Page 41 of Did They Break You

I take a breath as I rise, lugging the weights to the rack again.

Sloane finishes beside me, putting her weights down and tightening her high ponytail. She tugs down her loose, teal workout shirt, and the color reminds me of West River.

Frowning, she reaches into her shirt and pulls her phone from her bra. It’s lit up, and as she sees the name across the screen, her mouth pulls into a wide smile.

“Oh my God,” she says, “he’scallingme!”

I widen my eyes at her excitement.I hate calls.“Yippee,” I tell her, my voice deadpan, but I’m smiling, too.

She sticks out her tongue but swipes to answer the call, holding it to her ear, her eyes on mine. “Hello?”

I pull out my own phone as she talks to who I assume is Asa, and I see Van has texted me back.

Van

I’ve got some good things for you today. Also. Friday. Ryann wants to meet you.

I briefly consider it for Van’s sake but still really want to say fuck no because he probably wants me at another party, when Sloane ends her call and nudges me with her shoulder. “He asked me out for coffee,” she says, gushing.

I glance up at her. “Go,” I tell her, jerking my chin to the door.

I don’t know much about Asa except he has a stepsister, is really hot in a nerdy way, and he’s a pre-med major. All good things in my book. He also likes ice cream and his parents own the little shop Sloane did her first marketing internship at over the summer, and that’s a bonus.

Sloane tucks her phone back into her bra. “I gotta get a shower,” she says, glancing down at her shirt, stuck to her skin with sweat.

Yeah, I need one too. I’m wearing a sweat trap of a hoodie.

“Okay, I’ll see you tonight,” she tells me. “I’ve got that noon chem class.” She wrinkles her nose, because she hates science.I do too.She knocks her shoulder into mine as I glance down at my phone, reading Van’s next message. “Why do you look like you wanna kill a bitch?” she asks, her brows pulling together.

“Van invited me to another party Friday?—”

“But you had so much fun at the last one,” Sloane says, shaking her head and planting her hands on her hips.

I almost die laughing, thinking of Cortland’s hand on my face, but I don’t say a word.

“I’ll come, too.” Sloane shrugs. “Where’s it at?”

I open my mouth. Close it. Open it again. “Sloane, I don’t want to go,” I tell her, stuffing my hand in my hoodie pocket, fingers around my phone. “It’s at some frat house anyway and uh, no thanks.”

Sloane’s eyes soften. Guilt seizes through me that I can’t be the friend she deserves. I wasn’t even itbefore.Introverted, quiet, lonely. Sloane is outgoing and funny andbetter than me.

You deserve better, Sloane.

“I’ll think about it,” I tell her quickly, and I see her lips pull into a smile as she walks backward, headed to the attendant check-in to grab her ID.

“That’s all I want!” she says, flashing a smile. I turn back to the mirror and grab my weights again as Sloane gets her ID and walks out with a little wave.

I nod my head and grit my teeth. Squatting low again, weight in my heels.

I get in another set, then lug my weights back to the rack, feeling spent.

After I tighten my unraveling braids, I think about heading out. I’ve got ten minutes of cardio I’m supposed to do to finish out my workout, but no one is keeping me here. Just as I make up my mind to leave, I see the door open at my back.

Andhewalks through, confirming the truth all over again, as if having his blood in my mouth wasn’t confirmation enough. His hand on my face. Seeing him in the student service’s building.

I wonder if Sloane saw him.

I hope he stays far the fuck away from her.

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