Strategically in Love

By Fatima Aladdin

She turned her back on him and her past and moved on.

She built walls around her heart. She's kept it safe for so long, no one can hurt her again, not even him.

But now he's here.

He's here with a strategy to win her heart back, just so he can break it like she once broke his.

She tries to stay strong, she tries to break him before he can break her, but his strategy is perfect – she would know; she gave it to him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fatima Aladdin
• Release date: Feb 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201582906

Book preview

To the mistakenly broken hearts

Rules of Love

Sciences. Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics; logic and patterns; those were things that made perfect sense to me. There were always rules to follow to eliminate problems and secure results, even irregularities had a set of rules that made them irregular. There were always precise laws and invariable sequences that led to rational, firm conclusions.

Humans. Interactions, relationships, emotions; disorder and diversity; those were things that made absolutely no sense to me. There were never any rules, problems appeared where least expected, and the results were as varying as the people seeking them. Even when following the road more traveled, even when the mind stretched out safety nets before the heart could jump, even when there only ever was one straight line to follow with the destination clear in sight and definite, pebbles often turned out to be insurmountable rocks and the conclusion was often inconclusive.

Once, when I was dealing with far too many feelings than I knew how to feel, my older sister suggested that I color my feelings. It was some therapy method she’d read about somewhere, whereby it was advised to assign a color for each emotion in order to better recognize and control them. That didn’t work for me.

While I was familiar with almost all the colors and my own name is a combination of two, I could only associate intense emotions with different shades of blue.

Sadness, to me, was a murky, watery shade of blue. I compared its characteristics to the sea; dark, deep, raging, overflowing, inescapable.

I matched happiness with the sky; a bright, almost-glowing shade of blue, a little harder to attain but always above everything else and free of any boundaries.

I correlated love with the esoteric blue of distant mountains; some were big, some were small, some rewarded the climb with a beautiful view that attained the sky and became a part of it, and some completely barren with the sea at their foot.

But the thing about mountains is that they are always there. Whether they are too far ahead to doubt ever reaching or too far behind to become unsettled dots, they are still there, keeping the ground of life from slipping into chaos.

I grew up with my mountain.

I watched it form into everything I could ever want or need. I thought that I knew it from foothill to top, and, oh, how I wanted to reach the top. I thought that I knew every sensitive flower petal and every stubborn stone, but I was wrong.

It lured me up, and I climbed with my eyes closed, too confident in having memorized every step of the way while gaping from the bottom. But the higher I climbed, the thicker the trees became, shutting me out. I couldn’t make it to the top, it wouldn’t let me, and I was too high up to remain standing against the storm that blew. I fell; it dropped me. I broke; it broke me.

I told myself that there were other mountains to climb – maybe not as beautiful and high, or maybe even more beautiful and higher. Of course, there had to be other mountains; my world was not stabilized with just one.

So, I turned my back on the mountain that had once consumed me and I started my search for another that suited me; one that I could climb easily, one that didn’t have too many shadows, one that was ordinary and small, because the more extraordinary it was and bigger, the more turns and twists there were to its top, and those demanded everything. I couldn’t give everything. I had given everything once before and I never got all of it back to give again.

I thought that I had moved on, that I was so far away from my mountain that I could convince myself that it had never even existed, that I had gone far enough for another mountain to be standing just a few more steps away, but I was chasing mirages.

Maybe my legs broke from the fall and I never managed to stand again and remained in place, expecting other mountains to simply slide closer to me or to sprout out from underneath me so that I could innately be at the top, or maybe I never fell out as far as I had thought and remained all that time at the skirts of my mountain, going in circles around the bottom, because years later, when I was forced to look back, I found out that I had never managed a single step away from it or, or maybe it had never let me out of its trees.

