Beautifully Broken

“Asshole.”

He pulls me into a side hug. “I love you too, babe.”

I cringe when I see Gavin waiting at the top of the stairs as we make our way to the VIP lounge.

He circles my wrist. “Can we go somewhere to talk?”

I give Bree an apologetic look. “Do you mind? I know it’s my party, but I really think we should go somewhere a little quieter.”

Bree makes a shooing gesture. “Honey, you’re the guest of honor. You can do whatever you want. Just text me if you need anything, okay? We’ll probably hang here for a while since we have the room.”

I grab Gavin by the hand. “There’s a diner a few doors down.”

He nods and follows me down the stairs and through the club. When we step outside he says, “My place isn’t far from here if you’d rather go somewhere more private.”

I laugh. “Gavin, no offense, but I am not going to your place right now. Being alone with you is the last thing I should be doing.”

He looks confused. “Why not? Do you not trust me?”

“I don’t trust myself,” I answer honestly.

That earns a smile. “Okay…the diner it is then. Lead the way.”

We head down to the corner and walk into an all-night retro diner. The sign up front says to seat yourself so we grab a booth over by the window.

Gavin begins flipping through the dessert menu. “Shall we see if they have any birthday cake?”

“And we’ve officially come full circle,” I say with a laugh.

He grins. “So we have. Why don’t we put in our orders and then we can talk?”

The waitress arrives and takes our order for two pieces of pumpkin pie, extra whip, and two hot chocolates.

I stir the whipped cream before taking a sip of my cocoa. “Wow, talk about dejá vù.”

“Speaking of talking,” he says, “do you want to start? Or should I?”

“What would you like to know, Gavin?”

“How long have you been at U.C. Berkeley?”

Of course he’d go straight for the hard question. “A little over four years.”

“Four years?!” he repeats. “What happened to Florida State?”

I begin fidgeting with my silverware. “I never exactly…applied to Florida State. And since I never applied, it kind of would’ve been hard to go to school there.”

“Jesus, Kat.” He looks pained. “Why? Why did you tell me you were going to school so far away? Did you even know you were going to Berkeley at that point?”

I stare at the Formica tabletop. “Yeah, I knew.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me the truth?”

“Because I thought it would make it easier to walk away,” I say and shrug.

“I can’t believe this,” he sighs. “Kat, if I knew…if I knew you’d be so close, I would’ve—”

“You would’ve what, Gavin?”