Page 59 of Say You Remember Me
You know…just because I liked having fresh breath. Not because I was expecting anything.
Then, stepping back into my room, I took a deep breath and settled onto the couch, trying to look as casual as possible despite the pounding in my chest.
A minute later, Maddie reappeared in the doorway connecting our rooms, wearing a pink cami and shorts, cheeks slightly flushed.
“Sorry, this is all I brought for pajamas,” she said, looking a bit self-conscious.
“No need to apologize,” I said, trying not to stare too openly, though it was difficult. “They look…perfect.”
She tucked a leg under her as she sat on the opposite end of the couch, and I busied myself with the remote.
After a moment, she spoke. “So, you were starting to tell me downstairs… Do you mind sharing more about what happened with you and Margot?”
I glanced over, meeting her gaze. “I guess it’s probably time that I tell you the non-tabloid version of my breakup, isn’t it?”
“Only if you want to share,” she replied, her voice warm.
I leaned back, exhaling. “If you were my real fiancée, you’d probably know everything about it by now, right?”
She nodded. “Probably.”
I took a breath. “All right. So basically, we met in high school and were high school sweethearts and then ended up going to college together.”
“So, pretty serious at a young age?” Maddie asked, her gaze softening.
“Yeah…” I sighed. “Anyway, she was the first girl I’d seriously dated, and so when we’d been together for two years and I was more in love with her than I’d ever been, I decided that the next logical step would be to get engaged.”
“How old were you?” she asked.
“It was fall of our freshman year at Yale, so I’d just turned nineteen.”
“Pretty young still.”
I nodded. “My parents, bless them, saw how serious I was and tried to suggest that I cool things off a bit. Trying as tactfully as they could to tell me it might be good to date around a little before pledging my heart to the only person I’d dated for the rest of my life.”
“Which I’m guessing you ignored since, just like me, you thought you knew better at that age.”
“Exactly.” I chuckled. “Parents are never wiser than us when we’re teens. They’re too out of touch.”
“Seriously,” Maddie said, laughing with me. “I mean, sneaking around with older guys is so fun. Only the dumb girls actually get pregnant.”
“So we were basically on the same wavelength back then.” I smirked, liking that we could both joke about the dumb choices we’d made when we were younger.
“Basically.”
“Anyway,” I continued, “Margot and I dated all throughout the fall of our freshman year, and I was so in love. Of course, now that I’m older and have had several more relationships, I know we weren’t nearly as mature as we’d thought we were. But it felt good, and I was happy with her.”
“It’s nice to feel good with someone.”
I nodded. “Then that December, I bought a ring, and the night after our last finals, I took her out to dinner at our favorite restaurant in Eden Falls. And being the romantic idiot that I was, I ended the night by taking her on a walk around my family’s neighborhood to see the Christmas lights, ending in front of my parents’ house where I had the words, ‘Will You Marry Me?’ lit up on our front yard.”
“Aw, that’s actually really sweet, Ian,” Maddie said, looking at me with big eyes and pouty lips, like I was a cute little teddy bear.
“Well, I’m glad you at least think so.”
“Did Margot not like it?”
“I don’t know…she kind of got a terrified look in her eyes. I thought she was just nervous and excited at the time. But after everything that went down, I kind of wonder if she just went into shock and only said yes because she knew our families were spying on us through the window.”