👓

I was surrounded by uncomplicated people, people whom I had known long enough to assign rules that never failed to, people who were honest about their feelings and motives and with whom my interactions had satisfying results without me actively seeking them, people who cared enough about me to remain close even when I thought that the storm had blown everybody away, people who learned everything about me and taught me everything about themselves, people who gathered every morning before classes at the university café just to maintain a pattern that gave me comfort.

Hadil was sniffing softly, having just told us about her most recent hazardous date – just like every other week. Bianca was sitting between us, her arms wrapped around Hadil’s shoulders as if keeping her together. Charlie quickly turned to Dean and started talking about some game they had watched as soon as his sister finished reporting her latest failed romance, he could never do anything about it, not even protectively threaten those who had hurt her, because everyone but Hadil knew that she was the one hurting herself.

What happened this time? Dela dropped her books on the table and sat next to Charlie.

Hadil – once again – narrated how the guy didn’t pull out her chair and was distracted and kept checking his phone throughout their date. In his defense, he said that his grandfather was at the hospital and that he hadn’t wanted to cancel on her, but because he didn’t soak her with his complete attention and declare his love at the end of their date, Hadil refused to see him again.

I really thought he was my real soulmate, you know? She finished on a sob.

Oh, please, I had the strong urge to slam my head against the table, repeatedly.

What? Hadil’s voice was thick as she held back a sob and blinked at me.

Of course, he wasn’t your soulmate. Nobody is. He only exists in your ten-year-old imagination.

Hadil had met her ‘real soulmate’ about eighteen times since the beginning of the semester. She could never say no to a guy who asked her out, worried that she might be passing on her chance at ‘true love.’ She was in love with the idea of love and projected the fictional, gallantry characteristics of her fictional, gallantry daydreams on every guy who locked eyes with her, believing full heartedly that she had finally met her soulmate who was going to wash away all the sins the other ones had committed against her heart with a kiss. Then, she broke her own heart when she started getting to know him and his personality contrasted that of the imaginary guy in her head that she’d made up probably all the way back in middle school.

What do you mean? She sniffed.

Nothing, Bianca quickly jumped in. She hasn’t slept in a couple of days. You know how cranky and blunt she gets when she doesn’t sleep. She tried to spare Hadil’s feelings by dismissing me, and even though I was, in fact, frustrated with lack of sleep, I was too irritated to admit to it.

No, I’m not, it’s about time somebody told her the truth.

Scarlet... Charlie warned, but I ignored him and looked straight into Hadil’s tearful eyes.

"You keep rejecting perfectly good men because they don’t measure up to a standard that doesn’t even exist. There is no such thing as the perfect other half, there is no such thing as instant love. You want to be in a healthy, mature relationship? Stop comparing every boyfriend to a fantasy and get to know him; see if you two are compatible before you throw your heart at him."

Her lips were trembling and the tears had escaped her eyes. I shouldn’t have said anything, but everyone knew better than to complain around me when I hadn’t received my usual amount of sleep, I even texted everyone a warning earlier in the morning. She had to hear those words, maybe not like this, but she had to hear them, somehow.

She closed her mouth into a tight line and looked away, and the sudden guilt made me more frustrated than sorry.

People have different ways of finding love. Bianca broke the silence while staring at her hands. Had I not been so tired, I would have probably caught the secret her defeated tone revealed. Sometimes, the perfect other half does exist. Sometimes, you do get to know someone and find yourself compatible with him, but there’s no guarantee that he’ll catch your heart if you throw it.

I swallowed the lump her words collected in my throat. Sometimes, the goalie wasn’t as good on the field as he was in practice. Sometimes, the goalie froze on the spot at the sight of the intensity coming at him that he couldn’t contain. Sometimes, the goalie just didn’t want to catch that particular heart and keep it from becoming a tangled mess with the net.

Perhaps, I cleared my throat, hoping that my exhaustion had also made it to face and kept it from revealing my thoughts like it often did to these people. Perhaps you’re throwing it too soon, or too hard, or too far. I had thrown it too soon and too hard and too far, at once.

