but her phrasing makes me think of Cade. “You know,” I admit, “I did change, being here. I did become someone else.”

Rory glances at me.

“With Cade. I wouldn’t—Icouldn’thave walked away from Cade at the beginning of the summer. Even if he would have slept with that girl at the bar back then, when this all started. He could have told me that, and I would have stayed, waited until he was ready to commit to me, even if that day never came. I would’ve continued to follow him around, want him close. Iwould have fought to make sure he wanted me more than he wanted her. Fought damn hard.” I let out a wet laugh. “The person I was at the beginning of the summer would’ve camped out in front of the apartment until he talked to me.”

“I know,” Rory says, rubbing my arm. “But you didn’t.”

I take a shaky breath. “But I didn’t. I walked away, didn’t beg, didn’t try to convince him otherwise.”

“You’ve come a long way since the girl I met who let Belinda order her a Diet Coke,” Rory says, bumping my arm with hers. “I’m proud of you.”

I smile, a warmth spreading. “Thank you. Me, too.”

“And don’t give Cade any credit for that,” Rory says, looking at me sternly. “You made those changes—a man didn’t do it for you.”

“I know,” I say softly.

But the only person I want to talk about my brave accomplishment with is the person who made me walk away in the first place.

Chapter thirty-five

That was the worst birthday ever.

My twenty-third year is off to a shit start.

My head is pounding so hard, the force alone will encourage me to puke out whatever is festering in my stomach.

I don’t remember anything after sitting down at Murphy’s and ordering a beer. Which terrifies me, because Gigi had plans for us yesterday.

And I don’t remember a minute of it because I was too busy drinking away my self-imposed sorrows.Fuck.

I sit up—or, at least, try to—until the aches and pains coursing through my system force me to stay put. Not to mention the way the room spins.

“EJ!” I call. “EJ! You here?”

My door flies open. It’s Rory in my doorway, looking less than pleased.

“I should have let you choke on your own vomit,” she says.

I squint, trying to make out her figure. “Where’s EJ?”

“He went to pick up your mom and Eddy from the airport. Asked me to stay here in case you came back from the dead. And look at you.”

I groan. “I forgot about that visit, goddamnit. I feel like shit.”

“You should,” she says.

“I need to apologize to Gigi,” I moan into my pillow. “But I don’t even know what for.”

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