Rule No 1: No Strings Attached

er's

the messiest apar

I walked through that door, it proved itself true again. A jersey was thrown over the b

e room, holding up a damp towel she'd found draped over the kitche

fter him." I pulled a stack of books off the shelf and

thout looking aw

ok exactly like this. So Ali and I had come over, the way we always did, because some habits don't care how many years have passed. I'd been sh

ago, he'd broke

ore the sky actually breaks. He just said, "I ended things," and I said, "Okay," and neither of us talked about what it meant. I'd hung up th

mme

e was standing in the centre o

s a small velvet box. My brain

e she was holding in a scream and cros

hispered. "Sit do

ox into my hands

a simple di

t. My whole chest went tight and hot, li

s trying very hard to be calm and failing completely

d slowly, the words tasting strange in my mouth, lik

nting on her fingers. "He told you he had somethi

me saying he had somet

ice dropped. "He

zzy and terrifying all at once, three years o

I said carefully, even as my ha

ip with a diamond ring and has been attached to you for

xactly where she'd found it, my fingers li

I always thought Brooks would never, ever look at me that way. I'd built my whole life around the safe distance of maybe someday. And now there was

oks going to

against my thighs, willing them still, willing my he

atever he wants to tell me, I'm telling him too." I held Ali's hand,

to the widest grin

oks, feeding me lines and waiting while I found the words, my voice cracking every time I got close to the

closer I got to the parts that actually mattered. I was finally going to confess to him. My hand had cramped twi

t outside the campus diner, my fingers nervously smoothing down my dark green skirt for the fifteenth ti

glass door. The skirt was a little shorter than what I usually wore. "

ok stunning. That skirt shows off the legs you usually hide under baggy sweatpants. Trust m

t, glancing down at my black ank

y bag, three years of wanting somebody flattened down into a handful of paragraphs, and

lize what a total idiot he's been for the last three years," Ali said firmly

ould point him out. Brooks Hunters was easy to find. Tall, looking relaxed, wearing a grey shirt with the sleeves pushed to his elbows. Then he

ered, pointing toward a

t door I had spent a lifetime yearning for, and for one dizzy second I let myself belie

a gentle push forward. "I'm going to

way it always did, an old, worn groo

quietly. "I'll

, and I felt it land somewhere under my sternum the way it

rward and wrapped his massive arms around me, pull

ad to hold my skirt tight. "Thanks. I

ed for me to sit across from hi

nervous, seeing Brooks' face made me feel relieved, the way it always did

s soon as I sat down. I slid back a strand of hair that fell off

sion though. We were just going aro

The door wa

tain he could hear it from across the table. I squeezed his hand back before he

tarted again. "T

oice shaking on every word, three years finally spilling out of me all at once. Just before I could

a champagne down th

itress apologised, bending down to cl

the bathroom," I stood up, my whole body still b

fabric would dry. My hands were shaking again, and this time it had nothing to do with the cold champagne soaking through my dress. I sta

later, I w

the mood of the crowd. People were looking toward

adn't been there before. Flowers along the bar in sm

ding in the cen

ill. I thought.... I believed he was going to propose to me. My whole body braced for it, that strange

trailing behind her as she walked, toward

me, slow and cold, lik

yl

toward Brooks, who stood in a room full of flower

s jacket pocket, and h

him, and I was standing at the edge of the room holding a folded piece of paper in my b

d to pick up wh

with a ring box in his hand whil