So, what? Dela scoffed incredulously. Don’t have a type, know him before you love him, and don’t love him too soon or too hard or too much. Are those the new rules of love?

They might be, I returned her glare, my annoyance making a full comeback at her tone.

And what if poor Hadil here follows your rules and still doesn’t find love? She folded her arms across her chest.

Well, then, the problem is most likely with the guy. I crossed my arms, too, mimicking her.

The guy, you say? I nodded. And I’m certain there are rules for men to follow to make women fall in love with them, aren’t there?

Anything can be accomplished when approached with the appropriate strategy.

Hold on, our conversation finally caught Dean’s attention. You’re telling me that you can come up with rules for me to follow that can make any girl fall in love with me? His eyes were wide and hopeful.

Dean had a terrible history with women. In short, he got dumped more times than Hadil dumped. Girls often assumed that he was a player; somebody to have fun with for a little while or to use to get to Charlie, but once they realized how sensitive and desperate for a serious relationship he was, they dropped him faster than he dropped his courses.

Can you? Dela challenged with a smirk, and everyone turned to look at me.

My tendency to turn everyday matters into competitions and the dedication I put into winning them often ended with me dealing with unnecessary complications and suffering severe headaches, but I could never back away from a challenge.

Yes, I smirked back, although my eyes were drooping and it was difficult to maintain eye contact. Yes, I can.

👓

Despite my ringtone being one of my favorite songs, I quickly reached out for my phone to silence it, my head painfully pounding to the beat.

What? I grumbled.

Still haven’t slept, huh? I could hear the smile in Charlie’s voice.

I just had to open my mouth and claim to be some expert on love, and Dela just had to be there to remind me that I wasn’t, and now I just had to prove to her that I was if I wanted to sleep peacefully again.

Why don’t you keep talking and maybe your conversation will put me to sleep.

I can think of other ways to put you to sleep. He teased.

What do you want? I yawned tiredly.

I’m worried about you. His voice suddenly lost all humor.

You don’t have to worry. I yawned again. I’ll just take one of Silver’s sleeping pills if I still can’t fall asleep tonight.

Not about that, I knew that tone to always be accompanied by an eye roll. Bianca said that you weren’t meeting us today because you wanted to come up with some strategic rules for love or whatever, and if you’re thinking about love, then you’re thinking abou–

No, I quickly interrupted him, my body jolting with confusing alarm. No, I’m not thinking about anybody.

Scarlet, you can talk to me. You don’t have to do this just to prove something to Dela or to yourself, yo–

Bye, Charlie. I turned my phone off for the rest of the day.

Was thinking about him such a bad idea? I had gotten over the obsessive phase of constantly thinking about him every waking moment and welcoming him into my dreams every night years ago, but he still crossed my mind every now and then; at every date that didn’t feel quite as natural, with every kiss that couldn’t quite compare, at lonely nights and, occasionally, during days when I wasn’t busy enough, but I formed strategies to force all memories of him out of my mind; they involved cooking, exercising, studying, and accepting self-invented challenges.

However, despite how desperately I tried to deny it, it was an objective fact that he was my only real experience with love; the only time I had ever given over my mind and heart without being aware and calculating of how and why I was giving either, and it felt like... love while it lasted – easy, instinctive, blithe, insouciant love.

Had we been older, had the world around us not fallen apart, had everything stayed the same, had everything truly changed, had he handled things differently... Would it have made a difference? Would we have made it? Would we have kept our promises?

What could he have done to save us?

👓

Here you go, I sang as I dropped a paper and watched it slowly sink through the air before landing on our usual table.

You slept! Dean beamed.

Yes, I did. I smiled back as I sat next to him.

After conquering Dela’s challenge the night before, I cooked for about an hour to get him out of my mind because I was too tired to do anything else, then slept peacefully for nine and a half hours.

