Page 53 of The Chemistry of Us

A tear slid down my cheek. “Thank you for the lie.”

“I’m here still.”

That was the moment I knew.

Charity was interchangeable with the name Tru.

We were the same.

I collapsed onto my bed and let out a groan. My phone went off again. It was probably Sandra. Sadly, she was the only constant in my life so no matter how many times I’d felt like charity from her, she did at least never let me down when it came to her mood and gifts. Like clockwork, she’d send me things or have them delivered on holidays, not to mention she was paying for my school, but I hoped the money I earned from tutoring would at least help me crawl out from underneath her. I hated asking for money for books or for food, and it kind of felt good that she hated I was working because it somehow made her look less generous.

Ugh, what a mess.

A knock sounded at my door.

I groaned. “Go away!”

The knock got louder, and then, he said, “Coming in.”

“What the hell!” I jerked up onto my elbows.

Of course it was Vaughan. Great timing.

“Shouldn’t you be at practice or prowling the streets for your next whore? I’m not in the mood for negative and emotional banter. I mean it.”

Vaughan leaned against the doorframe. “Party.”

“Huh?”

“Tomorrow.” He smiled so wide that my heart skipped a beat. His wickedly dangerous dark blond hair was wet like he’d justshowered or at least gone for a run, and he was wearing the tightest black shirt known to humankind with shorts that did nothing but remind me that, yes, he was indeed a quarterback with ginormous quads who never skipped leg day.

Party? Did he mean like… my party? A party? Nobody had ever thrown me a party before. Was he serious, or did he mean, like party as in get drunk?

I sat fully up and crossed my arms. “Explain in less than thirty seconds, or I’m building a shank out of sheer willpower and rage.”

He pushed away from the door and sauntered over to me until I faced nothing but stupid gray shorts that hid nothing from my line of vision.

His clapping jerked me out of my staring contest with his dick. “Eyes up here, Cinderella.”

For the first time in a while, I was too exhausted to even have a nasty response. I just obeyed. “Are you going to explain?”

“Yeah, so tomorrow?—”

He remembered! I jumped to my feet. “Tomorrow?” Tears were actually welling in my eyes. In one small moment, he completely redeemed himself because he remembered. He remembered my birthday!

“Tomorrow!” He nodded seriously. “We party our asses off because I just got an A on my test, and it’s all thanks to you!”

He wrapped his arms around my body and hugged me tight. When I didn’t hug back, he pulled away and winked. “Nerd.” He started walking away. “Eight. Don’t be late. No excuses.”

“Right.” My breaths were coming out too fast. I could barely inhale, let alone exhale. “Eight.”

He shut the door behind him.

He didn’t see me collapse onto my bed.

If he had come into my room the next day, he would have still seen the tear stains on my pillow. He would be able to taste the sadness in the air.

The feeling of getting your hopes up only to realize it was for nothing.

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