I turned the shower on full blast to drown out my laptop, leaving the door slightly ajar. Serena pressed against it, tearful. "Let me in, Cole. I'll do what they do—" I wiped her smeared lipstick away. "Too late. Tonight's for new talent only." It began with a promise: meeting at a concert after four years apart. When I arrived, the tickets were already claimed. I spotted Serena holding hands with another man in line. He played innocent, accusing me of scalping. To my horror, Serena joined in, letting the crowd turn on me. After the beating, she finally called, casually explaining she'd given my ticket to a heartbroken classmate. "Buy another ticket and visit me?" she purred. "We'll marry after graduation." I said "Okay," then booked a train home—alone. 1 "Cole, I checked. The train line you usually take has seats available. Get one now. It’s too loud here with everyone leaving the stadium, I’m hanging up." I sat in the cold, sterile waiting room of the station, the phone dead in my hand. A bitter laugh escaped me, pulling at the fresh cut on my lip. After she’d thrown me to the wolves, I had stormed off to the station, intending to leave immediately. But a foolish part of me clung to the hope that there was some explanation, some terrible misunderstanding. I’d waited all night. And all I got was an excuse about some lovesick freshman. That was her reason for holding another man’s hand? For joining him in a lie that got me beaten by a mob? Her university was in Florida. To get there from my snowy hometown, you either flew or took the one train line that involved a seven-hour ferry crossing. She knew I got violently seasick. The trip always left me pale and sick for days. The old Serena would have stayed up all night fighting for a plane ticket for me. If she failed, she would have called me in tears, apologizing over and over. Now, she didn't even care. Just "buy a train ticket." Her indifference was a shard of ice in my heart. I didn't hesitate any longer. I bought a ticket for the next train heading north, back to the cold embrace of home. It was leaving in twenty minutes. Three stops into the journey, deep in the dead of night, she called again. "Jules and I are heading out of town for that summer project. We'll be gone for at least a week. When you get to campus, just find a hotel or something. Give you a chance to heal up." Just before she hung up, I could hear Julian’s syrupy voice in the background. "Serena, I’ve got the whole trip planned out—" My eyes burned with sarcasm. At least she bothered to invent a cover story for her vacation with Julian. At least she remembered that her lie had left me bruised and bleeding at the hands of an outraged crowd. The image of her standing by, watching with cold detachment as people screamed at me, still sent a chill down my spine. I opened my messaging app, about to tell her I wasn't coming. That's when a friend request popped up from a user named "Jules_S." I froze. Serena's username was "Serena_Loves_J." The request message read: "Hey man, sorry about that. You just look a lot like the guy who stole my last girlfriend, and I guess I just saw red. I just wanted to get you to leave, didn't think everyone would get the wrong idea and jump you. Serena made me apologize!" He then sent me a five-dollar transfer. "For your medical bills. Get yourself some ointment or something. Keep the change." It was Julian. Every word was a backhanded slap, dripping with condescending victory. Before today, I’d never met him. He was just a name in Serena’s stories. At first, she’d complained about a "dumb freshman" in her study group. Then, when I’d ask what she was up to, it was always, "having dinner with Julian," "playing tennis with Julian." She even started calling him "Jules." I got jealous. I told her I wanted to see what this "Jules" looked like. She deflected. "He's nothing special. Not as handsome as you. Besides, he has a girlfriend. Don't be so possessive!" Once, I was feeling down after missing out on a scholarship and video-called her. She was in the lab but picked up anyway. Seeing I was upset, she put on a goofy puppy-face filter to cheer me up. But then Julian deliberately leaned into the frame, snatched her phone, and swapped it for some stupid kitten filter. "That filter sucks, Serena. This one's way better. The one I picked." She laughed and scolded him for being a pest as they playfully fought over the phone, the filters flickering wildly between them. I just watched, an awkward, silent third wheel. Finally, with the kitten filter Julian had chosen still on, she smiled at the screen. "Jules is so silly. Cole? Why are you so quiet?" A bitter, unnameable feeling rose in my throat, choking me. She must have sensed I didn't like him, because she stopped mentioning him as much. Until the concert. Now, I could finally put a face to the name. He was good-looking, I guess. But not as good-looking as me. What he had, though, was a swagger—the unshakeable confidence of a man who knows he’s backed by the woman he desires. I didn’t have that. Suddenly, the whole thing felt pathetic. Pointless. I ignored his message, blocked his account, and put my phone away. I stared out the window as the black of night bled into the soft gray of dawn. I’d taken this trip hundreds of times over the years, but I’d never noticed how beautiful the scenery was. I was always in such a rush, counting the minutes until I could see Serena. The next morning at 7 a.m., I arrived home. I tried to slip in quietly, but my parents were already awake. They were in the living room, studying a set of LED letters that spelled out L-O-V-E. They looked up at me, their faces a mixture of confusion and shock. "Son, what happened to your face?" "Why are you back