Hadil, I called for her attention. I’m really sorry about yesterday. I didn’t mean to–

It’s fine, she dismissed me with a soft smile. You were just tired. I’m used to sleepy you. I know you didn’t mean it.

I... I did mean it. I wished I had said it differently, and I wished I could bring it up again more gently, but she seemed to already be over her heartache... Maybe next time...

What’s this? Bianca held the paper up for closer examination. You actually came up with rules?

I nodded smugly, and Hadil instantly scooted closer to her.

These aren’t bad. Bianca commented.

A guy who does all this might be worth giving a chance. Hadil admitted.

Let me see that. Dean snatched the paper from Bianca’s hands. I can do this, and this, and this... Any guy can, right, Charlie? He handed the paper over to him.

Charlie studied me for a long moment before casting his eyes to the paper.

Not many guys would think to go through the trouble, he shrugged, but they seem easy enough.

I took my paper from his hand and turned to look at Dela who hadn’t said a word yet.

Dela? I smiled at her, and she turned to me with an identical smile, a playful tension thick between us. Would you like to see them?

Of course, she took her time examining every line, her smile growing slightly with every passing second. So, you’re sure these would work for any guy?

Yes, I tried to grin as excitedly, but something about her sudden enthusiasm alarmed me.

And it doesn’t matter what the guy looks like or if he has a complicated past?

No, I frowned at her odd question but tried to stay on point – and the point was that I did manage to come up with rules for love and won. Those things don’t matter in a relationship; if a guy treats you that way, you will love him.

Probably, she nodded, "but will you?"

What?

You haven’t been out on a date in a while. She shrugged. People of science and logic must test and prove their theories before declaring them as rules to be followed.

I remained silent.

How about... I give this, she clutched the paper tighter, to a random guy, and he follows the rules to the dot, and you two fall in love and live happily ever after?

I–I– I stammered.

"Unless, of course, you don’t believe your strategy can work on everybody..."

I closed my mouth into a tight line as I glared at her, but her smile remained wide and taunting. I couldn’t lose a challenge. I couldn’t let her win. I could go out with a random guy and let myself fall in love with him if that was what it took. It wouldn’t be awful to finally be in a happy relationship in which the guy actually knew what I wanted and what to do for once.

Sure, I smiled, accepting her challenge. You can set me up with anyone you want. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get married before you. I winked.

👓

Almost a whole week passed by without even the slightest hint about the mystery life partner Dela was selecting for me, and I allowed myself the satisfaction of believing that she had given up and that I had, by default, won yet another challenge. I thought that maybe she had failed to find a man desperate enough to agree to practice some rules of love on a girl he had never met, or maybe she feared that I would stand true to my words and get married before her.

Dela and Ashton had been in a steady relationship since high school, and he was the perfect boyfriend; he pretty much followed the rules without even knowing about them. Everybody was expecting them to get married at any moment, even Dela was itching to say yes to the unasked question, so I could understand her not wanting me to get married first when I hadn’t had a date in months.

I had celebrated my victory too soon.

I walked up to our usual table that morning, but my friends appeared to be in the middle of an argument.

I’m not going to be a part of this. Charlie said, standing up.

How did you get him to agree to this? Hadil sounded just as outraged.

"Why? Who is this guy?" Bianca asked curiously.

Charlie turned around to leave and bumped into me.

Sorry, you okay? He asked as he steadied me.

Yeah, I readjusted my glasses. What are you in such a hurry for?

He looked at me for a long moment, and I should have seen the warning in his eyes and ran away, but I didn’t.

Nothing, he dropped his gaze and walked away.

We’re late for our classes. Dela quickly gathered her things when I sat down. Bianca, Hadil, and Dean scurried after her with a quick goodbye, leaving me alone.

