“Brylee.”
“No,” she cries, letting the tears spill over. “You and me will never work. You don’t think I’ve thought about this? I’ve spent the past year thinking it over. We’re not meant to be together. Our lives are too different. I live three fucking hours away by plane, Ty. I go to Yale and I’m trying to make something of myself. I don’t want to throw that all away for some guy back home who’s making his way through the cheerleading squad.”
“Babe, that’s not fair. You can’t hold other chicks against me while you’ve had no intentions of being my girl.”
“I know,” she says with a frustrated groan. “I’m sorry, I just…”
I step into her again, this time keeping my hands off the merchandise. “You’re jealous.”
She looks up at me and shakes her head. “I don’t have the right to be.”
“You do.”
“It will never work,” she whispers, crushing my soul as another tear sails down her cheek. “I’m sorry, Ty, but the answer is no. You were right, I do feel something for you and right now, I have no idea what that is or what it even means, but I can’t. Despite everything, despite this confusion and the way I can’t seem to keep my mind off you, I can’t. I have a clear plan for where I want to go in life and I can’t get there if I let myself get lost in a relationship.”
There’s still indecision in her eyes and I give it my all. “Freckles,” I whisper, taking her shoulder and pulling her into me. She buries her face into my chest as I press a kiss on top of her head. “Just give me a shot,” I beg. “I promise you, we can make this work.”
Brylee goes still as the silence grows extremely loud. “I’m sorry,” she murmurs against my chest, slowly raising her heartbroken gaze to meet mine. “I never intended for this to happen. Can’t we just…I don’t know, keep doing what we were doing and then maybe after…”
“After what?”
“After college.”
I shake my head as I step back, feeling the pain rocket through me as I fear that I might crumble in front of her. “You want me to wait around for four years, not really knowing if you’re mine? No, Bry. That’s not how this works. You’re either all in or you’re out. I’m not going to keep chasing you.”
“But…”
“No, Freckles. I can’t keep going on like this. If you want to make this work, then let’s do it, but if you don’t, then I’m out. Not knowing where I stand with you is fucking torture.” I take a breath, watching as she silently watches me back. “Babe, I’m fucking begging you to put me out of my misery. Give this a shot.”
Her tears begin to fall faster and it kills me that I can’t wipe them away, but nothing could prepare for the way my heart shatters as she takes a step back. “I’m sorry,” she says. “I just…can’t.”
I let out a heavy breath, fearing I’m about to break in front of her. “Then I guess I’m done,” I tell her, walking toward her. I stop right before her and look down as she raises her chin to meet my gaze. Wanting to get this over and done with, I press a kiss to her forehead before pulling away. “Goodbye, Freckles.”
Brylee breaks as I walk away and I hear her struggling to catch her breath, but I need to get out of here. I drop down into my car and take off, feeling like I’ve just lost the biggest part of myself, but I did the right thing. I can’t keep holding onto something if it’s never going to happen, it’s not healthy, and letting her waltz back into my life whenever she feels like it, probably isn’t going to help.
I definitely did the right thing, but I didn’t realize just how bad it was going to hurt.
I glance up into my rearview mirror just as Brylee falls to her knees with her head sunk into her hands, not giving a shit that she’s probably going to ruin the fine silk of her dress.
My gut is telling me to turn around and hold her until the pain goes away, but instead, I just keep driving, having absolutely no idea where I’m going to go.
Chapter 9
Brylee
Sobs rip through my body, tearing me apart from the inside out. What have I done?
I fall to my knees as I watch his car disappear down the road, feeling like my whole world is driving away, but why? Why does it hurt so bad?
I did the right thing, didn’t I? I had to tell him that it was never going to happen, but I didn’t realize that meant losing him. He looked crushed, I saw his heartbreak before me and I’ve never felt so low. I’d do anything to take it back.