When I didn't respond

When I didn't respond Nathan finally lost his patience Fine I'll take a photo with you right now happy Before I could answer He'd already snatched my phone from my hand And passed it to Olivia Olivia hesitated but took it Nathan stepped beside me Though his shoulder didn't come an inch closer Not a trace of the intimacy A boyfriend should show his girlfriend Before I even had time to lift my head The shutter had already clicked and he was shoving the phone back into my palm there Now stop making a fuss I am going with Olivia to get her conservatory documents Wait here We'll go home together after I stood there alone and opened my photo album It caught my face before I'd even managed to lift my head I hit delete Then I blocked Nathan Clutching my transcript I turned and left the school I would never wait for him again A few friends messaged the group chat Saying we ought to at least have A dinner together to celebrate graduation We were in the middle of eating When the girl sitting across from me Let out a shriek and nearly spit out her drink Wait did Olivia just make it official Official. She flipped her phone face up on the table was Olivia's latest social media post 2 movie tickets The caption was a single word Official. In the corner of the photo A boy's wrist was just barely visible On that wrist was a bracelet The face was plain The strap even a little worn But I recognized it instantly Olivia had given it to Nathan After his team won regionals I stared at that bracelet And my eyes stung so badly that Tears pooled up one drop at a time I'd given Nathan a bracelet once too I'd saved up for months to buy it for his birthday On the back of the face I'd had our initials engraved I thought That is what being in a relationship meant Saving at least one small thing That belonged only to the two of us Even if he never said anything As long as he wore it I'd feel like I mattered to him but Nathan barely glanced at it before closing the box Emma That is childish I don't want to wear something like that You are already my best gift Now I saw how ironic that was I'd thought he simply didn't care for those little tokens of a relationship Now I understood It wasn't that he didn't like them he just didn't like them from me Who's the guy in Olivia's photo Is he from our school Hasn't she always been super close with Nathan I always thought they were already together It's Nathan We always knew something was Going on with you two Nathan spotted me and froze for a second But quickly recovered Walking over to my side as if nothing had happened What a coincidence Let's eat together He was so unfazed So completely unbothered that all the humiliation felt Like something I'd invented on my own So you and Olivia are really together now She meant the movie officially came out You guys don't actually believe Olivia And I are together do you The table got even livelier But I was staring at the faint shimmer of lip gloss At the corner of Nathan's mouth And my mind went blank They'd probably already kissed Even now He refused to admit he'd betrayed me Nathan sat down next to me His hand sliding under the table to squeeze my fingers the way he always used to I pulled away He withdrew it without a word and moved to sit beside Olivia instead Their arms pressed together The entire meal revolved around Nathan and Olivia Someone asked if Nathan had officially Committed to Wilson college's hockey program Someone else joked that if Olivia got into Wilson conservatory too They'd become the perfect campus power couple I sat beside them like a stranger who'd been placed at the wrong table I wanted to leave But I don't want to spoil the mood All I could do was stare at the food on my plate while my stomach twisted in pain Olivia leaned forward to eat And her long hair slid across her face Nathan reached over and gathered it back Tying it up for her His hands moving with the ease of someone who'd done it a hundred times before dance rehearsals I watched his hands and suddenly remembered The one time I'd asked him to help me tie my hair before gym class Emma Don't bother me with that kind of girly nonsense You are on your period You can't drink anything cold You two really are together aren't you Your face looks all red. The spice getting to you Have something cold I looked at that bottle still fogged with condensation and felt my mouth twist For a moment I couldn't tell if I wanted to cry or laugh Today was also the first day of my period I'd had severe cramps since i was a kid I couldn't touch anything cold Nathan used to remember He even had my cycle marked In his phone calendar Every time it came He'd go out of his way to take care of me But this time he forgot Emma how long are you going to keep this up I shook my head swallowed down every sob and every urge to cry and stood I am not feeling well I am going to head home Is Emma upset because of me Ignore her She is too sensitive Every little thing has to turn into a scene The table went quiet Everyone stared at the three of us confused I pressed my hands over my eyes But the tears fell through my fingers anyway