Chapter 4

I woke up the next day around noon. The hotel room was quiet. Sarah had stayed up with me half the night, listening to me talk and ranting about Ethan, and had already left for a morning meeting. I looked at my phone. A dozen missed calls from Ethan. I sighed and decided to just get it over with. I called him back. It rang for a long time before he finally picked up.

"Where are you? My mom's coming to the city tonight. I'll come pick you up."

I was speechless. Was he really going to pretend nothing happened? The breakup texts I sent him last night, had he not seen them, or was he just ignoring them? I thought he was calling to apologize, to explain. But no, he was calling to ask me to go entertain his mother.

"Chloe, can you hear me? Where are you? I can pick you up now."

"Ethan, we broke up."

There was silence on the other end for a good fifteen seconds.

"Just because I didn't have dinner with you yesterday? Didn't I tell you Ashley wasn't feeling well? I got delayed taking her home."

"Yes, I know."

"If it's about Ashley, you know she's the face of the studio now. The studio wouldn't get those big contracts without her."

"Yes, I know."

"Chloe, I told you before, don't use breaking up to throw a tantrum with me."

"Yes, I know. I'm not throwing a tantrum. I'm serious about the breakup."

My calm, monotonous tone seemed to catch him off guard. He softened his voice, the way he always did when he wanted to smooth things over.

"Don't be silly. I know you're the most understanding. How about this? After I drop my mom off tonight, we can go to that restaurant again."

"Ethan, why don't you ask Ashley to accompany your mom? After all, your mom always said Ashley was a better match for you, didn't she?"

I hung up before he could reply. When I looked up, Sarah was standing in the doorway, having come back from her meeting. She was giving me a look that said, "You finally get it." Seeing the dark circles under her eyes, identical to my own, we both cracked a small, knowing smile.

Sarah threw her arm around my shoulder and immediately started planning my new, wonderful, single life.

"College reunion this weekend. You wanna go?"

I hesitated. I hadn't accomplished anything in the last ten years. I didn't have a career or a family to talk about. I didn't want to face my old classmates. Sarah saw my hesitation and launched into a passionate speech. After an hour of her non-stop persuasion, I finally just nodded to shut her up.

"Chloe, you probably don't know this," Sarah said, poking my waist again with a grin. "David Chen, the guy who almost became your boyfriend back in the day, was just subtly asking me if you'd be there."

Sarah went on and on about how David was doing even better than Ethan now. He was in the upstream market, a major client in the industry. Ethan's studio was still a growing business, but David was already a leader in his field. The projects he managed were the ones everyone was fighting for. And, most importantly, he was still single.

I shook my head, cutting her off before she could get any more ideas.

"So, he's not stupid. He wouldn't be interested in me."

I sighed, looking at my own reflection in the dark TV screen. I looked tired. Lifeless. I didn't even like the person looking back at me. Why would anyone else?

The reunion was the next day. Because we were coming in from out of town, Sarah and I got there late, just as things were winding down. To my surprise, Ethan was there. I had to physically grab Sarah's arm to stop her from marching over and confronting him. I shook my head, signaling that it wasn't worth it.

Ethan had always been the center of attention in our group of friends. But this time, he wasn't alone. Ashley was standing right by his side. When Sarah and I walked in, the noisy room went quiet for a second. Every single eye in the room bounced between me, Ethan, and Ashley. Ethan stood up, looking like he was about to say something, maybe introduce me. But Ashley stepped right in front of him, a sweet smile on her face.

"Oh, it's Chloe. Ethan and I were just talking on the way from home about whether we should pick you up."

"Home." And "Ethan." So, Ashley had moved in that fast. It all made sense now. Ethan probably wanted me to move out all along, just to make room for her. I ignored both of them and forced a smile at my other classmates.

"Long time no see, everyone."