Page 87 of The Broposal

I had to resist the urge to throw my phone across the room. I hated her so much. She had always been terrible, even if it took me way too long to realize it, but she’d gone too far this time. And worst of all, I hated that I couldn’t ignore her now, because if I pissed her off, I could risk her making good on her threat against Han, even though we’d already broken up.

“What do you want?” I asked, unable to mask the disgust in my voice.

“You should come over. I miss you…”

I had to take a deep breath before saying anything so I wouldn’t blow up on her. “Jackie, Ijustbroke things off with Han. I need time. I’m not exactly thrilled to hang out with you after what you did.”

There was a long silence over the phone before she finally responded. “Do you hate me now?” Her voice was all choked up, and it just made me angrier.

I wanted so badly to shout YES! Of course I hated her. What else would she expect? But I was afraid if I said that, she would retaliate.

“I need time. Please just leave me alone for a while.”

Instead of responding, she hung up on me. Thank God. I pressed play on the movie and shoved another giant spoonful of ice cream into my mouth.

Before I got too far into it, my phone rang again.

“Go to hell, Jackie!” I shouted before answering the phone,but when I went to pick it up, I realized it was my mom calling. I took a deep breath before answering. I really needed to get my shit together for my mom.

“Hey, Mom.” I tried to sound as okay as I possibly could.

“How are you?” she said.

“Um… good?” I answered hesitantly, not sure if I wanted to tell her about the breakup just yet. Besides, my parents usually had a reason for calling.

“Listen, if you ever need anything…”

Then there was a brief shuffling sound, and my dad’s voice came through. “Mary told us about Han staying with the family. What’s that about?”

Great. They already knew. So much for keeping it together. Just the mention of Han made my lip quiver.

“Tch!” More shuffling, then my mom again. “Did Han do something? Did he hurt you?”

“No!” I said defensively. I hated that even the mere thought of Han hurting me crossed her mind. Especially since no one ever really asked that about Jackie. Well, except for… “Han’s perfect.” My voice cracked. “This was all me.”

“We’re coming over.”

“You don’t have to—” But the call was already disconnected.

It wasn’t long before my parents came knocking on my door. A sad smile was all I could manage to give them. If I was being honest, I felt embarrassed for daring to take their pity. There was no reason they should have been here, comfortingme, when Han was the one who was wronged.

My mom looked around at the disheveled apartment, visibly biting her tongue as she slipped off her shoes by the door.Her eyes caught the sink full of dirty dishes, which Han obviously didn’t do before leaving after the shit I pulled. I knew I needed to do the dishes, but I just couldn’t start. Couldn’t do anything.

“Have you eaten yet today?” my mom asked.

“Does ice cream count?” I said, knowing what the answer would be.

“I’ll make you something.” My dad walked over to the kitchen and opened the fridge, then frowned. “Where’s the food?”

My mom’s eyes widened. “You don’t have any groceries?”

“He doesn’t have any groceries.”

“What have you been eating?” She turned to me, not bothering to mask the look of concern on her face.

“Old pizza, from the looks of it,” my dad said as he closed the refrigerator.

“From the party?” Her eyes got even bigger with concern. You’d think the pizza was weeks old by the look on her face, even though it’d only been a couple of days. “You can’t live off leftover pizza.”

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