Page 60 of My Ex's Best Friend

"Yeah, you mentioned her a couple of times,” he says.

“I mean—” I shake my head. “You really want to know about Ellie?”

“Yes,” he says sincerely. “Tell me all about the person who replaced me.”

I punch him playfully on the side. “She didn’t replace you.” Nobody can replace Jake Bennett.

“I don’t believe that.”

"She's my best friend,” I admit. “We met in college and became roommates. We've been inseparable ever since. But, Jake, she didn’t replace you,” I say.

“Nevertheless, I want to know everything about the enigmatic character,” he says.

“Ellie is anything but an enigmatic character, she’s an open book,” I say. “It was luck really. I had totally forgotten to put the deposit in for a dorm and couldn’t get a room last minute. She was accidentally put up in a double room, so she decided to ask people if they wanted to move in with her. I was the first person she asked. The rest is history.”

“Wow,” he says.

“What about you?” I say. “Are you still hanging out with Chris?”

He gives me a guilty look. “Do you really want me to tell you the truth?”

“Yes please,” I say.

“We hang out occasionally,” he says. “We’re definitely not as close as before. I think our friendship changed when I found out he was cheating on you. Part of me always felt guilty because I was the reason you guys met in the first place.”

“I knew what I was doing.”

“You were seventeen,” he says. “You had no idea what you were doing.”

I snort. “You’re like seven months older than me.”

“And that’s seven months of wisdom that I have over you,” he says before his smile fades. “But I made a bad call on Chris. I always knew he was kind of a player, but he’d never been serious with a girl before. And you were smitten.”

“I wasn’t smitten,” I say. “He was just my first boyfriend.”

Jake gazes at me solemnly. “The fact remains that I messed up.”

“And I did, too, by not checking in with you,” I say. “I think we’ve been over this part already.”

He nods and gives me a sad look. “I know I never wanted things to end up like this for us. I understand you were mad, but I should have tried harder to make things right between us.”

“It’s not your fault,” I say. “I cut off access to myself. But you want to know a secret?”

His eyes are sad as he looks at me.

“I mean, I guess it’s no secret, but we never really got to talking about it.”

“What?”

“That night… I was planning on giving myself to him, but I ended up with you instead.”

“Yes, I know what happened.” He frowns.

I laugh. “You don’t get it, do you?”

His frown deepens.

“You were my first.”

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