And with that, she turned and walked back inside, leaving me shivering under the stars.
For a long moment, I just sat there, trying to stitch my heart back together with trembling fingers. But it was no use.
Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t give them the satisfaction.
Footsteps crunched on the gravel behind me.
I wiped my face quickly and turned to find Ace standing there, hands shoved into his pockets, looking maddeningly casual.
“What?” I snapped, voice shaking.
He raised an eyebrow.
“Relax, Brit. It was just a joke.”
“A joke?” I repeated, incredulous.
“You called me fat. In front of everyone.”
“You’re too sensitive,” he said with a shrug.
“Maybe because I actually care about my career?” I hissed.
“Maybe because my entire life has been about being perfect enough for people like you to even look at me?”
His expression darkened.
“Don’t make this about you and me,” he said coldly.
“There is no you and me,” I said, bitterness coating every word. “Not anymore.”
For a moment, Ace said nothing.
His jaw clenched.
Something flashed in his eyes again—anger, regret, something.
Then he smirked.
“That’s right,” he said lazily. “There never was.”
And with that, he turned and walked back inside, leaving me there.
Alone.
I stared after him, my heart in my throat.
I hugged myself tightly, as if I could hold all the broken pieces together.
But it was too late.
They were already crumbling in my hands.
The girl who once dreamed of being loved by him...
was nothing more than a joke at his new girlfriend’s dinner table.
I finally broke.
