He Left Me in the Rain for My Best Friend Chapter 02

He Left Me in the Rain for My Best Friend Chapter 02

Girlfriend.

I repeated that word silently, and my chest ached.

I had secretly loved Caleb Sterling for two years.

Finally, during the summer before senior year, I worked up the courage to confess to him.

He looked at me with a smile.

“I thought you’d wait until after the SATs.”

I was too nervous to catch what he meant.

I answered blankly, “I won’t affect your studying. My parents started dating senior year, and they’re really happy.”

He reached out and touched my hair.

“How are you this cute?”

My heart beat so fast it almost panicked me.

After that summer, Ivy Harper, who had grown up with me, transferred back from out of state for senior year.

I introduced them.

That was when I learned Caleb’s younger sister, who had died in an accident, had also been named Ivy.

Ivy Harper called it such a coincidence and teased me.

“Does that mean I should call you sister-in-law?”

Slowly, the two of them became “siblings.”

In the triangle between us, the line between them kept growing shorter.

Whenever Caleb bought me breakfast or gifts, he always brought one for Ivy too.

Ivy had good grades and could compete with Caleb for first place.

The two of them could walk and eat while debating which solution to the last calculus problem was easier.

They both loved soccer.

They could talk about one match until their mouths went dry, argue until their faces turned red, then say a player’s name at the same time and high-five each other with laughter.

I understood none of it.

I could only follow silently behind them.

When they disagreed and turned back to ask me who was right, I could only smile awkwardly.

“My girlfriend supports me, of course.”

Caleb would come back and take my hand.

The disappointment in my heart would disappear instantly.

He liked me.

I believed that.

But that afternoon, when I was dizzy from heatstroke and crouched on the ground, I saw their hands bump together.

Then Caleb hooked his finger around Ivy Harper’s.

Maybe it lasted only two seconds.

But in my mind, it stretched into a two-hour movie.

The cab smelled awful.

I opened the window and forced myself to endure it, but suddenly I threw up without warning.

I hurried to apologize to the driver.

“I’m sorry…”

The driver suddenly turned into a side road.

He got out, opened the back door, and climbed in.

“Don’t be scared. If it’s dirty, it’s dirty. You don’t have to pay.”

As he spoke, his hand touched my leg.

My heart pounded with fear.

I tried to open the door, but he grabbed my hand.

“Your eyes are so swollen from crying. Did you fight with your boyfriend? Tell me. I won’t hurt you.”

Five minutes later, I fell out of the cab.

The cab drove off.

I desperately rubbed my palm against my clothes, trying to scrape away that disgusting sticky feeling.

Under the crushing fear and the terror of having barely escaped, I dry-heaved again and again.

Tears fell in huge drops.

Alone and helpless, I still thought of Caleb first.

Luckily, the call connected quickly.

“Caleb, can you come get me? I’m scared…”

He was silent for several seconds.

When he spoke, his voice was full of disappointment.

“Elena Brooks, when did you become like this? You can even make up this kind of lie now?”

“What do you want me to do? Leave Ivy alone in the hospital and go find you? Is that how I prove I like you?”

“That’s childish. And disgusting.”

It felt like a bucket of ice water poured over my head.

The pain sank into my bones.

My phone died automatically.

The screen went black.

I gritted my teeth, wiped my tears, and stood up.

I limped back to the main road and borrowed the diner owner’s phone to call the police.

“I’m traveling alone. I don’t have anyone with me.”

“There’s nothing valuable in my suitcase. Just clothes.”

That suitcase was the most expensive thing I had.

Caleb gave it to me, with our initials engraved on the handle.

I thought it was part of a couple set and was happy for a long time.

Then at the airport, I saw Ivy Harper pulling an identical one.

Good.

Let it be lost.