16:58

Chapter Twenty-Six

"Can I get a soy latte with four shots of espresso?" I ask as I rub my face.

"Yeah. Five eighty-one," the guy says. I hand him six dollars and put the change in the tip jar.

"Did you sleep at all?" Cooper asks as I wait for it.

"Yeah. For a while after we got home," I tell him. It's five in the morning. My flight leaves in three hours. My dad got called into the hospital and I went with him so I could see Cooper and Malik. And get a ride from one of them to the airport.

My bags are packed.

"How did things go with your boy?" Cooper asks as we sit down.

I take a drink of my coffee and sigh. "I have no clue. We yelled at each other. He made out with another girl, and most likely spent the night with her. And then he told me I couldn't marry Bryce and that he wanted to kiss me."

"Huh," Cooper says. He looks at his phone. "Oh, Malik's on his way."

"That's all you have to say?" I ask.

Cooper shrugs. "I think you already know what you're going to do."

I sigh. "And that's to get on a fucking plane, fly back to an empty apartment and never see Colton again."

Cooper laughs and I frown. His smile fades. "Oh, shit. You're serious?" he says. "You can't do that. Like horrible idea, zero out of ten."

"She can't do what?" Malik asks as he sits down at the table.

I sigh. "I'm going back to New York."

"With Colton?" Malik asks.

"No."

Malik frowns. "What are you doing then?"

"Going back to Bryce," I say.

Cooper shakes his head. "You said an empty apartment, not Bryce."

"Oh," Malik says. "So, you're breaking up with Bryce."

I frown. "No! I'm going home and trying to work things out with him."

Malik frowns. "Yeah, Cooper's right. Zero out of ten, horrible idea."

I kick my suitcase. "My bags are packed. I leave in three hours."

Cooper shakes his head. "Are you serious? You can't just leave. Colton obviously loves you back."

"I never said that I loved him."

Malik sighs. "If you choose to believe that...I guess it's your choice. But you obviously care a lot about him."

"Oh, you missed it," Cooper says to Malik, "Andy said that Colton told her not to marry Bryce." Malik stares at me blankly for a minute.

"Girl, what the fuck are you still doing here?" he says. "Why aren't you with Colton?"

I take another drink of my coffee. "I just...I don't know. It won't end well. He literally fucked some random girl yesterday or the day before or whatever, and it's like he's only gonna use me. He told me to get out of his hospital room. You guys saw how worried I was. And then to find out that he was fucking some girl while I was killing myself trying to figure it out...like I just can't. I don't want to get hurt."

Cooper and Malik don't say anything.

"He could be using me," I say, the words leaving a sour taste in my mouth. "He could just be fucking with me and my feelings. Like to get back at me or Bryce or for the stuff that happened in high school."

"But you don't know for sure," Malik says after a minute. "What if he does love you? And you go back to New York, assuming he's using you?"

"Yeah," Cooper says. "So what if something goes wrong? You're leaving anyway."