Page 5 of Kissing My Grumpy Ex Boyfriend

“Hey, what’s this?” I reach up to wipe her tears, but she steps back from my touch.

“We have to break up.”

Her words are like a sledgehammer to my chest, and it feels like all the air in my lungs is knocked out of me.

“Wh-what?” I sputter. “No. We agreed to keep seeing each other after summer ends.”

Bellamy won’t look at me. She’s yanked the rug out from beneath my feet, and she won’t even look at me.

“I’ve been speaking with my parents,” she starts to say, but that’s all the explanation I need to hear.

“You’re going to let your parents control our relationship?” I ask, anger boiling up inside me. “Seriously?”

Bellamy’s parents have never thought much of me or where I come from. My family doesn’t have money or higher levels of education, and to them, that last part is the greatest sin. So in their minds, I would never be good enough for their daughter. But until this moment, I never thought Bellamy felt the same way.

Instead of fighting for us, fighting for me, she’s just thrown in the towel. It’s over for her. I thought what we shared was something more than that. But it’s clear that only I ever gave this relationship the seriousness it deserved.

I need to leave before I say anything I’ll regret. It’s too tempting to lash out and tell her what I really think of her parents. I turn and start walking down the pier away from her when she calls after me.

“Aiden, wait!” Her voice breaks, but I can’t let that stop me. “Please come back. Let’s talk about this.”

There’s no talking about this. She’s already made her decision. Obviously, one I didn’t have a say in.

With each step away from Bellamy, my heart splinters and cracks some more. I thought she was it for me. I wanted to marry her someday. But I was a fool to think that someone so smart and beautiful and overall amazing would ever love me in the way that I love them. Sometimes people only get one chance at that great love—and mine broke up with me on that pier.

CHAPTER3

Bellamy

Putting on the dress my mom insisted I wear for the party, I walk over to the full-length mirror and check out my reflection. Tegan was here earlier to help me out with my hair and makeup. I tuck my hair behind my ear and try to smile, but it doesn’t reach my eyes. It’s been such a long time since I’ve felt truly happy. Instead, I’ve focused on getting perfect grades and winning academic awards to make my parents happy. But there’s something missing in my life, a hole that no amount of academic prestige will fill.

It’s only at that moment that I notice something I’d long since forgotten. Hanging on the side of the mirror is the heart-shaped wooden pendant necklace that Aiden gave me on the last night we saw each other. My heart wrenches when I think back to how things ended between us.

My parents had given me an ultimatum. They’d caught me trying to sneak out my window to meet with him on the pier. It was a rare occasion when they’d stop by my room to check on me before heading out to some fundraiser at the university, but that night they did. They lost it on me, telling me that I was throwing my life away on a boy that I’d soon forget.

I reach out and stroke the smooth surface of the wooden heart. It must have taken so much time to make this for me. I knew he spent more time in his shop that summer while I was in classes, but I had no idea he was making something so beautiful for me.

I hold it tightly and close my eyes.

That night was the worst night of my life. I didn’t want to end things with Aiden. I wanted us to be together forever. But I felt there was so much pressure that was being placed on me. Every conversation that summer with my parents was either about school or about how I shouldn’t be in a relationship with Aiden. They told me story after story about their students’ relationships falling apart because of distance. And yet I was steadfast in not caving to them. But when they caught me trying to sneak out, that’s when they gave me the ultimatum—paying for my college or Aiden.

I was torn. My brain told me to pick a chance of going away to school. While my heart told me Aiden. The months of them seeding doubt in my mind had convinced me that Aiden and I were too young to really be in love.

It broke my heart when he turned and walked away from me. He didn’t even try to talk things out with me. I was shattered when I realized he didn’t think that what we had was worth fighting for. Because if he did try to fight for us, I know I would have changed my mind.

I was exhausted and broken down. I still feel broken down.

When I saw him yesterday, and he walked away, I saw his jaw clench and his fists ball up at his sides. He still hates me for how things ended, and that hurts almost as much as it did when he walked away from me on that pier.

If I expect to stay in town and find my place here, I’m going to have to find a way to make amends with him. We need to find a way to move forward.

My fingertips stroke the smooth heart again. Playing over in my mind some of the happy memories we shared—like our first kiss at Becky Forman’s Halloween party or the night we stayed out all night and slept under the stars making plans for our future.

I grab the clasp and open it, slipping it around my neck. Today is the celebration of sixty years of love between my grandparents. I may not have gotten my happily ever after with Aiden, but I can celebrate their love with a piece of my own. I hide the pendant in my dress, grateful that the chain is long enough. And I smile a little, knowing I have a secret—Aiden’s heart next to mine, even though I lost his love years ago.

“You look lovely, dear,” mom says from the doorway, making me jump. She gives me a smile and a quick once-over. I’ve clearly met her expectations for how my presence will reflect on her. It’s all about optics with her.

“Could you please come downstairs?” She gestures for me to follow her. “We need help finishing up some last-minute touches for the party.”

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