The Price of Unrequited Love

fell to the floor. She watched it for a moment, then continued, cutting away ten years of caref

choppy, shoulder-length hair looked like a str

he liquor cabinet, a place she never touched, and poured a glass of whiskey. The burn in

and pulled out her phone. She scrolled through her contacts, past her mother'

er. Her biol

button. He picked u

voice was ful

nding rough from the whiskey. "I n

. Is every

ing straight to the point. "I don't want to go to NYU any

pause on t

g change. I thought your heart was set on stay

name was a dull a

" she said, trying to

ting marr

h, but it sounded

time for me to grow up, right?

inking about your own future. Of course you can come to Calif

dle the school stuff. I j

kiddo. I

r head back against the wall, th

w, short hair. It was a mess, uneven and raw. Just like her. Sh

was in three weeks. She

ha

dy door. He was home. A part of her, the foolish part she was

p herself, she was w

deep breath

hirt and sweatpants. He looked tired, his brow furrowed as he s

" she sai

day her world shattered. He was just Brendan. The boy her mother

lightly when he saw her. He took in her h

your hair?" he ask

hone rang, the shrill sound cu

anged. The weariness vanished, replaced by a soft warm

ome. Just finishing up some work... Of course I remember. T

precise, clean c

ce, the easy intimacy

o suppress. She remembered the first day her mother, Glenna, had b

een-year-old, had kn

voice kind. "I'll be your bi

ark. He'd learned all her favorite foods and made sure the cook prepared them. He'd he

ce. It was an innocent, all-consuming crush that

he wrote him a letter, pouring out all her feelings, all he

had been swif

he garden, his face

d, shaking the letter in his hand

blood!" she had crie

ned her to her soul. Then, slowly, deliberately, he tore the lette

ch things again," he'd said, his v

ay, leaving her sobbing among th

ainstakingly taped them back together. The restored letter was a scar

into the same university as him, thinking that if she

arm wrapped around the beautiful, smiling woman, and said, "Jayde,

as a physical thing, a cr

edding, she finally understood. Her years of devotion had

at she would be the one to end it. Sh