I almost took the invitation without thinking about it, because it felt so natural. It’s okay. It should just be you.
I know she’d be happy to see you.
If you think it’d be okay, then sure.
I’ll come by in an hour and pick you up. See you then.
K. I set my phone back on my stomach, realizing I needed to shower and get ready.
My phone lit up with another message, this time from Zach. You better not be working today. Sundays are reserved for me.
Dex was in jeans and a tee when he picked me up, laid-back like always. He’d shaved that morning, so his jaw was smooth, but his eyes didn’t have their usual brilliance. He didn’t invite himself inside. “Ready?”
“Yeah.” Since it wasn’t a workday, I stuck to a casual dress with sandals.
We walked side by side in the hallway, and Dex couldn’t stop staring at me.
“What?” I asked.
“I just…you’re really short.”
I made an annoyed face. “It’s Sunday. I don’t have to wear heels today.”
“That’s fine. I just…didn’t realize how little you were.”
I rolled my eyes.
“It’s cute.”
Like always, my heart fluttered when he gave me a compliment.
We left the building then headed to the pizza place on the way to his sister’s penthouse. We sat at a table while we waited for the pizza to be ready, sitting across from each other in a booth.
We hadn’t been alone together outside of work since we used to be together, and that was a little weird. We used to go to casual joints like this, getting tacos or something easy, and then heading back to his place or mine.
I missed it.
He would stare at me for a while and then force his gaze out the window, like he knew he was staring.
“You were able to log in?”
“Yep. Because of you.”
“I’ll put all our passwords in a shared excel sheet. That way, you can always look it up.”
“You’d think my photographic memory would be enough, but I can’t remember seeing the password written down.”
“Wait, you have a photographic memory?”
“Yep. Runs in the family.”
“Wow…I didn’t know that.”
He continued to gaze out the window.
I didn’t know that because he wasn’t a bragger. He didn’t go out of his way to tell people his gifts because they didn’t seem important to him, unlike other men I knew. “So, he just didn’t show up?”
He turned back to me and gave a shrug. “I guess he got cold feet at the last minute.”
“And then he dumped her too?” I asked incredulously.
“He was probably being proactive about it. Daisy wouldn’t put up with a guy standing her up, so he probably thought it was smart just to dump her before he could get dumped. That’s my theory, at least.”
“How did your parents take it?”
“They didn’t say anything. Daisy and I had dinner with them like nothing happened.”
“That’s sweet.”
“She doesn’t need to be embarrassed by his actions. We had a better time without him anyway.” He glanced at the counter to see if our pizza was ready before he looked at me again. Anytime his eyes made contact with my face, he stared at me for a while, his gaze absorbing my features as if I were a photograph he was committing to memory.
“Are you doing okay with it? I know that must have hurt.”
He severed eye contact. “Yeah, it hurt a lot. But that’s part of life, right?”
“Yeah, but it shouldn’t have to be.”
Her penthouse was a diamond in the sky.
It was much nicer than Dex’s apartment, but not quite the caliber of their parents’ place.
She sat across from me at the dining table, talking to me as she ate another slice of pizza. “Whatever. Fuck him. I know he’ll come crawling back, and that’s when I’ll get my revenge.”
“Revenge, how?” Dex asked.
“I’ll tell him to meet me for dinner and just stand him up.” She continued to eat.
Dex nodded in approval. “I like that, actually.”
Daisy talked about the situation like it wasn’t that big of a deal, but I could tell she was really hurt by the whole thing, like she’d shed a few tears before we got there. But she was too stubborn to look hurt, to look weak, to let someone hurt her.
I admired her attempt.
Daisy shifted her attention to me. “How’s it going with Zach? He’s super hot.”
Dex immediately rose from his seat. “I’m gonna use the bathroom.” He left like he couldn’t get out of there fast enough, like any description would make him hurl all his pizza.
I watched him go, my heart sinking.
Daisy continued to eat her pizza like she didn’t notice her brother’s abrupt departure.
“It’s not really going anymore.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, not following my words.
“I broke it off. Just today, actually.” He’d texted me a couple times because my decision was such a curve ball. Apparently, he’d never been dumped before. I wasn’t sure if he was just sad to lose me, or sad that I took a swipe at his ego.