Page 59 of Bachelor

“How are you?”

“I’m doing great,” I said, my voice lacking emotion. I wasn’t going to act like I was excited to see her. Regardless of my feelings toward Christian—which had been minimal even before I found out about the affair—she’d still gone behind my back to hook up with my boyfriend. We’d been close friends once. Confidants,sisters. She’d betrayed me.

“That’s good to hear. I wonder about you sometimes. You never come to parties anymore.”

“I’m in a masters program. I don’t really have time.”

“Oh.” She shrugged, her cheeks coloring deeper. “I know. I just... Everybody misses you.”

I raised a brow. “Really?” I laughed lightly. “I find that hard to believe.”

“It just kinda feels like you dropped off the face of the earth.”

“It would have felt like that regardless if I’d left after graduation and married Christian. I would have been tucked up in a house somewhere waiting for him to finish his last year at Gatlington, ignoring what he was doing, who he was doing.”

Her eyes shimmered as her expression shifted from trained politeness to something darker. “I’m sorry, Whitney. I didn’t know—”

“Know what? That we were still together?”

“Well, I knew that—”

“I’m not mad about the fact you and he were hooking up. I couldn’t care less. You weren’t the first, and you won’t be the last.” My eyes dropped to the ring. “You know that, right? Or do you just not care?”

Her cheeks flamed now. Had she not been bundled up her coat and matching scarf, her blush would have crept all the way down from her face to her chest.

“I get it, Nicole. I do. The life you’re going to have is something people dream about. The money, the cars, the clothes, and the parties. I’m happy for you. I hope you’re happy.”

“I don’t see what the big deal is, Whitney, or why you don’t talk to me anymore. It’s not like you loved him.”

“You’re right, I didn’t. I never did.” I eyed her, wondering if she’d even considered why I’d stopped speaking to her and cut all ties to my old life, the same life she still led. “I was your Big. I guided you through your freshmen year, took you to parties, and showed you what being in that sorority could afford you. I loved you like a little sister. I really did. I loved you like a friend. I trusted you. And the worst part about this, Nicole, is that I thought you were smarter than this. You come from a family like mine. You knew what kind of future awaited you back home. You knew my struggles and encouraged me to break free of it when I voiced that to you.”

I took a step toward her. “And you slept with him. You obviously either fell in love with him, or fell in love with the life I was refusing and decided to try to take it for yourself. Now you have it. I’m happy for you. I’m also incredibly sad you didn’t take my advice. You’re smart. You could run a company. You could sit on a board instead of Christian. You could be the one in charge instead of waiting for him to come home every night and being disappointed when he doesn’t, knowing he’s at his apartment in the city with someone else while you tuck your children into bed each night and have to pretend to be happy, that everything’s okay.”

Her eyes began to glimmer with tears. “You think so highly of yourself,” she hissed. “You’ve always acted like a queen, bossing everyone around. Making everyone feel bad that they weren’t as smart as you.”

“That’s not true—”

“You didn’t break up with Christian because of me. You broke up with him because you wanted someone else.”

“That’s not true, either.”

“It’s not?” She laughed, a grating sound full of sudden hatred. “Do you think nobody knows what you did over fall break? You’ve had your nose shoved so far into your textbooks that you seriously haven’t heard the rumors? Or should I say the truth?”

“What are you talking about?” My blood ran cold as she smirked, an echo of the same cold look Christian often gave me.

“Everyone wondered who’d be the first one to bag Professor Ellis. No one thought it’d be you.”

I kept my expression neutral and arched a brow. “Seriously, Nicole? How dumb do you think I am?”

“Dumb enough to throw your future away, twice over. What’s going to happen when you get dropped from your degree program, Whitney? Run home to Mommy and Daddy?” She scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Christian wouldn’t even take you back after this. And unlike you, I know how to keep a man happy and in my bed, not others.”

“You’re delusional.”

She grinned, shrugging her shoulders. “I feel bad for you, you know. All of us do. Your fall from grace has been epic.”

“You sound just like him,” I said softly, my voice breaking as I looked over her face, taking in the woman who used to be my friend.

“Well, you did give him to me.” She smiled, then inspected her ring. “Good luck with your professor, Whitney.”

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