Page 67 of If the Stars Align
I laugh. “Okay, I’ll take your word for it. I’m so happy you’re enjoying it, though. You’re going to be a kickass professor one day.”
She smiles before taking a sip of her wine. “Thanks. What aboutyou? How was Paris? Did you and Dex make love under the sparkling lights of the Eiffel Tower?” she teases while batting her eyelashes.
I bite my lip. “No, actually. We…broke up.”
Her brows instantly knit together. She puts her glass down on the coffee table. “Oh, Sunny…” she says, placing her hand on my knee.
“He told me everything I was dying to hear, Sam. He said he’d quit the movie, give up his acting career, and move toChicago to be with me. But…I couldn’t let him do it. I mean, he’s dreamed of being a movie star his entire life.”
She nods slowly. “I see your point. But why would he have to give up his career to be with you, anyway? Couldn’t you take the California bar and find a job in LA? That way, even if he has to travel a lot, at least you’d have a homebase together.”
I shake my head. “His schedule isn’t the only thing that worries me. Fame changes people. It’s already happening. The clothes he wears, the people he hangs out with. The regimented way he diets and exercises. He’s not the Oliver Dexter I used to know.”
And once the transformation is complete, he won’t want me. He’ll abandon me. Just like my father did. Like my mother, even, who was never around when I was growing up.
I can’t sit around and watch Dex fall out of love with me. I’m already damaged as it is.Thiswould break me. That’s why I pulled the goddamn thread and broke us up.
“I’m so sorry,” Sam says. “Are you guys still talking at all? How did you leave things?”
“I told him we should take some time to focus on our careers, and maybe in a year, or two…” I shrug. “I probably shouldn’t have left things open like that, but I can’t bear the thought of closing the door on us completely. I’d like to think there might be a chance for me and Dex down the road. Even if it’s years from now.”
She takes another drink of her wine when I realize I still haven’t touched mine. I reach for my glass. “Anything’s possible,” she continues. “Maybe you’ll reunite at a nursing home and have hot geriatric sex.”
I almost spit out my pinot noir laughing. Sam’s deadpan expression turns into a grin.
“I’m telling you, Sunny, my grandma’s in a nursing home and she getsplentyof action. All the residents do. It’s like being in college all over again, but better, because you can’t get knocked up. STDs are rampant, though…” she adds with a frown.
I’m laughing so hard I’m crying. “Oh my gosh—Sam,” I say, catching my breath. “I haven’t laughed that much in a long time. I really needed that.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” she says with a wink.
Just then, there’s a knock at my door. I get off the couch, wiping tears from my eyes, my cheeks still warm from giggling. I look through the peephole.
It’s Jeremy.
“Hey,” I say as I swing open the door. “Long time no see.”
He just stands there, in the doorframe, unsmiling and squinting his eyes at me.
“Um…Jeremy?” I ask, raising an eyebrow at him.
He shakes his head. “Hey. Hi. I—I barely recognized you.”
“Oh.” I run my fingers through my hair. “Yeah, I straightened it.”
“Wow,” he says, still serious. “Yeah, it’s different.” He blinks a few times. “Looks good.” He presses his lips together and I try to determine if his expression is happy or neutral. It’s hard to tell with Jeremy. I think I see a hint of an upward curl, but I’m not sure.
“Thanks,” I say, tucking my hands into my back pockets.
I haven’t seen Jeremy since before I left for Paris. We emailedall the time while I was abroad. Not about anything in particular, just little anecdotes back and forth about our days. I didn’t tell him about my breakup, though. I probably would have—had I not witnessed the love of my life in a literal panic over my friendship with him. Now just being in the same room with Jeremy feels like a betrayal, regardless of the fact that Dex and I are no longer together.
“Well, welcome back,” Jeremy says, giving me a hug.
For as much time as he and I have spent together over the past couple of years, you’d think we would have hugged before. But this is the first time.
“Hey,” Sam says coming up behind me as Jeremy and I pull apart.
“Jeremy, this is my friend Sam, from college. Sam, this is Jeremy.”
