Chapter 2

One minute passes. Then five.

No reply.

I let out a short laugh.

Of course. It's easy to say you like someone when you've never had to look at them.

The moment he sees what I used to look like, that's a different story.

I move my thumb toward delete contact.

My phone buzzes.

A photo comes through.

A guy stands in front of a mirror, his black shirt pushed up to his chest. The photo cuts off just below his collarbones. Clear abs. Gray sweatpants.

His arm is turned slightly inward, revealing a small mole on the inside of his forearm.

Then another message comes through.

[You had the guts to send that. Least I could do.]

Heat rushes to my face.

[Nobody asked you to send this.]

[Wasn't this your way of asking if I'd still call you baby?]

[So?]

[Yeah. I will. Even if you gained a hundred pounds back.]

I stare at the screen. My eyes sting. I almost cry for the second time today.

I should delete the photo. I know I should.

But my thumb betrays me and hits save.

Right. The better-looking they are, the easier it is for them to lie.

My finger moves back toward delete contact.

Knock. Knock.

Someone knocks on my window.

"Nora?"

Zach. He must have recognized my car.

For a second, I can't breathe. I've already had enough for one day.

I'm not letting him see that any of this got to me.

I wipe my face and roll down the window.

"Hey."

He goes still.

His eyes slowly move over my face, then my hair, then down to my dress.

"I'm sorry." He takes a step back. "I thought you were someone else."

He doesn't recognize me.

I freeze.

Zach turns to leave, then stops. He looks back at the car, a small crease forming between his brows.

"Wait. Isn't this Nora's car? Are you her friend?"

"Zach."

Cara walks up quickly and wraps both hands around his arm. She presses a kiss to his cheek, but her eyes never leave my face.

"My ride's here. You promised we'd celebrate. Just the two of us, remember?"

Zach hesitates.

Then Cara steers him away.

He glances back once.

I roll up the window and look at myself in the rearview mirror.

Then I laugh.

I went from nearly two hundred pounds down to just over a hundred, all so he'd finally be willing to claim me.

Yet he didn't even recognize my face.

...

When I get home, Mom meets me at the door with a gift box.

"Zach stopped by earlier." She hands it to me.

"He and Luke are having a welcome-back dinner tonight with some friends. He said you should come."

She nods at the box.

"He brought this back for you."

I look down.

Letter chocolates.

Months ago, I'd mentioned them to Zach in passing. I told him I thought it was cute how each piece had a letter on it and you could spell out names.

I didn't think he'd actually remember.

For one stupid second, something stirs in my chest.

Then I open the box.

Four slots are empty.

A notification lights up my phone.

Cara's post.

Four chocolates sit on a white surface, spelling out C-A-R-A.

Zach's hand rests on her waist. On his wrist is the watch I gave him for his birthday last year.

The caption: someone brought me a gift straight off the plane.

I stare at what's left in the box.

Zach didn't remember I liked them.

He bought them for Cara, then handed me whatever was left.

Just like he did all year.

He was too lazy to deal with me himself, so he handed me off to his buddy instead.

Mom pokes her head out from the kitchen.

"Do you like them?"

I close the box.

"No."

A tear lands on the lid.

I carry the box outside and drop the whole thing in the trash.

I spent a whole year putting myself through hell just to be good enough for him.

He couldn't even give me a full box of chocolates.