Page 79 of I Don't Need Your Romance

Again, he’s tapping out a response. And again, it takes forever to come.

Axel: I never said you did. I’m just looking for a different kind of girl.

A different kind of girl?

Axel: Look, it’s just over, okay? You didn’t do anything wrong. You’ll meet the right guy one day. Have a good life.

“I can’t believe this!” I chuck my phone on my bed, tears blurring my eyes. This can’t be real. It feels like a nightmare. Can I please wake up? I pinch myself and cry, “Ouch!”

Raven moves on her bed and groans. “What time is it?”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

She blinks at me before slowly sitting up. After glancing at the clock on the wall, she grimaces. “It’s okay. I was having a stupid dream anyway. You know those dreams where you say something you would never say in real life? And then it gets you into loads of trouble and…”

Her voice trails off, probably because I’m not paying attention to her. All I’m thinking about is what I could have possibly done to cause Axel to break up with me. I thought things were going well between us. Was I deluding myself all this time? How could I not have seen that he wasn’t into me? It couldn’t have come out of nowhere.

“Sophie, what’s wrong?” Raven asks with deep concern.

I slowly lift my eyes to her, though it’s hard to see because of the tears. Raven gasps when she takes in my tear-stricken face. “What happened?” She crawls out of bed and dives under my blanket. “You’re scaring me.”

“Axel broke up with me,” I whisper.

She gawks at me like I told her I have two heads. “What do you mean he broke up with you?”

I stretch my hand to grab my discarded phone and show it to her. Her eyes move rapidly across the screen as she reads the texts, her jaw falling open in disbelief. “How could this be? I thought things were going well between you guys.”

“I thought so, too. Clearly, I have no clue about anything. Not about boys, not about relationships, not about romance. I’m just a big loser who should disappear from the world.” I throw my blanket over myself and smash my face into my pillow.

Raven rubs my back through the blanket. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Sophie. Axel’s a jerk for breaking up with you. He doesn’t know what he’s missing out on.”

“Obviously he does. He got to know me well enough to know he wouldn’t miss out on a thing if he let go of me.”

“Sophie, I don’t like you talking so badly about yourself. Why are you letting this guy get to you? You’re amazing. He’s the loser, not you.”

“I know you’re trying to make me feel better, but I was right all along. Real-life romance sucks compared to book romance. From now on, I’m only going to invest myself in book romance.”

I feel her get up from my bed and then she taps something on her phone. It doesn’t take a genius to know she’s asking Carly and Addie to come over. Although, it seems to be taking them longer than usual because it’s so early in the morning.

But when they do arrive, I hear Raven whisper something to them. They both gasp and ask her a million questions, their voices laced with shock.

“Did he seriously break up with her over text?” Carly demands. “How low could you go?”

“Poor Sophie.” Addie sits down near me on the bed and rubs my back. “Sophie, Carly, and I are here. Do you want to talk?”

“I want to pretend the last few days never happened.”

“That’s understandable,” Carly says as she lowers herself on my other side. “Of course you’re hurt. But you need to understand that you shouldn’t be crying over him. If he thinks he can just break up with you over text, good riddance. He doesn’t deserve someone as amazing as you.”

I uncover my face. “I appreciate you trying to make me feel better. But why did he break up with me? What did I do wrong?”

“Do you haveanyidea?” Raven asks as she joins us on my bed.

“No. As far as I was concerned, things were going well between us. And then he just broke up with me out of nowhere?”

Raven grabs my phone. “We’re texting him right now and demanding an explanation.”

“Raven!”