At our ten-year reunion, my friend Derek Shaw suddenly asked me, “Nora, you still hate Ethan for messing with your college apps back then?”
I smiled and shook my head.
“Got over that a long time ago. If he hadn’t pulled that stunt, I never would’ve fallen into a major I actually loved. I even got my master’s.”
I paused. Casually, like it was nothing, I flashed the ring on my finger. Then I pulled out wedding invitations and handed them to everyone in the room.
“My fiancé went to Crestwood too. We’re getting married next month. Hope you’ll all come celebrate with us.”
The room went dead silent.
Every single person turned to stare at the man in the corner—the one who’d just crushed a glass in his bare hand.
His eyes were bloodshot. He looked like he wanted to kill someone.
Honestly? His meltdown caught me off guard.
Back when Ethan Hayes and I were at our most intense, he secretly changed my college applications.
I ended up dragging my bags a thousand miles from home to Crestwood University.
He walked hand-in-hand with the new transfer student—the class sweetheart—straight to a top-tier school up north.
From then on, Ethan and I were done. North and south. A decade of silence.
Now I’ve got my degree, my career’s on track, my relationship is solid, and I’m getting married next month.
What the hell is that look on his face supposed to mean?
***
The moment I handed over the invitation, the smile on Derek’s face froze solid.
He glanced at Ethan, still brooding in the corner, dark as a storm cloud. Then he turned back to me, completely incredulous.
“Nora, you’re joking, right?”
His voice stumbled over the words, like he’d just heard something insane.
“Everyone knows you and Ethan were a thing back then. Even after all that application drama, you were head over heels for the guy. How the hell do you just marry someone else?”
Other people in the room chimed in.
“Yeah, stop messing around. Ethan’s actually gonna lose it.”
“The guy stayed single for ten years waiting for you, Nora. You can’t be this cold.”
One after another, they all told me to quit joking.
Ethan didn’t say a word, but his eyes locked onto me, saying it for him—cut it out.
Not a single person believed I was actually getting married.
Just like ten years ago, when Ethan changed my applications for Naomi Hart, the new girl who’d transferred in that semester.
He swapped Lakewood—where we’d promised to go together—for Crestwood, a thousand miles from home.
Nobody believed he’d screw me over.
They treated it like a punchline.