so soon? Weren't you going to see the concert with Serena? And propose? We were just about to decorate the house to surprise her… Where is Serena?" My hand instinctively went to my pocket, to the small, velvet ring box. I had bought a diamond ring, ready to ask her to be my wife as the music swelled around us. Instead, I had become a joke. The ring would never be given. Faced with their concern, the dam of my composure finally broke. A wave of humiliation and sorrow washed over me. I placed the ring box on the coffee table. My voice was a raw whisper. "Return these. The wedding is off." I fled to my room, unable to face them. We’d been together for seven years, since high school. My parents already saw her as their daughter. I didn't know how to explain this to them. They must have understood. They didn't bother me until lunchtime. "Son," my dad said, knocking gently. "Come out and eat." The table was filled with my favorite foods. Halfway through the meal, there was a knock at the front door. "Hey, Martha! Can I borrow your car for a bit?" It was a familiar voice. Serena's mom. Our families were next-door neighbors, always helping each other out. My mom opened the door. Serena’s mother saw me and froze. "Weren't you two supposed to come back together?" I was just as confused as she was. She looked at me, puzzled. "Serena called and said she was coming home today. She asked me to pick her up from the station!" 2 I was stunned. I thought she was on vacation with Julian. Serena's mom, oblivious to the truth, smiled. "Well, since you're here, Cole, you can just come with me to get her." I didn't want to worry our parents with our drama, so I just nodded. At the station, I smoked two cigarettes, trying to compose myself for a calm, rational conversation. But my resolve shattered when I saw them. Two figures, walking hand-in-hand out of the arrivals gate, leaning into each other. The moment Serena saw our car, she dropped his hand. Her mom's brow furrowed. "Serena, who is this with you?!" Serena didn't look at her mother. She stared right at me, her voice sharp and defensive. "He's a freshman from my program. It's too hot back at his place, and he doesn't have money to travel. What's the big deal if I bring him home for the summer?" I didn't say a word. I just flicked my cigarette to the pavement, ground it out with my boot, and slid into the driver's seat. Serena's mom smacked her on the back. "What a way to talk! You're lucky Cole spoils you so much; no one else would put up with your attitude!" Humiliated, Serena stormed over and banged on my window, her eyes flashing with anger. "Cole, what is this, are you stalking me? I told you to go to my school!" Her mom shot back for me. "He got home this morning. How could he have been stalking you?" The logic seemed to cool Serena's hot head. She realized the timeline didn't add up. Her lips parted, then pressed into a thin line as she pulled Julian into the back seat. The ride home was heavy with a strange, suffocating silence. When we parked, Serena's mom, trying to diffuse the tension, suggested our families have dinner together. It was a tradition. I had no reason to refuse. That evening, our parents, as always, had saved two adjacent seats for Serena and me. But Serena walked right past them, pulling Julian into the seat next to hers. A ripple of unease went through the table. All eyes were on me. I kept my expression neutral and simply found an empty chair. Julian shot me a smug, sidelong glance and then launched into a loud conversation with Serena about campus inside jokes I couldn't understand, the two of them laughing hysterically. The sight of it turned my stomach. I excused myself halfway through the meal and went upstairs to my room. To my surprise, he followed me. He walked straight to my desk, and with a sweep of his hand, knocked the framed photo of Serena and me from our high school graduation—the one where we were making a heart shape with our hands—onto the floor. The glass shattered. I turned and looked at him, my voice devoid of emotion. "Wandering around someone else's house, breaking their things. Is that what they taught you at home?" Julian just smirked, pulling a piece of paper from his pocket and slapping it on the desk. "Cut the act, Cole. You really think she's going to spend her life with you in this… snow globe of a town?" "Hate to break it to you, but Serena's already been accepted into the grad program at our university. She's staying to take care of me, make sure I adjust to senior year. But hey, if you want to keep clinging to her like a pathetic leech, you can have another three years of long-distance." On the desk was a graduate school application form. It was all filled out, with Serena's signature at the bottom. My chest tightened. I remembered Serena, years ago, crying as she promised me, "Cole, just give me four years. The second I graduate, I'm coming home. Even if I go to grad school, I'll apply to one near us!" The last ember of hope in my heart died. A cynical laugh escaped me. "You want a new mommy to take care of you at school? Fine. No one's stopping you. But don't worry, I have no interest in being your 'daddy'." Julian’s face flushed with rage, his finger pointing at me, speechless. Suddenly, the soft sound of footsteps came from the stairs. His ears twitched. He deliberately shoved me hard. Caught off guard, I stumbled back against the desk. He seized the opportunity, grabbing my head and slamming it against the sharp corner. As I lost my balance, my hand flailed out, grabbing the desk lamp and pulling it down with me in a crash of metal and shattered plastic. Serena rushed in to see me on the floor, my head bleeding.
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