3
That night, Dustin and I bumped into each
other in the stairwell.
When he saw me, his smile faded.
Seeing him made my arms ache all over
again.
I brushed past him, heading upstairs, when he
stopped me.
Confused, I turned around.
Dustin just said, “Wait here.”
Then he ran up the stairs, and came back
down a minute later carrying a box.
A little kitten poked its head out, scared and
frantic, scratching at the sides, its cries
echoing through the building.
My heart broke and I took the box from him.
We’d found this stray kitten together last
month.
It’d been living at his place, but I’d bought all
the supplies.
I frowned, “What’s this about?”
Dustin stuck his hands in his pockets, said
coldly, “I don’t want Tiffany to get the wrong
idea.”
The wrong idea?
I copied him, shoved my hands in my own
pockets, and stared at him, full of sarcasm.
“What wrong idea?”
く
Dustin gave me a complicated look, started to
say something, but then stopped.
I knew what he was thinking anyway.
I scoffed. “You always knew I liked you, didn’t
you?”
“But you never said anything, never turned me
down, just strung me along, kept me as a
backup, watched me chase after you like an
idiot.”
“Now you’re with Tiffany, you’re in a hurry to
cut me loose?”
Dustin’s face hardened, his voice impatient.
“Abigail, I thought we were friends.”
“No!”
く
I cut him off.
“We’re not friends!”
“Not now, not ever!”
With that, I took the box and walked upstairs.
He was just a stranger to me now.
For 18 years, it felt like I never really knew
him at all.
I used to think he at least liked me a little bit.
But when Tiffany bullied me, his indifference
and willingness made me completely lose
heart.
He’d insisted on keeping this cat, then I
