Page 27 of Fake It Till We Fall
She nodded.
“Besides, your grandma will be able to see us pretty clearly if she looks over.”
Harper’s brows lifted, and a hint of a smile tugged at her lips. “Okay.”
She slipped her hand to my shoulder, letting me draw her into the rhythm of the song.
Her body fit against mine the way it always had. But different, too. Because we were different. Time had changed us.
Moving with her to the beat of the music took me right back to the last time I’d danced with her like this. Graduation night. It was supposed to be the best night of our young lives. Our futures were so bright, and we had the rest of our lives stretched out before us. It should have been a night for celebration and excitement.
Instead, it had been the night I’d blown it all up.
I tried to push the memories from my mind and focus on the moment. I inhaled deeply, breathing in the scent of her. Ifocused on the feel of her in my arms, the warmth of her cheek against my chest.
Still, the memories flooded back so vividly that it was almost painful.
Her pale-blue dress made her eyes look brighter than I’d ever seen them. Her dark hair was curled and piled into a fancy twist on top of her head, with just a few strands falling over her cheeks. We’d swayed together under the gym lights all night. I’d let myself believe that she was my future. It was perfect.
Until she told me that she’d been accepted to culinary school in Paris. The school that had been a long shot for acceptance. When she’d told me she was applying, she’d also told me they only accepted a handful of international students every year, and she didn’t really expect to get in.
We’d planned to go to school in the city. Together.
I hadn’t given any thought to the application or what her acceptance would mean. Until that moment.
“I won’t go if you don’t want me to, Gray.” She’d looked up at me with so much love in her eyes, and that’s when I knew.
Harper had always been destined for more than the small-town life I craved. Ever since we were little, she’d dreamed about traveling and seeing the world. About working in exotic locations, cooking delicious food inspired by all the places she visited.
I’d loved her since I could remember, and I knew she loved me too. More than anything.
Which was why I’d said what I did.
“You should go,” I told her, stepping back and schooling my face into an expressionless mask.
Her face was lined in confusion. “You think I should?—”
“Go,” I said again. Releasing her, I tucked my hands in my suit pockets to keep from reaching for her and changing my mind completely. “Why wouldn’t you?”
I knew damn well why she wouldn’t go.
“Grayson.” Her voice shook. “You know why. I love you. I want to be with you.”
I swallowed hard, my heart shattering as I looked at the love of my life in her eyes and lied to her. “Well, I don’t love you,” I said, the words sour on my tongue. “Not enough that you should stay.”
The confusion and hurt in her eyes almost broke me. “Grayson. You don’t mean?—”
“I do.”
I didn’t.
“Don’t stay for me, Harper. I don’t feel the same.” I forced a rough laugh out and then said the words I knew would clinch it. “This was never real, Harper. Did you think it was?”
I would never forget the pain on her face, and the way the tears streamed unchecked down her cheeks before she tugged her promise ring off her left hand. The same ring I’d given her almost a year earlier, when I declared my love for her and promised that one day I would replace it with the diamond she deserved.
“I never want to see you again, Grayson Lyons!” She threw the ring at me; it bounced off my chest, clattering to the wooden gym floor. My heart shattered into a million pieces as she pushed past me and ran from the dance.
It was the last time I’d seen her; she’d accepted the spot in culinary school and left a few days later without saying goodbye.
