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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE. narrative not proofread
october 5, 2022: iowa city, iowa
Kate picks me up for the dinner she's planned. Not all of the girls could make it, but having a smaller group at a restaurant might be better. While Kate wanted to have all of them there, she knew they would do things around their coaches homes for team bonding throughout the year.
I wore a pair of white jeans with a black sweater, red converse on my feet. I could practically hear Kate's smile before I got into the passenger seat of her car.
"You look really pretty, Reya," Kate says, not being able to keep her eyes off of me. I could be wearing anything and she just gets so lost in me. That's never happened before with someone.
I give her a smile, "Thank you, pretty girl," I say, watching as her cheeks turn bright red. That name always gets her to melt, but she knows it works on me as well, "You look really pretty too," I add. She's wearing black jeans and a white tank top, a blue jacket over it.
We aren't the first ones to get there, but Kate was able to make reservations, so people knew who's name to say when they got there. Walking up to the table, I see Monika, Caitlin, Leah (who I had no idea was coming), and Gabbie.
I look at Leah with a grin on my lips, "God, I can never get rid of you, can I?" I tease and she just smiles at me as I take a seat across from her, next to Kate.
A few minutes later, Taylor McCabe, a freshman this year, Sydney, and Kylie show up. I hadn't met Taylor yet, so I introduce myself to her and the two of us talk for a bit.
We get drink and food orders in, being left to ourselves to talk, "Freya, how'd you meet Kate?" Taylor asks, probably wanting clarification on who I was and why I was here. I understood it.
"I've known her since I was five. We lived in the same neighborhood," I say, giving Taylor a sweet smile as she nods, a smile on her lips as well. She seemed very sweet.
The table goes through phases in talking: we're all talking to each other one minute, another minute a few of us have gone off with our own one-on-one conversations.
Mid-conversation with Kate, Leah, and Caitlin, I look up past Caitlin to see a familiar head of brown hair, she turns her head, her eyes meeting mine. Fuck. The three of them continue talking, my eyes not leaving the girl's.
It's my ex, Claire Johnston, the one who cheated on me. I had convinced myself throughly that I was completely over her, mostly since she had graduated, so I hadn't seen her. It's been over a year, I should have been fine. It was different seeing her now. She sends a wink in my direction, sitting at a table with a guy. I find my eyes on him now, it's Connor McCaffery. His eyes land on me, a smirk on his lips. I want to slap it right off of his face.
All I can think of when I actually found out she was cheating. She was at my apartment showering and she left her phone in the kitchen. It was going off like crazy and I got curious. I never went through her phone, ever. I never did that with any relationship, I never felt the need to. The contact name was my boy ❤️and I was quite shocked (as one would be, right?). I felt literally so stupid and I was, because I stayed with her.
