Page 16 of The Heart Breaker

What the fuck just happened?

7

AURORA

Daylight makes everything look worse.

Last night, it all felt a little unreal. The music was too loud, the lights were too bright, and everything moved too fast for me to stop and think about what I was doing. I just kept moving like I knew exactly what I was doing.

This morning, there’s no hiding in any of that.

There’s no music, no dark club, no crowd to disappear into. Just me, awake and sober, replaying every second of it with a knot in my stomach.

I wanted one night where I didn’t feel like the girl everyone was talking about. One night where I got to be somebody else for a while.

Instead, all I can think about is him seeing me.

Nobody I know would ever set foot in that club. So, what are the actual odds?

Statistically speaking, it’s gotta be, what, one in a thousand, that the universe would drophim—smug, infuriating, irritating—right in the middle of my first night in that club?

Of course he’d be there. Of course he’d see me the second I stepped on stage. Of course the biggest risk I’ve ever taken would end with him cornering me into giving him a lap dance.

There isn’t enough caffeine in the world for a morning like this. I shove through the café door with my sunglasses still on, shame prickling at the back of my neck. I keep my head down, hoping no one looks at me for too long.

I spot Maisie and Isabella, already tucked into their usual booth by the window, before they notice me. I head over and slide in beside Maisie, dropping my bag by my feet.

Maisie’s eyes flick to my face, and one brow lifts slowly, the silent question loud enough to hear.

I push my sunglasses up onto my head and force a smile. “So. What did I miss?”

Isabella’s mouth curves into a knowing smirk, her eyes narrowing just slightly. “You got home late last night. Where were you?”

“Out,” I say with a shrug. “At a party.”

“All night?” she asks.

A laugh slips out of me. “Well, I’m officially the only single one left, so someone has to have a little fun around here.”

I paste on a smile, but something weird settles in my stomach, because it really wasn’t that long ago that I was the only one in a serious relationship, even before I ever stepped foot on Colton U’s campus.

Then Isabella went and fell for Ryan—her dad’s player—and got her happy ending.

Then Maisie came into our lives when she started tutoring Austin. She was so quiet when I first met her, shy and nervous, but I liked her right away. She’s always been a soft, hopeless romantic, and now she’s fully out of her shell and completely gone for Austin.

And somehow, I ended up alone.

Isabella’s brows pull together. “You know we’d go with you if you asked.”

I roll my eyes. “Please. You’d last maybe thirty minutes before Ryan texted, or Austin called, and I’d be finishing my drink alone.”

Maisie lets out a soft laugh, her cheeks going pink. “Okay, fair. But next time, say the word. We can ditch the guys for one night.”

Yeah. Right.

I love them and I am genuinely happy for them. Maisie practically glows every time she says Austin’s name, and Isabella can’t get through three sentences without bringing up Ryan. It’s sweet. It’s real. It’s the kind of love I used to think I had.

But knowing they both have someone who loves them, who wants to always be around them, who picks them without hesitation… It's hard to sit here smiling like everything is fine when all I can think about is how unwanted I feel.