For the first time since Dela had taken on the challenge to challenge me, I was worried. There was just something about the way Charlie looked at me, about their conversation, about sitting all alone... It was all too familiar, but I pushed it to the back of my mind. I had a test to get to, and I figured I still had plenty of time to confront Dela about whatever was going on. She hadn’t done anything for days, and nothing implied that that particular day was going to be any different.

Later that day, she texted me to meet up at our usual table after my last class – there was nothing unusual about her request; we often met there at the end of the day and made plans.

But it was unusual for Charlie to call me when he knew I was heading their way.

Couldn’t this wait until I reached you guys?

Where are you? His voice was urgent on the other end.

About to enter the café, I smiled at a girl who kept the door open for me.

Scarlet... He hesitated for a moment while I made my way through the tables. Don’t go, he finally sighed.

What?

You don’t have to do this. He insisted. You don’t always have to be right.

What are you talking about?

I had been too distracted with our conversation to look up at our table until I reached it, and it was too late.

Dean was there, Hadil was there, Bianca was there, Dela was there, and next to her, he was there.

My mountain. The mountain that I thought I had run too far from to ever see again no matter how intensely I looked back, the mountain that had pushed me off but kept me trapped within its shadow, the mountain that I thought I had memorized by heart yet knew absolutely nothing about.

My jaw dropped, followed by my books and phone.

Scarlet, he stood up, nodding and offering me the smirk that had ruined everything.

Rule One: Call to Say Goodnight

So, are we just going to sulk in here, all day? Dela asked.

I was lying on the sofa in the living room, my legs dangling over its curve limply, an almost-empty ice cream container with an unbalanced spoon shivered on my stomach with every breath that I took, and my face was smeared with chocolate ice cream because I was too depressed to even lift my head off the sofa to eat it.

I can’t believe he really went out with her after I told him that I didn’t like her. My voice shook with emotion.

I heard Dela give up the rocking chair, place her ice cream container on the table, and walk over to me. She sat above my head and started playing with my curls.

Maybe he really likes this girl, this time.

Travis valued our friendship too much to exclude me from his dating life and always – always – broke up with the girls who were mean to me or made fun of me or simply didn’t get along with me.

He introduced me to Bridget about a couple of weeks ago, and I tried so hard to find something wrong with her as a valid excuse for him to break up with the girl he seemed to genuinely like, but there wasn’t any; she was nice and funny and friendly.

He probably does, and they’re going to fall in love and get married and move away and I’ll never see him again.

He hasn’t even known this one for a full month and you’re already predicting the names of their babies.

It makes sense this time. Her name is Bridget. Drop the ‘G’ and ‘T’ and you get ‘Bride’. It’s a sign. I nearly sobbed while Dela burst into laughter.

Or you can just drop the ‘T’ and you get ‘Bridge’, she spoke between giggles, something he’ll get over to get to you. She winked, but I found no comfort in her words.

Bridget was too perfect for him to leave. She was the perfect girlfriend and she was going to be the perfect bride. I tried to befriend her for his sake, but I couldn’t; it hurt too much to hear about their dates and common interests and plans. Admitting my jealousy and risking our friendship was not an option, so I told him that I simply didn’t like her for no fault of her own when he pestered me about avoiding her and him when he was with her.

I thought that he would simply get rid of her and spare me the pain of seeing him so happy with someone else, but he clearly liked her too much.

Tears welled in my eyes at my own idiocy. If he was going to stay with her, then I just blew my chance of keeping track of his love life by making it clear to him that her presence bothered me. He was now going to keep her to himself, which meant that he was going to keep a part of himself from me and we were going to gradually drift apart.

Can someone actually die from boredom? Dela asked as she pulled harder at my hair with annoyance.

Not directly, but I suppose so, I shrugged. When people are bored, they lack the motivation to keep up a healthy lifestyle. Most resort to overeating or smoking to pass the time, and that leads t–

My phone rang, but I couldn’t be bothered to answer it. In an attempt to apparently save her life, Dela walked over to where I had thrown it and picked it up.

