Page 35 of Perfectly Imperfect Us
“Excuse me? We’re here for breakfast, not some lecture from a random stranger,” she said with enough attitude and volume to stop a freight train.
The usual sounds inside the diner faded away as everyone stared at her and Ryder. Causing tantrums in public was on par with public intoxication. More than a few of those stares shifted my way next, the townsfolk probably having the same question running through their brains as I did in that moment.
What is he doing with her?
And how are we going to kill him?
Ryder though, never looked my way. Instead, he kept his sunglasses on and his gaze trained at the floor. Kyly pasted on a huge smile and made a big show of getting Jillayne to wipe off the bench before she’d sit down at the table, repeating the demand when the plastic menus weren’t clean enough.
Jillayne finally walked away with an eye roll so big even I was impressed. Or I would have been if my heart wasn’t currently tearing apart at the seams. The betrayal cut so deep I couldn’t even form words or process what could possibly be going on. I’d laid myself bare to another person and he’d told me lie after lie. And I’d been stupid enough to believe him.
“Let’s get out of here,” Skylar hissed, grabbing my elbow.
I looked down at where her hand gripped my arm, seeing but not computing anything. It was like I was frozen, suspended in a cocoon world devoid of all senses except feelings. My feelings were definitely working based on the searing pain emanating from my chest and the tingling in my extremities.
The girls scooted out of the bench seat and dragged me with them. I stood on shaky legs, feeling woefully unprepared for battle in my cutoff jean shorts, oversized T-shirt, and flip-flops. Had I known I’d be face to face with the man who’d crushed my heart without so much as a text breakup, I would have worn stilettos and a you’ll-regret-this-the-rest-of-your-life red dress.
The girls formed a protective circle around me and ushered me to the front door. My gaze stayed locked on Ryder, my brain needing the constant confirmation that he had, in fact, stabbed me in the back and lied to me. Right as Lacey pushed open the front door of the diner, the bell ringing out above our heads, Ryder’s face lifted.
Even with the mirrored sunglasses, I could tell he saw me. My skin rose in goose bumps and my lungs caught on an inhale. The moment hung there for what felt like hours. Ryder didn’t look away or stand to rush over to assure me that all was well between us. He just sat there and looked at me as if I meant no more to him than a passing stranger.
Kyly caught on to the shift in the atmosphere, spinning quickly to look my direction. She looked us over one by one, her smile looking more like a sneer. A toss of her hair and she swiveled back to Ryder, dismissing us as no threat at all.
Someone shoved my back and we were out the door and down the sidewalk before I could give voice to the anger and betrayal flooding my body. In the back of my mind, I registered that I’d never been this angry before. Never this hurt. Never this bewildered on where I’d gone wrong.
The car door slammed shut and Skylar was driving us away from the diner. No one said a word for the first mile. As soon as we left downtown Nickel Bay, Skylar slammed on the brakes and hit the steering wheel. We all lurched forward at the abrupt stop and stared at her.
“What. The. Hell. Was. That?” she thundered, her voice rising with each word.
I promptly burst into tears. The kind that were no match for waterproof makeup. And definitely no match for all the comforting in the world, even from my best friends. The girls lunged for me all at once, gripping me in a tight hug as I surrendered to all the hurt, anger, and confusion.
I don’t know how long I cried or what the girls whispered to me over and over, but I do know I felt drained and almost pleasantly numb by the time I came up for air. I had no more tears left to cry at the moment. Tissues materialized in my hands and I used them to swipe the mess my face had become. My eyes felt swollen and my head was pounding, but the knife in my heart was gone. Probably only temporarily, but I’d take any reprieve I could get.
“He played me good, y’all,” I whispered hoarsely.
The girls all murmured their disagreement, but that was exactly what had happened.
I’d reached too far. Believed in too much. Trusted in the wrong person.
* * *
That night Skylar kicked Max out of the house with the explanation that we needed a girls’ night and she wasn’t taking no for an answer. The girls hadn’t left me alone all day, the three of them taking shifts even when I assured them I could be left to my own devices. I was upset, yes, but a little alone time wouldn’t kill me. Like the best friends they were, they didn’t leave my side, offering a shoulder to cry on and a welcome distraction from my dark thoughts.
All day long I checked my phone, but not one text or phone call came through from Ryder. If seeing him and Kyly all over each other this morning hadn’t confirmed it, his silence afterward hammered the final nail in the coffin of our relationship. To not even have the decency to break up with me first or try to explain his bad behavior was simply reprehensible.
“Okay, I got pizza—no mushrooms—and five types of ice cream for after. All you have to decide is what movie we’re watching.” Skylar smiled at me, her eyes searching my face for any signs of a breakdown.
Kadee handed me a glass of white wine and a plate loaded with three slices of pizza. “How about Crazy, Stupid Love so we can stare at Ryan Gosling?”
“Great choice!” Skylar grabbed her own plate and glass and led us into the huge living room in her and Max’s house. She’d already spread out blankets and a bazillion pillows, the furniture pushed to the walls of the room to give us space.
“Mmm…yes, please. That scene. You know, the one where he takes off his shirt? Gets me every single time.” Lacey giggled and moaned, stretching out on a blanket and somehow keeping her wine from sloshing out of the glass.
My brain instantly went to the image of Ryder without his shirt on, the way his muscles were perfectly sculpted to look all man, but not so overbuilt he looked like he was compensating for something.
Ugh! Do not think of that jerk face.
My cell phone dinged once in my pocket. After I settled on the blankets and put my dinner down, I fished the phone out and unlocked the screen. My heart sped up, thinking maybe it could be Ryder with a logical explanation for what I’d seen. Instead, it was that app I’d used to put an alert of Ryder’s name. Anytime he was mentioned in the press, it would ding me. I’d first set it up a couple weeks ago, just to keep tabs on whether our relationship made it into the limelight. If paparazzi were going to show up in town, I wanted to know about it ahead of time so I was prepared.
