Chapter 3
One minute passes.
Then five.
No reply.
I stare at the screen and laugh under my breath.
Of course.
It's easy to say you like someone when you've never really seen them.
Maybe now that he's seen what I looked like before, he's finally done pretending.
I move my thumb toward his profile.
Delete.
Before I can tap it, my phone vibrates.
A photo appears.
I freeze.
It's a mirror selfie.
His black shirt is pulled up just enough to show a hard stomach and a strip of skin above gray sweatpants.
His face isn't in the frame.
But one arm is.
And on the inside of his forearm is a tiny dark mole.
Another message appears.
**You showed me yours. Felt unfair not to show you mine.**
Heat rushes straight to my face.
I type back immediately.
**Who asked you to send me that?**
The reply comes fast.
**Didn't you just ask if I still wanted to call you baby?**
I stare at the screen.
**And?**
Three dots appear.
Then:
**I do.**
Another message follows.
**You could gain another hundred pounds and I'd still call you baby.**
My throat tightens.
For one horrible second, I almost cry again.
I should delete the photo.
Instead, my traitorous thumb taps save.
I stare at the screen.
Fine.
Maybe attractive men are just better at lying.
My thumb moves toward the delete button again.
Knock. Knock.
I jump.
Someone is standing outside my driver's-side window.
Tyler.
My heart stops.
He must have recognized my car.
For one second, panic takes over.
I already humiliated myself enough today.
I'm not letting him see how much he hurt me.
I wipe under my eyes, take a breath, and lower the window.
“Hey—”
Tyler freezes.
His eyes move slowly over my face.
Then my hair.
Then the black dress.
His expression changes.
“Sorry.”
He takes a step back.
“Wrong person.”
I just stare at him.
He doesn't recognize me.
Tyler turns away.
Then he stops.
His eyes move back to the car.
His brows pull together.
“Wait.”
He looks at the license plate.
Then back at me.
“Isn't this Stella's car?”
I say nothing.
He leans down slightly.
“Are you a friend of hers?”
A laugh almost escapes me.
He grew up three houses away from me.
He knows what my laugh sounds like.
He knows I hate mushrooms.
He knows I sleep with the window cracked even in winter.
He knows exactly how I take my coffee.
Or at least, I used to think he did.
And now he's standing two feet away asking if I'm my own friend.
“Tyler!”
Hailey's voice cuts through the parking garage.
She walks toward us quickly and slips both hands around his arm.
Then she kisses his cheek.
Her eyes stay on me.
“The car's here.”
She looks me up and down.
“You promised we'd celebrate alone.”
Tyler barely reacts.
He's still staring at me.
For half a second, I think he might finally figure it out.
But Hailey tugs his arm.
“Come on.”
He looks at her.
Then back at me.
His stare lingers.
Still nothing.
No recognition.
No Stella.
Just a stranger in a black dress.
Hailey pulls him away.
Tyler goes with her.
He looks back once.
I raise the window.
Then I catch my reflection in the rearview mirror.
Different hair.
Different face.
Different body.
I lost almost a hundred pounds because I thought that was what it would take for my boyfriend to finally claim me.
And after one year apart...
he doesn't even recognize my face.