Page 136 of More For Me

“Here you are, sir,” the guy says, eyes darting between the two of us, not even trying to pretend like he hasn’t been listening. He hands Bodhi his keys.

“You’re not leaving like this,” I gasp, reaching for him. “I don’t even understand what’s happening.”

“I’m sorry,” he says, not meeting my gaze. “It isn’t your fault. This was my mistake.”

“You think we’re a mistake?” I whisper, and there’s something wrong with my chest. I can’t seem to take a deep enough breath. “You thinkI’ma mistake?”

He doesn’t respond, merely clenches his jaw, and I feel my heart snap right down the center. “I’m sorry,” he says again. “I’ll see you later.” Then he climbs in his Jeep and drives away, leaving me standing alone on the sidewalk in my pretty party dress, completely shocked and confused—and hurting like someone just ripped an organ from my body.

Did that really just happen?

“Come on, Lele,” a soft voice says in my ear. “Let’s go somewhere more private.”

I turn to see Alex standing next to me, her face pinched with concern. “Come inside with me, okay?”

“What just happened?” I whisper, that weird ringing still filling my ears. “Alex did he just…did Bodhi just break up with me?”

“I don’t know, sweetie,” she says, tugging on my arm. She casts a worried glance around us and I realize that the street is far from empty. We’ve attracted quite a bit of attention. Even worse, there are a few photographers on the other side of the rope line, here to catch glimpses of the celebrity guests inside. I’m certainly not well-known enough to distract from any of the legit movie stars just behind those doors. Then again, Reed Ransome’s daughter getting dumped in the middle of a public sidewalk just might be enough of a story for them to take a few pictures.

“We need to leave,” I tell her, turning my back on the photographers. “Please, Alex.”

She already has her phone to her ear. “The driver is around the corner,” she says. “I’ll text Fox once we’re in the car.”

I barely comprehend what she’s saying. My head is spinning, my stomach a solid rock of dread. I allow her to guide me down the street a few yards to the corner and into the black town car that brought us to the event. I stare straight ahead as the car pulls into the heavy Los Angeles traffic.

Is this what shock feels like?

“Sweetie.” Alex takes my hand, gently uncurling my fingers. There are dark red half-moons on the pale skin of my palms—I must have been digging my nails into my flesh.

“I don’t understand. What just happened?”

“I don’t know but I’m sure you’ll figure it out. He was upset about something—”

“He broke up with me,” I say, voice cracking. “How is this real? Ten minutes ago, I was gushing about how great things are and now—”

“You’ll get to the bottom of it,” she says firmly, squeezing my hand. “You’ll talk. He just needs to calm down.”

“Calm down from what?” My voice is getting more and more high-pitched. “I don’t even know what I’m supposed to have done. Why was he mad at me?”

“Maybe it had nothing to do with you.” She bites her lip. “That didn’t seem like Bodhi. I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that upset. I don’t know if I’ve ever even heard him yell.”

But I have. I’ve been there when Bodhi has been upset enough to raise his voice. We both shouted at each other in the car after that dinner at his mom’s. But the yelling wasn’t the worst thing I saw just now. The worst thing was the look in his eye.

Out of all of Bodhi’s features, his eyes are probably my favorite. To me they represent everything I love about my best friend. Warm, expressive, sharp. Beautiful. That’s Bodhi.

But his eyes didn’t look warm or expressive tonight. They looked dark and flat. Hopeless. I’ve only ever seen him look like that one time before.

“Something happened,” I tell Alex. “Before he got here. Something must have happened at his parents’.”

“Do you think they had a fight? I thought Bodhi gets along really well with his parents?”

He does. Too well, actually. I can’t imagine him fighting with them. Not the guy who goes out of his way to always make them happy, the guy who drops everything to go cheer up his mom. The guy who smooths over all the rough edges, all the hurt, broken pieces of his family.

“I don’t know,” I say, wiping away a tear. “But I’m going to find out.”

Bodhi doesn’t get to just walk away from us. Not if I have anything to say about it.