I hopped into my Beemer and drove over to Chloe’s house. Running up, I knocked on the front door. It creaked open a few moments later, and she peeked out.
“Sean?” I could tell she had been crying. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
Chloe went quiet, but she opened the door a little further. She looked like she had been through it – which was precisely the case. I moved inside and enveloped her in a hug. She went stiff, but her body relaxed moments later. She rested her head against my chest, and I held her as she cried. Once she was able to calm down a little, we moved to the couch.
“You must think I’m horrible….”
“No! Tyler’s a bully. I know everything he said was absolute bullshit. No one believed a single thing coming out of his mouth.”
Chloe tucked her legs against her body, resting her chin on her knees. She let out a sarcastic chuckle. “I don’t know… I know how this town can be….”
“Trust me. No one is going to give any merit to a single thing that jerkface said.”
Chloe twisted her mouth to the side as she looked over at me. “Maybe you’re right… But, I guess no one will believe Tyler when it comes out that we’re a couple.”
That was not something I was expecting. In shock, I froze, not sure how to proceed. I had spent this whole… whatever this was convincing myself this was just a casual fling. Chloe and I had such different lives. Plus, I just wasn’t sure about having a relationship with her. She seemed to still have hang-ups, and I wasn’t sure I could deal with that.
“What were you thinking? In terms of a… relationship?”
Chloe sat up straight, pressing her mouth into a thin line as she thought. “I guess I wanted to see where this could go with us. I like spending time with you, and I think it would be nice to spend more time with you.”
That did sound nice, but it also didn’t sound totally feasible. “But my life is in the New York, and you’re here in Sewanee. It might be hard to have something long-distance that’s so… new.”
I was trying to be careful not to say anything that would hurt her. While I was trying to avoid a relationship, that didn’t mean I didn’t care about Chloe.
“Yeah, but that’s why we’d just be kinda winging it. Don’t you want to give it a try?” Chloe looked at me with wide eyes. I felt a pang in my heart.
“I just don’t think it’s a good idea to… make this more serious than it currently is. I really enjoyed spending time with you, but I’m not sure if anything beyond a fling would work out given how different our lives are.”
“Oh…” Chloe’s eyes darted to the floor. She didn’t look back at me. I took this as my cue to leave.
“I guess I should go. I’ll um….” I was guessing I wouldn’t see her around, given the awkwardness of this conversation. “Yeah, bye…”
Getting off of the couch, I headed out. It did kinda suck that this was how it was ending, but it was the right thing for both of us. It would hurt for a little bit, but in time, we’d both get back to normal.
Chapter Twelve – Chloe
Six Months Later…
It had been months, but I still thought about the night Sean rejected me. I couldn’t even say dumped because we hadn’t been in a real relationship. I had been so delusional that it never occurred to me that Sean would reject me. Sure, I had my doubts, but they were more about how functional a relationship between the two of us would be.
I wondered if this was how Tyler felt. Unlike him, I left Sean alone after he said no. However, it didn’t change the fact that I had fallen into the trap of arrogance. I treated our roles like it was ten years ago, and Sean was dying to be with me.
When we were in high school, Sean would have been honored to date me. Maybe that sounded conceited, but it was the reality of the situation. And the reality of my present was that Sean had changed. Everything had changed. He was wealthy and successful. He didn’t need a small-town girl like me clinging to him when he could have any woman he wanted. I was just a has-been dancer who had settled for life in Sewanee.
I wished it was easier for me to move on, but my progressing pregnancy made that hard. I looked down at my swelling belly. I had been doing my best to hide the pregnancy from the whole town, but it was getting harder given the size I was. I was going to be the center of gossip once again.