It’s Travis, she informed me, and I quickly jumped up, causing the ice cream container to fall over and the melted contents to color the corner of the carpet.

Hello? I quickly answered, struggling to remain calm like I always did when he called me or showed up after I had been thinking about him.

Hey, are you home?

Yeah,

I’ll be over in two,

What do you mean?

That I’ll be over in two minutes? He repeated slower with slight amusement.

Yeah, um... I shook my head at my own idiocy. I just thought that you were out with Bridget. Is she coming with you?

Please say no, please say no, please say no.

No, I sighed with relief. We just broke up.

Why? I blinked rapidly, hoping that I hadn’t drifted to sleep on the sofa and the chocolate ice cream had made my dreams cruelly sweet.

You know I can’t be with a girl my favorite girl doesn’t like. He teased and I blushed, causing Dela to start demanding answers and getting closer to hear into our conversation, but I pushed her away.

You don’t seem too upset about it. I tried not to get my hopes up too high at his particular loyalty to me.

Yeah, she wasn’t the one for me, but I’ll find the right girl someday.

I hope you find her soon.

I really hope you realize it’s me.

👓

I couldn’t force any part of my body to move. He stood in front of me, surveying my reaction with a smirk.

I had cut him out of every picture and pushed him too hard out of my memory that I genuinely believed him to have become beyond my recognition even if managing to still look exactly the same after so long, yet I identified every feature on his face as unquestionably his. The curly brown hair that had my fingers coiling at my sides, recalling its softness. The bright, wide eyes that plunged their blue waves at me with freezing intensity. The curved lips that almost had mine returning his smile because it was what they did every single time he smiled for so many years. I even recognized the stubble that stretched across the lower half of his face when it had been nothing but sideburns and embarrassedly removed whiskers and prickly blotches in his younger years. I recognized everything that was his as his, whether it had been secretly hiding in my memory or completely new to me, because it was all beautiful and it was all him.

Dela, I finally forced out, unable to blink and barely managing to breathe. Can I speak to you?

I heard her move up from her seat, but she had to pull at my arm to get me to look away from him and move with her out of earshot.

What are you doing to me?

It had always been just me and Travis. Our parents were close friends, so we were often left to each other’s company. He was the only person I couldn’t be bothered to be shy around or uncomfortable with, at least before adolescence barged in and boxed the words ‘play date’ and ‘study date’ and ‘hang out date’ into ‘date’ and ‘date’ and ‘date’.

In high school, Travis grew out of his shy phase and started forming new friendships and taking interest in girls, but he never pushed me out of any part of his life. In fact, he always pulled me in, kicking and screaming.

Ashton was a member on his Soccer Team, and Dela was the girlfriend who was brought along to keep me company. Our first hang out was insanely awkward because Travis had only invited the both of them to force me to welcome at least some of his friends as my own, and they thought that we were on a double date. I was painfully shy and quiet, Ashton was laid back and passive, but Travis and Dela were friendly enough to excuse our awkwardness and forced the four of us into a friendship that gradually became less difficult.

Dela and I met Hadil in the bathroom one day, crying over a boy. Dela tried to console the stranger ineptly and I offered her a tissue on our way out. The next day, she showed up at our table with her brother. Travis teased me for weeks about becoming a ‘grown-up’ and making new friends on my own and introducing them to him rather than him having to force them on me, but I knew that to be a lie; Hadil and Charlie never would’ve spoken to us again had it not been for Travis and Dela’s unrestrained friendliness that kept the conversation flowing as if they had known the strangers for years.

I probably only became relaxed around them out of necessity and desperation for friends when my hormones omitted Travis from that category.

Dela, Hadil, Charlie, and I remained friends after high school because we went to the same university and made time to meet daily. Ashton remained a friend of ours despite going to a different one because he was Dela’s boyfriend and, therefore, a part of our daily conversations. Dean and Bianca were introduced into our group by being Dela’s flatmates.

