He Forgot My Birthday for Her Anniversary Again Chapter 07
“Yes! I don’t accept a breakup this ridiculous. We’ve been together five years. Stable. I honestly can’t see why-” Stable.
I laughed. A real laugh, but my eyes stayed cold.
“So you ditching me in the middle of the night because she called-that’s fine?”
“Forgetting my birthday-no big deal, right?”
“Promising to pick me up at my parents’, having them cook your favorite food from dawn, then ghosting them-that’s okay?”
“Bailing on our movie to go be with her-nothing wrong there?”
“Giving my birthday present to someone else-also fine?”
“So tell me, Brady. What exactly is wrong?
My voice stayed level. Calm. Matter-of-fact.
Brady’s face shifted. From ready-to-listen to shocked. Then to confused.
“Those are all from forever ago. Little things. You really held onto them this long?”
“Birthdays come every year. I just forgot once.”
“And I’ve told you a hundred times: Skyler is like a sister. Why do you always have a problem with her?”
Little things.
To him, all of it was nothing.
I looked at him. The face I used to love was starting to look like a stranger’s.
He said birthdays come every year. He just forgot once.
But he’s never forgotten Skyler’s birthday.
He starts shopping a month early.
He even asks me: “You think she’d like this necklace?”
Never thinks about how that question feels in my chest.
He’s lost in his own happiness. “There are matching earrings. I’ll get those for her next year.
He doesn’t see my eyes burn.
Doesn’t hear the way my voice cracks when I agree with him.
He remembers every single anniversary with Skyler.
But not my birthday.
“That’s the problem, Brady. Right there.”
“You never think you did anything wrong. You always think you’re right.”
“So I’m supposed to be the ‘cool’ girlfriend. Watch you treat her like a princess, never get jealous-no, I’m supposed to clap for you.”
“Why? Before you, I was my parents’ princess. I never took crap from anyone.”
“I used to be loved the way you love her. So why, with you, am I always the one who has to give in? Why am I always the one backing down?”
“Paige, don’t put words in my mouth. I never said you have to be nice to her. I just want you to stop being so nasty. Is it really that hard to just get along with her?”
His face was full of judgment. Like I was the one being unreasonable.
“Yes,” I said flatly. “It is that hard. You do whatever you want with her. But you don’t get to tell me how to act.”
“I’ve said enough. We’re over. Let’s end this clean-”
“Paige.”
Skyler stepped out of a pink car by the curb.
Her eyes were red. Her face had that wronged look-no, all hurt. Innocent.
“I heard everything. Paige, if you’d just told me how much I bothered you, seeing Brady. I never meant to make you misunderstand.”
“I’ll keep my distance from now on. Please don’t break up with him?”