Chapter 4 Chapter 4

Paris

Waking the day after the most embarrassing moment of your life is never easy. For me, it ate away at my brain like a starving tapeworm. Most people forget what they did in their drunken state, but the evident vendetta that the universe has against me wanted to prove otherwise. From the minute I woke up, flashback after flashback of my torturous evening smacked me in the face.

I stood on a bridge! What societal pressure convinced me to do that? Stupid, stupid Paris. Nothing I did last night was smart, and I was usually a clever girl. From now on, I will carefully think about everything I say to Colton. Maybe because of my drunkenness last night, he didn’t take my confession seriously. Perhaps there’s still a chance for us if I try again soon.

For now, the last thing I wanted to do was see Colton, but he insisted that we hung out today. So, we decided to meet here at Lukas’s diner—our special go-to place.

I greeted Lukas with a huge smile as I waltzed in. He had a big, fatherly, round belly that made him seem like a human pillow. He was always nice to me, and since he knew I volunteered at the senior citizen’s home where his uncle was, he would sometimes give me free brownies or muffins with whatever I ordered.

“Hello, Lukas. How are you this evening?” I asked once I was close enough.

“Oh, I’m quite great, dear. I’m about to close up in thirty minutes. Did you need anything?”

I frowned. It was only around 6:30 in the evening, but I didn’t question why he was closing up shop early.

“I’ll just take two doughnuts, please.” I grinned as he shot me a knowing look.

Every diner, pastry shop, or restaurant in London learned of Colton and me and that our main order was always doughnuts. It was sort of our thing. I collected my chocolate covered treat, holding it between my teeth as I retrieved Colton’s plain doughnut and my change. I then shuffled to a booth by the glass window.

The sun was setting, lighting the sky with its beaming splashes of red, pink, and orange. I loved to ogle its magnificent view, and I took multiple pictures, still holding the doughnut between my teeth. Before I could blink, I had eaten half of it, and I wrapped the rest in my napkin, not wanting to spoil the tradition. I snapped a few lovely pictures, setting one as my screensaver before sharing them with Shanae. She liked things about nature.

I was so invested in the pictures that I didn’t realise that the bell at the door rang.

“Paris!”

My best friend’s voice drew me to his gaze, and a smile had almost formed its way on my lips until I spotted a certain blonde beside him.

“Anastasia.”

“Paris.”

We both spoke in unison, surprised to see the other. We then looked at Colton for answers, but he smiled, avoiding the tension.

“Colton, I thought we—” I stopped promptly when I noticed that Anastasia and I said the same thing. I threw daggers at him with my eyes, and that’s when he saw how uncomfortable we were. However, he made no move to resolve it. Instead, he gazed around before his eyes landed on my half-eaten doughnut.

“Great, you got doughnuts.” He beamed, but the blonde’s frown only grew as she eyed them.

“And none for me, I see.”

“That’s okay, babe. I’ll go get you one,” he said as he cleared the way for her to sit.

My mouth fell. “Babe?” I mimicked aloud without realising it, and even she seemed shocked, but her expression transformed into pride as her eyes glistened in happiness.

“Okay,” she mumbled, sitting across from me as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

I nibbled on the other half of my snack since he now stripped the peculiarity and sentiment from our thing. I avoided eye contact at all costs with her. I wasn’t trying to be rude, but I couldn’t help the gnawing at my heart as the word repeated in my mind.

Babe.

He called her babe!

He only ever called me babe.

The word felt like a physical weight, dropping into the pit of my stomach and staying there. It was official. The line had been drawn, and for the first time in five years, I was on the outside looking in.