Page 59 of Feral Touch
Was I crying? I rubbed at my eyes with a fist, surprised to find it wet. I hadn't even noticed.
“What did Ren do?” Jen asked insistently. “That asshole, we never should have trusted him.”
“He didn't do anything…” I trailed off, my voice thick and hoarse. “He just—” I cut myself off, unable to say the words.
“What did he do?” Nat asked, placing a hand on my head and stroking my hair. She ducked her head to look into my eyes.
“He broke up with me.”
The girls both made sympathetic sounds as Jen drew me into a hug. I buried my face in her shoulder. I could feel the wetness on my cheeks flowing incessantly, burning my eyes with salty tears.
“I'm so sorry, Ivy,” Nat said. Jen echoed the words. I let them console me in silence for a few moments before pulling away.
“I just don't understand!” I cried in frustration. “Everything was going great. He gave me a key to his apartment!”
Nat and Jen both looked confused.
“Let's get you a drink.” Jen ushered me to the sofa and went to the shelf where we kept the liquor, pouring me a shot of cheap rum. I wasn't much of a drinker, but damned if I didn't toss the entire thing back without hesitation.
“Do you want to tell us what happened?”
“I don't even know what happened! We went back to his apartment. We… you know…” I looked down and blushed. “He gave me a key to his apartment for our three month anniversary. Then I gave him his birthday present. The next thing I knew, he was upset and angry and he stormed out. He told me to forget it all. That the two of us were a bad idea.”
“That doesn't make a lot of sense.” Jen frowned. “What was the gift?”
“Tickets to a concert that I knew he’d like.”
The girls both looked stumped. They sat beside me on the sofa, cuddling me between them.
“I don't know what made him so upset.”
“Was everything else going fine in your relationship?” Nat asked.
“Everything was great.”
“He only got upset when he opened your gift?”
I nodded.
Nat looked thoughtful. “Do you think it had something to do with that? Something about the tickets that upset him?”
“How could concert tickets upset him?”
“I don't know. Maybe he didn't want you spending money on them?”
“I got them for free from the school.”
“Maybe he just really hates concerts,” Jen said with a small smile, trying to make a joke and lift my spirits.
I blew out a frustrated breath and leaned back into the sofa cushions. “This sucks.”
Nat and Jen both gave me sad smiles.
“It's going to continue to suck for a while,” Nat said. “Getting dumped is one of the worst feelings in the world.”
“I feel like someone took my heart out of my chest and crushed it underneath their foot.”
Nat nodded. “That's pretty much it.”
