Page 151 of How to Lose at Love

Why now?

“Why is this happening?” I whisper.

Winnie reaches for my hand now that I’ve set the phone down. I had to stop staring.

“Because she’s one of those girls who doesn’t care, and now that he’s being plastered all over the news, she wants her fifteen minutes of fame.”

But it doesn’t use her name in the article, does it? The headline reads: DALLAS COLTER CAUGHT IN A LOVE TRIANGLE WITH MYSTERY BLONDE.

Mystery blonde? Ha.

“Her name is Tiffany, and she lives next door.”

Winnie puts her hand over her mouth, covering her gasp. “No.”

“Yes.” I pause, on the verge of tears. “I wonder how long they’ve been sneaking around.”

“Ryann, maybe this isn’t what it looks like.”

I shake my head. “Please. That’s what everyone says when they get caught. Don’t get caught up in the cliché. Cameras have been following him around all week…he had to have known someone was there taking photos.” I have another thought. “Maybe this is how he’s trying to break up with me.” I look across the counter at Winnie, my wine glass long forgotten. “He was full of shit the other night when he said he wanted to try to make us work.”

“He wouldn’t do that,” she says emphatically, coming to his defense.

I laugh, but it’s not a cheerful laugh; it’s sardonic and angry. “You don’t even know him. You don’t know what he would and would not do.” This time I do pick up the wine glass, slamming the liquid the same way Winnie did, drinking most of it in one gulp. “He’s a guy.”

“He’s a guy,” Winnie repeats. “Maybe we shouldn’t be stereotyping?”

“Why are you defending him?”

Winnie’s mouth opens and closes. “I’m not defending him! I’m just saying—you don’t know he’s a cheater. You don’t know this is his way of breaking up with you. I think this is your knee-jerk reaction. Maybe once you call him to talk, you’ll—”

I laugh again. “Oh no. No, no, no, I am not calling him. Are you out of your mind?No.” I say it again and again, wanting to hear none of this. My hands slash the air like an air traffic controller to illustrate my no-ness.

Winnie holds her hands up. “I get it. I know.” She pauses, choosing her words carefully. “I know you’re upset, and I can’t imagine how pissed off and hurt you are, but maybe you shouldn’t jump to conclusions?”

Is she being serious right now? “If this were Rookie, you would be dragging me out of here to light the fraternity house on fire, but not before lighting his grass on fire and calling him out on social media.”

She shrugs, a small smile bending her lips. “True, but this is you we’re talking about. That’s not your style. You’re the sensible one in our relationship.”

The sensible one.

The responsible one.

Both reasons why Dallas chose me.

I go to class, I rarely party, I never do anything stupid or that I’ll regret.

What a pity.All that impulse control has done me no good up to this point, has it? All it’s led to is a boy taking advantage of me and making me look like a damn fool to everyone on campus.

Humiliating.

Crushing.

Demeaning.

“I thought he was trying to help his reputation, not ruin it,” I mutter to myself.

Winnie catches it. “What do you mean he’s trying to help his reputation? What’s wrong with it?”

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