Page 17 of My Ex's Best Friend

“Yeah, we know about that big collaboration you have with the European museums,” Chris says. “That’s all you can talk about, Mr. Big Shot.”

I feel a stab of guilt at his words. “It’s just important to me.”

“We understand, but that doesn’t mean you can’t hang out with us, you know?”

“I know, but don’t you remember what happened the last time I got shit-face drunk? I almost set myself on fire with a cracker, and you had to throw me in the common pool to douse it.”

“You were heartbroken, man,” Henry says. “Happens to the best of us.”

“Yeah, Trinity really messed you up.” Chris shakes his head.

The mention of Trinity leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Henry glares at Chris before turning to face me. “The point is, we won’t force our plans on Jake. Especially if he is flying out in the morning for work.”

“We should. We miss you, man,” Chris says. “Did you forget how it used to be back in college? We should do something that fun again.”

“We’ll go now.” Henry glances meaningfully at Chris. “Let’s reschedule that lunch soon.”

I sigh after my door closes. I keep failing my friends.

Making my way over to my desk, I pull out the first drawer. There’s an old picture at the back with the date written. My stomach twists as I turn it over. It’s a picture of me and her…Kiera.

We’re standing in front of my dorm building, side by side. The picture was taken when I was moving in to the university, and Kiera had come with me. That’s where we later met Chris for the first time, and the rest is history.

I run my fingers over her face.

Kiera is smiling, her braces visible through the picture. She hadn’t gotten them off until the following week, and she insisted that I go with her and held my hand through it.

My chest aches at the sight of her.

I haven’t seen her since the night we fell apart. I miss her like crazy.

I can never forget college or the memories attached to it. And more importantly, I can never forget about Kiera and that night that was the best and the worst of my life.

I wish I could see her again. I wish things had turned out differently.

I wish she were mine.

5

KIERA

"Hey, Kiera! First day jitters?" Tammy's voice beams through the phone.

I chuckle nervously. "You got it, Tam. I can’t believe it’s all happening so fast. Just two weeks ago, I was finding out I was being cheated on and wondering what to do with my life and how I was going to look at what’s-his-name’s face.” I thought I would be working at the museum for the foreseeable future. “It’s surreal that I landed this job so quickly.”

“I always knew you were going to land on your feet.” Tammy smiles at me from my phone as she gets dressed alongside me. “But yeah, it is a little strange that everything went so fast.”

I fidget with my blouse before picking up the phone off the stand next to my vanity.

“It kind of is, isn’t it?”

“Is it the same job Ellie made you apply to when you were in your Breakup Vortex?”

Breakup Vortex is a term that my friends came up with after I first broke up with Chris five years ago and didn’t show up to school for a week. Little did they know that it had little to do with Chris and more about what happened afterwards with Jake. I’ve never spoken to another soul about it, not Ellie or Tammy.

So now, they chose to resurrect the term and get to tease me about it.

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