Meant For You

eight.

Miles Dempsey

How do you break up with a girl you were never dating?

Sighing, I fix my hair in the mirror downstairs one last time before walking over to the front door and opening it. On the other side stands a brunette, a puffy jacket wrapped around her frame. Los Angeles is actually colder than usual this early December, I don't blame her.

She doesn't say anything to me as she walks inside my house. It's what she usually does. Once she's inside, I close the door behind her and walk over to the couch where she takes off the layers of clothes she currently has on.

It was only yesterday that JT told me he thinks Allie might be growing feelings for me. Real feelings. Feelings that I don't have for her. So after careful consideration, I decided that I might be better off letting her know I want to end this. I've done this with other girls a good amount of times but this is Allie.

I've been with Allie for months. We're kind of...friends. I care about her feelings a bit more than I'll ever admit and honestly, I don't want to hurt her. There's no future for us as anything more than what we are now.

"Yes? I thought you were busy today?" Allie speaks first, finally sitting down on the couch. I did say I was quite busy today. That was a lie. I got home from practice about two hours ago and JT and I are having dinner with my parents but not for a while longer.

He's currently at my best friend Tate's waiting for me to pick him up. I didn't want him to be here when I did this just because I don't know how it's going to play out.

"I wanted to talk to you," I start, swallowing the lump that suddenly forms in my throat. Allie raises a dark brow and turns her body so that she's facing me. "Okay, speak." Shit. How do I do this?

I think over some of the suggestions the guys gave me earlier at practice. They weren't all that good but I'm having trouble finding anything better at the moment. I'm terrible at shit like this. I haven't had a girlfriend to break up with in almost a decade.

My eyes laser into hers for a good couple of seconds before she rolls hers. "Can you just say it already?" she says, annoyed. I furrow my brows at her words. "What's it?" I question. Allie lets out a deep sigh, turning away from me. "You're ending this, Miles. I'm not an idiot. I wish you had the balls to say it though." The breath I had been holding in comes out at her words.

Wait. How did she know?

"How did you know?" I ask. Allie doesn't look me in the eyes. I grab her chin with two fingers and bring her brown eyes back to mine. She gently pulls away from my touch but doesn't look away again. "Somethings have been off with you for weeks. I've tried to figure out what, but I haven't been able to. Yesterday just solidified it," she says.

God, now I feel like an asshole.

I shut my eyes gently and rub them. "I just don't want this to end in a bad way. I still think you're a cool girl, way too cool for me. But... this just feels like a good time to stop before it gets any more complicated. You get me?" My heart pounds unevenly in my chest. I don't want to bring up what JT told me yesterday just in case he's wrong.

"Ew, don't get sappy with me. I get it. It's fine, I've been waiting for you to tell me it's over. I need to get back out there anyway." Allie shrugs. She throws her long brown hair behind her shoulders, sitting straight. I can't tell if she's upset or not but she's making it seem like it's okay. "You sure?" I ask, staring into her soul to try and find a lie.

"Miles, please. You're not the first NHL player I've been with. I know how this goes. Onto the next." Allie smiles wickedly. I raise my brows and sigh. "Okay, then. We're good? No bad blood?" It'd be better if she didn't hate me and start talking shit about me. She stands up and starts putting on her layers again. "None. I'm good if you are," she says.

I rise from the couch, nodding. "All good here," I reply. After she slips on her biggest jacket, she smiles and walks closer to me, placing her hand on my arm. She tiptoes a bit to kiss my cheek, patting it softly afterward. "I'm sure I'll still see you around? Don't forget about me forever." I chuckle softly, shaking my head a bit. "I don't think I could even if I tried."

Allie and I say our goodbyes - I'm sure not final - before the both of us leave my place separately. I swing by Tate's to tell the boys how well it went. They were as shocked as I was when I told them what happened. I always knew Allie was chill and that's why I liked the girl so much but the fact that she took it that well does kind of blow my mind.

Shortly after, we said bye to Tate and his girlfriend, Kaitlyn, and JT and I were off to my parent's house for dinner. "Your parents knew about Allie, right?" JT asks, skipping the song playing through the speakers of my car. I seesaw my hand. "They know of her but they're aware she's not my girlfriend or anything," I tell him.

Never in a million years would I tell my parents about a girl I was just casually seeing. The only reason I had to say something about it was because pictures came out of us on the internet when we went out together one night. Of course, they were dying to know who the new woman in my life was even though I'd assured Ma a million times that I'm not interested in a relationship.

They ask about Allie occasionally. Ma tries to get something out of me every time they do. I make it clear she's nothing more than a friend but I think she hopes one day I'll say I've made her my girlfriend. I'm just not in that part of life right now especially when my brain has never been more scrambled.

Speaking of...

I've been debating on telling JT about Nola. Like Tate, JT is someone I tell everything to. I can't help it. He's my roommate and always around. I haven't spoken about Nola to anyone though. Not even Tate. It would make more sense to tell JT about it since he knows who the girl is. Chewing on my lower lip in contemplation, I open my mouth before I get too scared to do so again.

"Hey, remember Nola? Ember's friend?" I blurt out, turning to look at JT as we sit at a red light. He faces me quickly, his light brown brows furrowed. "Yeah, why?" he questions. "I may or may have not lied about knowing her. The first time we met wasn't actually the first time." Adding as much information as possible so he won't get confused, I chew on the inside of my lower lip.

JT's eyes widen. "Wait, really? Why didn't you tell me? How do you know her?" He asks a million questions but the light turns green again, so I turn my attention back to the road. "You remember Blazing Ice? My aunt's ice rink?" I ask a quick question. I see him nod in my peripheral.

"Yeah, I met her there. Five in the morning on a Sunday and she had a terrible 'tude. Never thought I'd see the girl again until I ran into her at the bar again and we had this conversation that led to me meeting her at BI again for some stupid competition. It ended terribly and then well, I saw her again at her place when you took me. I also ran into her a couple of days ago when I was supposed to have breakfast with my parents at Renaissance Café."

When I finish explaining, I turn quickly towards my roommate who sits in the passenger seat with his mouth hanging open slightly. It takes him a minute before he finally says anything. "Why the hell didn't you bring that up?" he says, voice higher pitched than normal. I shrug. "I didn't know you knew her. Or her friend at least. Plus, she was annoying so I wasn't really thinking much of the girl," I lie.

"You don't like her?" JT questions. I shake my head. "No. I told you, she had a terrible attitude the first time we met and it only continued after that. She has some weird problem with me and I barely even know the girl. I only acted like I didn't know her that time at her parent's house because I didn't want any more awkwardness between you and her friend. She didn't even want to invite me inside at first," I explain.

"Fuck," JT breathes out. I nod, "Yep." The light sound of music coming from my car is the only thing that fills the silence for a couple of seconds. "Is that why you've been on edge? Because of Nola?" he asks. Yes. "No. I have other stuff going on. I'm not thinking about the girl, JT," I somewhat lie. "Talk to me, big man. What's going on?"

Luckily, JT asks this as I'm pulling into my parent's neighborhood. I would like to keep my problems to myself as much as possible. Especially when it has to do with my adoption. It isn't something I enjoy talking about much either, with anyone. I sigh, pushing the thoughts to the back of my head as I park my car in my parent's driveway.

"We'll talk about it later, kid."
Or not.