“Jess hates a lot of things.” Ellie brushed past me, and the air changed. It smelled like vanilla and something sharper—confidence.
Her lips were two inches away. The apartment was dim. Her best friend’s half-packed boxes sat in the corner like silent witnesses.
I should have said something responsible. Instead, I noticed the single freckle above her lip. “What are you doing?”
“Jess hates when I drink IPA,” I said, confused.
Our breakup was a whimper, not a bang. “I need space,” she said, packing a bag. “I’ll send Ellie for my stuff.”
My girlfriend, Jess, had a type: quiet, dependable, and a little boring. That was me, Leo. I was the human equivalent of a weighted blanket. Jess loved that about me—until she didn’t.
“Jess sent a removal crew,” she said, her smile crooked. “But I figured you’d need backup.”