Chapter Twenty-Six
I’m pretty sure that the betrayal on Jack’s face mirrors my own from two days ago, when I walked into his dorm room and saw him cozied up with Lilly. He looks like he’s been simultaneously punched in the face and seared with a hot iron, his expression an array of painful emotions.
“This is where you were the whole time, wasn’t it?” His voice isn’t angry, just quiet and hurt as I step away from Tyler with anger flaring deep in my belly. “You were with him?”
Tyler, choosing this moment to be territorial, juts his chin up defiantly and places an arm around my shoulder, always the protector. “What are you even doing here, man? She told you to piss off. So maybe you should go do that.”
I’m still struggling to catch my breath, blown away by our kiss, but I inhale slowly and calm myself enough to speak, my pulse no longer jumping in my throat. “What are you doing here, Jack?”
He holds up his phone. “I’ve been texting and calling you, and I got no response other than that one text you sent me.
I—” Now he’s the one who looks out of breath, lowering his phone, his eyes nearly spilling over with tears.
“I messed up, Olive. I was a complete ass. What happened with Lilly never should’ve happened, and as soon as you walked out of my dorm room, I knew that.
It…it forced me to look at myself and think about a lot of things.
And the conclusion I came to is that there’s nobody else I’d rather be with in this world than you.
” His eyes are shining as he takes a step toward me, and Tyler’s arm tightens around me, which releases a burst of warmth in my chest. “You’re my partner in crime, Olive.
You’re the one who I planned my life with, who I dreamed all our big future dreams with.
There’s no other girl that could ever take your place, and I was a stupid asshole for even trying.
Just give me one more chance, please. Please, Olive.
One more chance.” He swallows and turns his full-wattage puppy-dog gaze toward me, blinking pathetically.
It’s the same look he gave me for the first time in his dorm room when I caught him with Lilly, and whatever manipulative intention he has behind it, all it does now is turn my stomach as he keeps speaking.
After a second, it’s clear he realizes the begging look isn’t working, so he wipes at his eyes with a dignified sniff.
“Jack,” I plead, frustration rising. “Enough of this. Go back to school and go back to Lilly and go back to living the life I don’t fit into anymore.”
Tyler shifts beside me, and a quick glance in his direction shows his face change. As soon as the words leave my lips, I taste them—they taste just like the accusations he hurled at me when we broke up. About me accusing him of not fitting into the life I wanted.
I look between Jack and Tyler—the boy who abandoned me and the boy who I abandoned, and the answer feels crystal clear, a sudden rush hitting me like a cool dousing of water. The unexpected wave of immediately knowing the right thing to do.
Tyler and I can’t be together—there are too many reasons it won’t work out—but that doesn’t mean I should be with Jack, either.
“How did you even know I was here?” My question is short and sharp, startling him.
Jack only falters for a second before straightening his spine and putting on the air of confidence that I’ve seen him practice before a mock trial meet.
“I know you, Olive. You said in your message that you were leaving today, and I looked up the flight schedules. I remember you saying you like to be an early flier, and I had to find you and get the chance to say all of this before you left…” He trails off, and in the awkward silence, the three of us stand there, shifting on our feet.
Jack looks crestfallen, the corners of his mouth drooping pitifully when he realizes this is a court case that he can’t win.
Tyler looks and feels tense, his arm still protectively around my shoulder, ready to pounce in case Jack gets out of hand.
And standing here in this airport, exhausted and not looking forward to a long flight and wrung out on the emotional whirlwind I experienced these last few days, I snap.
All of Jack’s reasons for wanting another chance—that I’m the one he planned his life with, his partner in crime, that I’m the one who helped him figure out his future dreams—none of those things have to do with love, or soulmates, or wanting to be together because he feels for me.
It’s because, looking back on it now, Jack and I have always been better friends than we were partners.
Somewhere along the way in our relationship, we’d reverted back to the comfortable rapport of those early days of dating, of being friends who pushed and encouraged each other to chase their dreams…
without the romance behind it. And it happened without us even realizing it.
My mind flashes back to him and Lilly sprawled out on the dorm room floor. Or maybe he realized it already, but I hadn’t.
The realization is sharp and swift, and in that moment, I am so very done.
“You’re out of chances,” I say with finality, lifting my chin and struggling to remain calm.
“You ghosted me and probably wouldn’t have been upfront about your feelings for Lilly if I hadn’t flown all the way here and caught you.
” I suck in a deep breath, channeling my heartbreak into anger as I continue.
“I don’t want that life with you anymore, Jack.
And if I’m being honest with myself, this hasn’t felt like a relationship for a while.
You messed up with going behind my back, big-time, but as much as that sucks, it’s not the only reason.
For as long as we’ve been together, it feels like I’ve been more of a prop for you to check ‘girlfriend’ off your to-do list than someone who you actually love.
” Which is never how Tyler made me feel.
My thoughts flash to him briefly, standing tall next to me and the muscles in his hands flexing, ready to come to my aid at a moment’s notice.
Always being the strong, steadfast Tyler that I remember.
I steel myself for the final dagger, turning my attention back to Jack. “And now we’re done, for real. I meant it when I said I never want to see you again.”
But Jack isn’t taking no for an answer, anger and hurt warring on his face as he takes another step toward us. “Olive, please, give me one more chance to make it right and prove to you that I’ve changed—”
“How?” I interrupt, narrowing my eyes. “Please, enlighten me on how you’ve changed in the last two days.”
I don’t think Jack was expecting such a direct callout, because he flounders for a few seconds. “I, uh, I’m going to make more time for you, and call you more…” He trails off, looking lost and very, very cornered.
“Wrong answer.” I jab my finger in the direction of the exit. “You need to go.”
“You heard her, Jack.” Tyler’s voice is tight and clipped through his gritted teeth. “She said you’re out of chances. I think it’s time you leave her alone.”
Now, in the year and a half that I’ve been with Jack, he’s never had a mean streak.
He was a bit cocky, and snobby at times, and he has some shitty friends, but the anger on his face now, nearly purpling his expression, is an entirely new phenomenon for me to witness.
He speaks through tight teeth, his words sharp and precise as he narrows his eyes on Tyler’s arm around me, seeming to register it for the first time.
“What the fuck are you doing with my girlfriend, Tyler? Why are you even here?”
“Ex-girlfriend,” Tyler points out smugly, a hint of glee in his voice.
I sense the oncoming bro battle and extract myself from his embrace gently, stepping aside.
“I guess she’s both of our ex-girlfriend now, huh?
Funny how things work out.” He levels Jack with a stare that turns my blood cold with tension.
“Even the guys who think they deserve everything in life find themselves losing in the end.”
Jack clenches his jaw so tight that I’m surprised he doesn’t crack a molar.
“Oookaaaay,” I interject, stepping between both boys and raising my hands in an I come in peace gesture.
“This is getting way out of hand, and we aren’t a pack of lions in the savanna.
I don’t need someone to stake their claim on me.
In fact”—I turn and look at both Tyler and Jack individually—“I don’t belong to either of you. So cut this out.”
Tyler at least has the decency to look chastened. But Jack is still splotchy with rage.
“This is what you’ve been doing the past two days, Olive?
Rebounding with Tyler Ferris? That loser you left behind?
” He spits Tyler’s name out like it’s a dirty wad of gum stuck under his shoe, and I see Tyler wince in response.
And there’s something about that, after everything that’s gone on the past few days, that sets me off.
I take a step away from Tyler and toward Jack, jabbing a finger directly into the center of his chest and making him startle with surprise.