Page 41 of Lovetown, USA
Trey
Lane is off.
I notice it when she comes back from the restroom. It’s not a dramatic change. She doesn’t seem mad, at me or anybody else. She’s just…subdued.
She smiles when she needs to, leans into pictures when people pull us in, laughs when someone tells a joke. But the smiles don’t reach her eyes.
I keep checking in, whispering, “You okay?” every ten minutes or so. And she brushes me off every time.
“I’m fine.”
But she’s not. I know her well enough to know that.
Still, we dance. We eat. The night is still amazing. She’s just not herself.
By the time we get in the car, my stomach is in knots. I can’t take it anymore. Something’s wrong.
“Lane, please talk to me. What happened?”
This time, she doesn’t say she’s fine. She sits perfectly still, staring out the window, her voice calm. Too calm.
“I didn’t wanna make a scene back there.”
My stomach drops.
“A scene? About what?”
Her head turns slowly toward me, her eyes catching mine in the dim light.
“The last time a man hurt me, I ruined my own life. I told myself I’m not gonna do that this time.”
"Lane…” I trail off, my heart pounding. Somewhere in my subconscious, I already know. “What do you mean? Who hurt you?
She swallows, and for a second, her calm wavers. Her lips tremble, just once.
“Daphne told me everything.”
There it is.
My heart skips a beat.
“Okay. I can explain that.”
She shakes her head, her eyes filling with tears. But her face stays hard, and she looks at me like I’m a stranger. Like I’m just another man that’s proved her right.
“Just tell me one thing,” she says. “What was real? I wanna know what was real and what was fake.”
My throat dries to a rasp. I clear it, but to no avail.
“All of it was real,” I say. “Everything I did and felt was real.”
She looks away, and I know she doesn’t believe me. She looks shellshocked, like a prisoner of war.
“I’m sorry.” The words sound useless and empty, even to me. “I never wanted to hurt you.”
“I’m fine,” she says. “You just proved what I already knew. My gut told me not to trust you, and now I know I was right.”
She sniffs, but she doesn’t let the tears fall. “You manipulated me, Trey.”
“No.” I shake my head. “Look, I know why you would say that, but—“
“You lied and schemed with your fuck buddy to make me fall for you to keep her bullshit going.”
I blow out a breath, my heart pounding now. So is my head.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s all good.” She finally turns to face me again. Her face and eyes are dry. “I have my eyes on the prize. After tonight, you’ll never see me again. But I thank you for teaching me a valuable lesson.”
The finality in her tone guts me. It would almost be better if she lashed out, screaming and crying and hitting me. Then I’d know she was still invested. But this calm stone of a woman next to me…she’s done.
I want to reach for her, to beg, to throw myself in front of the wall she just erected between us, but I don’t. I can’t.
When we get to the hotel, she slips out of the car without a word. I sit there, useless, staring after her until she disappears inside the doors.
I should go to her room and pound on her door. I should sleep outside her door so that I’m the first face she sees when she wakes up in the morning. But I know in my heart that it’s futile.
I fucked up.
And I just have to suffer the consequences.
Again.