Bottom line, Dela was the oldest friend I had. I provoked her playfully and she challenged me playfully and that had always been the spirit of our friendship, but we would never hurt each other intentionally, so she couldn’t really be doing that to me. She was the first one I confessed my feelings for Travis to, she was the meddler until we became a couple, and she was there after we ceased to be. She knew, so she couldn’t do that to me.

You said that physical appearances didn’t matter, nor did things from the past. She shrugged, smiling excitedly.

Dela! I nearly shouted, but no more words came out of me.

My heart had leaped into my throat the moment I saw him, and I was struggling to swallow it back down, let alone talk about him.

Look, she dropped her gaze guiltily. You blame Hadil’s heartaches on her comparing every man out there to a fantasy that does not exist, but you do the exact same thing, except that your fantasy does exist and is a few steps behind you at the moment.

I-

You can deny it all you want, Scarlet, she rolled her eyes, "but you’ve only ever been in love once, and you fail at experiencing another because you don’t wish for another, you want the same, you want him. The way that you two ended... She shook her head at her own thoughts. I still don’t get it, and I know that neither do you. This is your chance to see if an older and more mature perspective could’ve been the answer. If not, then this is your chance at an actual closure so that you can finally move on."

She moved around me and returned to her seat, not giving me a chance to respond.

I didn’t compare my dates to him, I didn’t need closure from him, I couldn’t feel anything for him! And if none of those were true, then nobody else had a right to know that they weren’t.

Did he think that? He couldn’t... But why did he agree to try to make me fall back in love with him? He couldn’t still love me; he had stopped loving me long before I quit us...

I turned around, shaking with anger and humiliation at having my deepest scars so easily exposed to reopening.

Why are you doing this? I tried to keep my tone formal and avoided looking directly into his eyes.

It’s been what? He chuckled. Four years since we last spoke? More than three since we last had to be in the same room? Those are your first words to me?

Oh, God, his voice.

He still sounded the same.

I didn’t answer, and he chuckled again at my stubbornness.

I just think it would be fun. He simply shrugged, but added more upon Dean’s inquiry. Even though it was Dean who asked him what he meant, he looked straight into my eyes and forced me to return his gaze when he spoke. It just sounds like supreme justice to have the girl who fell out of love with me when I was still in love with her, fall in love with me when I no longer care for her. Or the alternative, to just prove you and your rules wrong; to have Scarlet Black, for the first time in her life, admit to being wrong about something. Either way, this should be quite entertaining.

I didn’t answer. I picked up what had fallen from me and walked away to look for Charlie.

How could you let this happen? I yelled at him.

I had nothing to do with this. He wouldn’t look at me. You challenge and provoke Dela, and she challenges and provokes you, I learned to stay out of it a long time ago.

Charles, I glared at him until he looked at me. This is bigger than that, and you know it.

She thinks this could be good for you. He shrugged, throwing off the blame.

"What do you think?" Dela might’ve been my oldest friend, but Charlie was my closest, and his opinion mattered to me the most, even more so when it disagreed with mine, because it rarely ever did.

He sighed. I think this could either be really good for you, or really bad. There won’t be a middle ground if you actually go through with this.

What do you mean? The fact that he seemed to hate the situation as much as I did soothed my anger slightly.

You could fall in love with him all over again and get heartbroken all over again, and I don’t think you can handle going through that again – I know I can’t handle seeing you like that again.

That’s not going to happen.

There’s also a chance that you could fall in love with him all over again and be happy all over again, and you deserve that, and I would love nothing more than to see you happy again.

"I am happy." I insisted.

Not the way you used to be with him,

That’s because I’m not a kid anymore, I explained, unable to deny it. It has nothing to do with him.

I did my research after him. I read a study that said the brain only needed twenty-one days to get over someone and start producing new emotions for new people. Another study conducted on young adults promised that eleven weeks was the magic number. Another accepted