My Fiancé Played a Couple-Swap Game, I’m Done Being The Outsider Chapter 02

My Fiancé Played a Couple-Swap Game, I’m Done Being The Outsider Chapter 02

I wasn’t one of them.

They’d known each other since kindergarten.

I met Dorian in college, and he brought me into their circle.

For the first few years, I tried hard to fit in.

They talked about breaking into the teacher’s office as kids—

I didn’t get it, but I laughed anyway.

I memorized every nickname I didn’t understand, every birthday, every food allergy, every habit.

I showed up first to every dinner.

I planned every trip.

But whenever they talked about the past, the line was always the same:

“You weren’t there yet. You wouldn’t get it.”

Eventually, “you wouldn’t get it” became “no need to tell her.”

They changed restaurants without telling me.

Switched group avatars without adding me.

Even this trip—I only found out because I saw Dorian and Lilith’s chat history.

They’d been planning it for six months.

I asked why no one told me. Dorian just laughed and patted my head.

“Wasn’t that your job to arrange?”

So I booked the flights, the hotel, the itinerary.

Paid for everything upfront.

They came to enjoy it. I came to serve.

Now they wanted my room too.

I let go of the key card.

“You take it. I’ll sleep in the lobby.”

No one stopped me.

—

The next morning, they were gone.

The group chat had a photo of all five of them at breakfast.

Five plates.

Lilith’s message:

We didn’t want to wake you. Come eat when you’re up.

I went to the restaurant. Breakfast was over.

Dorian called.

“Where are you?”

“Restaurant.”

“Why are you still there? We’ve been waiting at the dock for twenty minutes.”

I checked the chat. No one had told me a time.

“You didn’t tell me.”

“Lilith messaged you.”

“She just said you went to breakfast.”

A pause.

Then: “If you saw everyone was gone, couldn’t you have asked?”

“We’re all waiting.”

I didn’t eat.

By the time I reached the dock, the boat was already moving.

Five of them stood on the deck. No space for me.

Lilith was wearing Dorian’s white shirt—barely covering her thighs.

When she saw me, she pulled at the hem.

“Lyra, don’t get the wrong idea. My zipper broke. He just lent me a shirt.”

His shirt. The one I wasn’t allowed to touch.

I’d washed it once with dark laundry by accident, left a faint gray stain.

He didn’t speak to me for a week.

Said he didn’t like people handling his clothes.

Now Lilith was wearing it.

And he just said, “Put on some pants. You’ll catch a cold.”

She stuck her tongue out at me.

“See? He’s always bossing me around.”

I climbed aboard.

Leander dumped a bag in my arms.

“Here—sunscreen, camera, water. Keep an eye on them.”

I sat by the engine, holding their things.

My stomach turned with hunger.

—

I’d learned to swim for this trip.

Dorian loved the ocean.

I was terrified of it. But I took lessons in secret, just to surprise him.

At the dive site, the instructor said only five could go down at a time.

Ronan smiled. “Lyra’s afraid of water anyway. She can stay and watch the bags.”

I opened my mouth to say I had a license now.

But Lilith grabbed Dorian’s arm.

“I’m nervous. Hold my hand down there.”

He checked her tank for her. “Don’t worry. I’ll be right beside you.”

I closed my mouth.

The five of them jumped in.

I stayed on the deck, holding their phones and clothes.

The instructor asked me, “You don’t want to go down?”

I pulled out my brand-new diving license.

Looked at it for a long time.

Then I shook my head.

“Not anymore.”