Page 128 of Never Ever Getting Back Together

I blink, and try not to let the pain show on my face. “Ifshe did…” I say carefully, “I doubt she’d be okay with me accepting Jordy last week. And I think I deserve that, so.”

Jordy’s lip curls the slightest bit, but he wipes his face clean as Grayson asks him for a comment.

“I… well…” He lets out his breath in a heave. “I guess I…”

He goes on, but his voice fades away completely for me when a movement side-stage catches my eye.

It’s Skye and Isaac. She looks at Isaac, and he tips his head toward us.

Then, she smooths her dress down, and steps onto the set.

THIRTY-EIGHTSkye

My dad says I was born concerned.

My mom doesn’t say a word to me anymore.

I met a guy, and he almost made me believe love was worth the risk. Almost.

I made a single friend, and let her know me as well as I knew her. Then I left her to find adventure by myself.

I made multiple friends, without really trying to. An accident, I suppose.

I met a girl, and she made me believe love was worth the risk.

I regretted that misstep immediately.

So, my Maya, where does that leave us?

She rises and turns as soon as I walk on set. It’s just us, eyes locked, motionless.

The crowd doesn’t know what to make of us. It cheers, and it boos, and it murmurs under its collective breath. There’s quite a lot of hate in that crowd, and that alone inspires awe, because she could’ve stopped this. The out-of-context clips Jordy just played make her look horrendous—the perfect villain. Everything she isn’t.

She can stop this. But she hasn’t.

Grayson and Jordy look to me, too, now. They’re waiting for my move, but I don’t have anything planned. I was simply urged onstage by Isaac, and I came because the moment felt significant. But now that I’m here, at the apex of said moment, all I feel is terror.

Maya takes a hesitant step toward me, wearing an equally hesitant smile. “Hi.”

I want to trust that she won’t hurt me if I give her another opportunity to. I want to. But how can I?

Other than the knowledge that she’s told the world about us, instead of about Jordy.

Other than the fact that she barely looks bothered by the judgment and repulsion radiating off the crowd right now.

Other than the fact that she’s looking past Jordy and straight at me, as though nothing else exists.

I suppose that’s the thing about high risk, high reward.

You fall for someone. Head over heels. And then you take a leap of faith.

Mine is a smile.

As soon as she sees it, Maya understands. She holds out a hand, and I step forward to take it, and the crowd begins to screech.

Grayson shrugs at a gobsmacked Jordy and approaches us. “Skye, welcome back, welcome back,” he bellows until the crowd simmers down. “Now, from the looks of things here, it seems as though Maya’s feelings might not be unrequited? This is… well, I’ll be honest with you, ladies, not the love story everyone thought they were tuning in to hear about tonight.”

The crowd buzzes with laughter.

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