Chapter 20

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse…

I should have known she would change seats. I should"ve expected it. Our relationship has been a rollercoaster from the very second we were trapped together. It"s been a constant push and pull, a dance of conflicting emotions and misunderstandings. It only makes sense that she would need some space, especially after everything that"s happened.

Yet I was still caught so terribly off-guard.

Not only was I caught off-guard by her moving, but also I was caught off-guard by being so disappointed about it. I know things have been complicated between us, and I know I haven"t always handled it in the best way, but I didn"t want her to leave. I wanted to watch her read her book, sip her diet soda, and look at me with that expression on her face that I can never quite decipher. I guess I just thought that we would have a chance to talk, to find some sort of resolution before we parted ways. I wasn't expecting her to leave me behind without so much as a sayonara.

But I guess she made her choice. There's nothing I can do to change it, so why bother? At least I get to sit alone. No weird old guys, no annoying kids, no Lucy. It's perfect. It's just how I want it.

Who am I kidding?

This sucks.

I sit there, watching her read her stupid book like some pervert. I'm sure there have already been complaints about me from the other surrounding passengers.

The creepy guy in Row 24 won't stop staring at this poor girl. I'm worried for her safety.

I'm just so angry. Not even at Lucy—not really—but at everything. I'm angry at the weather for trapping me with her. I'm angry at the airline for making me sit next to her. And most of all, I'm angry at myself for ruining it all. I made her hate me when we were kids. I picked fights with her. I never bothered to get to know her. I was so stupid. If only I had talked to her—actually talked to her—maybe this wouldn't have happened. Maybe she would have given me a chance. Maybe she wouldn't see me as such a bad guy.

Maybe she wouldn't be sitting by a stranger who has no idea how much she loves Little Women or how her glasses slide down her nose early in the morning before she's gone to the effort of putting in contacts, or how, for the briefest moment, she let me be a part of her life, and it completely changed mine.

Fate has taught me a lesson—it's not to be trusted. Fate is a bunch of bullshit for people na?ve enough to believe the bad things in life must have a purpose. They don't. Of course they don't. Bad stuff happens for no reason. Families lose their homes, girls have their hearts broken by men who don't realize the fragility of love, and painful pining goes unnoticed by even the most observant of people.

In other words, fate is a cruel thing.

"Lover's spat got worse, huh? Your girl can't even stand to sit next to you anymore." The man in front of me, the very same charmer with a knack for words from the first flight, has turned around with a smirk after noticing Lucy a few rows up.

He's lucky I'm too tired to bicker with him, because I've got a few good jabs that I could throw his way right about now—"no-good sleaze," "sexist piece of shit," "baldie." You get the point. I'm taking the high road this go-around.

"She's not my girl."

The man narrows his eyes at me, then turns back around in his seat with an annoyed hum.

A win is a win, I guess.