“Cassie,” the blonde woman said.
“Zoey.” She let out a ragged breath and then breathed in through her nostrils. She took another drink of water. She looked up to see three pairs of eyes circled by mascara-coated lashes and bold eyeshadow.
“Well…” Zoey said, beginning the story from eleven years earlier. They nodded along with concerned looks. By the end of the story, they all pursed their lips and shook their heads.
“Don’t be afraid to be angry. You need to make him pay. Make him grovel,” Sarah said.
“Since your eleven-year separation is his fault,” Cassie said.
“All his fault,” Erin said.
“You need to send him a clear message. He needs to see your power. You need to confront him. Right now,” Cassie said. Sarah and Erin made confirming sounds with a bob of the head.
Zoey high-fived each of them. “Rip off the bandage.”
“Okay, I really have to pee,” Erin said as she scooted to a stall. She pointed back at Zoey. “Remember, you are a goddess.”
“Yes,” Sarah hissed, looking back at Zoey. “A beautiful goddess.”
“Okay,” Zoey said. “I love you guys!” The women cooed and took Zoey into a group hug.
Zoey smiled. Women’s bathrooms at clubs were the best.
While in her stall, the memory of their breakup penetrating the tequila haze and replaying in her head with sharp clarity.
She remembered it was a Tuesday in early November of her senior year. It was Jonathan’s turn to call that night, and Zoey burst into smiles when she saw his name pop up on her screen. His voice sounded somber as they started with the mundane parts of their day. Then, he had said it.
“So, I don’t want you to freak out…”
Zoey’s heart instantly raced. “What?”
“I have this friend. Her name is Nikki.”
“Okay…” she said.
“I love you. So much,” he said. “It’s just… when I’m with her, I’m really confused. I don’t know what to do.”
“Do you like her?” Zoey asked. Her breath caught in her throat. Jonathan stayed silent on the other end.
“Do you like her?” Zoey asked again, shouting into the phone.
A deep breath echoed through the phone.
There was her answer.
“Have you done anything with her? Kissed her?” Zoey asked quietly so her mother would not hear her. “Or…”
“No,” he said immediately. “I wanted to, but I didn’t.”
“Well, maybe you should see what happens with her,” Zoey said with biting venom. She immediately hung up and threw her phone across the room.
That’s what broke them up. A two-minute phone call.
She remembered feeling a lot of emotions. Red-hot anger, confusion, sadness. A future built on daydreams and empty promises crashing down around her. The one person she felt like she would die without wasn’t who she thought he was. Their separation and a slight flirtation had ended them. She had tolerated a lack of romance and his obliviousness to her feelings. Until then.
She knew in her heart that he hadn’t cheated on her. Still, he let himself be tempted, hanging around a girl he was attracted to instead of cutting it off immediately because he loved Zoey. Because he wanted only her.
After that phone call, he had tried to call her exactly once. Then Caroline let her know that he was officially dating Nikki. That’s when Zoey forbade Caroline from discussing Jonathan, and she kept all her Jonathan talk to her journals and an online blog where she anonymously blasted vitriol about her breakup.
A small part of her had hoped he would keep fighting, keep pushing for her. Instead, he gave up easily and married Nikki.
The rage she had pushed down bubbled up inside of her. Maybe it was the tequila talking, but seventeen-year-old Zoey was finally going to get justice.
Jonathan was definitely getting too old for clubs. Everyone looked so young, and he noticed the desperate looks on all the single men in here, holding drinks close to their chests and walking laps around the dance floor. A few men tried to approach their booth, and Taylor shooed them off. The music hurt his ears, and he didn’t recognize seventy-five percent of the songs. He had been hit on by a woman who was so desperate, he said he was taken. He didn’t know what this thing with Zoey was, especially after the hot and cold of the night so far.
Jonathan checked his watch. About twenty minutes had passed since she went to the bathroom.
Where was she?
“Well, I’m going to call it a night,” Makenna said, standing up and waving both hands.
“You owe me a dance,” Dan said, standing up. She looked down at him, her heels making her a giant next to his short frame.
“Maybe next time,” Makenna said with a condescending smile and a slap on Dan’s arm. Jonathan watched Dan’s forlorn face as she walked out of the club, holding her tiny clutch.
Jonathan turned back around and saw Zoey finally returning. She was waving at the bachelorette party, including the dark-haired woman who had approached him. He smiled at Zoey, while she gave him the iciest stare. She sat down on the far end of the couch.
He was so confused. He got up and stepped over various sets of legs to get to Zoey. Addison scooched over so Jonathan could squeeze in next to her.
“Do you know them?” Jonathan asked.
“Never met them before,” Zoey said, waving again. Three women blew kisses at her, and she blew one back. From where he was sitting, they were encouraging her to do something.
She nodded once.
“I need to talk to you. Now.” She grabbed his hand, and they walked out through the dark hallway, back into the casino. The air felt different once they left the darkness and entered the glittering game floor. The fluorescent lights of the slot machines hurt his eyes. Zoey crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. She looked so beautiful that his breath caught, but she also looked the angriest he had ever seen her.
“I am so confused,” Jonathan said.
Zoey arched an eyebrow. “That seems to be a consistent thing for you.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Oh, you know what’s not fair?” Zoey said. “You broke my fucking heart. And I need to know why. I’m a beautiful goddess.”
Beautiful goddess?
“We can’t do this here. Let’s find somewhere quieter,” Jonathan said immediately.
He didn’t try to grab her hand, but she followed him to a coffee shop within the casino. There were pies on pedestals and other pastries behind glass, obviously for the late-night drunk crowd. He held up two fingers for the hostess, who immediately sat them down at a small booth and placed plastic menus on the table. The restaurant was empty, with only a couple servers working.
You broke my fucking heart vibrated through him.
“I’m so hungry,” Zoey said. She placed the menu in front of her face. Jonathan kept looking over his to decipher any facial expressions. His heart sped up when she lowered his menu.
“I just want to know why. What about her had you so confused about us? What was wrong with me?”
He leaned forward on his knees and clasped his hands in front, bouncing them nervously. “Nikki and I had been hanging out as friends from the very first week of school. We hadn’t kissed or done anything like that. She told me she wanted to kiss me, but she knew I had a girlfriend and she wouldn’t do that. We stopped talking for a while to figure it out. I hated myself for it, but I wanted to kiss her too.”