Amy gripped the steering wheel with both hands. Her heart thudded painfully in her chest, each beat louder than the last. She felt as if she was going to explode. She hadn't even realized where she was going when she got in the car. She just wanted to leave the environment,the betrayal and the broken trust.Her legs had just moved on instinct. Away.
Away from them.
From him.
From the look in Gina's eyes when she said, "Before there was ever an Amy, there was me."
Amy blinked back the tears pooling in her eyes, but one slid down her cheek anyway. She swiped it away with the back of her hand and exhaled, shaky and shallow.
She'd believed him. Trusted that whatever ghosts haunted Jace, he'd left them in the past. But Gina wasn't a ghost. She was flesh and blood and had been in his arms when Amy walked in.
And worst of all, he hadn't told her. Not the whole truth. Not about who Gina really was. That she was more than just some random "old friend" who sent him event invites.
That was a lie.
She was the ex.
Her throat tightened as she thought about it. She didn't want to go home to his house where he had made her call her own and where he had lied to her.Not to the silence of her own apartment which would probably hit her with dust because she had left it for a long while to some other place where she had been betrayed. She thought about how tonight would have turned out if this didn't happen. They would have shared some lovely moments, laughter, Thai food, maybe even make another memory since they would be in his studio.
And suddenly it happened,she didn't want to think again.
She needed air. Space. Someone.
She grabbed her phone and dialed, heart pounding as it rang once… twice…
"Soph?" she breathed out when the line clicked.
"Amy?" Sophie's voice came through, warm and surprised. "Hey, what's up? Are you okay?"
"I'm coming over," Amy said quickly, trying to keep her voice from shaking. "I just… I need to see you. Please."
"Of course. Yes. Are you driving right now?"
Amy blinked, another tear slipping free. "Yeah. I'm five minutes away."
"I'll be outside waiting." Amy nodded even though Sophie couldn't see her. "Thank you."
She hung up and tightened her grip on the wheel again, this time steering with purpose. Toward her best friend. Toward safety. Towards the only person who'd give her peace and comfort.Toward someone who would just let her feel everything without asking her to explain it. Toward Sophie.
As the light turned green, Amy pressed her foot on the gas and whispered to herself, "Don't break down yet."
But a single sob escaped anyway, muffled by the sound of the car engine and the roar of everything she had been trying so hard to hold together.
By the time she pulled over at Sophie's house,all tears had been let loose inside the car. She cried trying to muffle her tears. Then someone opened her car door, it was Sophie. She had seen her from the window and had run outside wondering why she wasn't coming out of the car yet.
"Amy,what the fuck are you doing?, stop this!" She said as she opened the car and saw Amy's head on the steering wheel crying.
"Soph...I should've....." But her tears choked back the words.
"You don't need to say anything girl....let's go inside" Sophie said as she dragged Amy into the house.
Amy fell plouched into the nearby couch face down, the throw blanket Sophie had brought clutched in her fists. Her sobs were quieter now,not because she was done crying, but because she didn't have the strength to wail anymore. Her chest ached. Her eyes stung. Her body felt drained, like she'd just crawled out of wreckage and hadn't yet realized she was bleeding.
Sophie stood nearby for a moment, not saying anything. She watched her best friend fall apart and knew better than to ask stupid questions like "What happened?" or "Are you sure?" No. She'd seen this kind of heartbreak before. But this time, it was worse, because Amy had trusted him. Because for once, she'd allowed herself to want more than survival.
Sophie unfolded her arms,sighed and then she crossed the room, crouched beside Amy, and said not gently, but firmly."Start from the top. I need names and I need facts." Sophie was ready to fight whoever it was that made her best friend cry.
Amy didn't move at first.
Then she whispered, "Gina."
"Who's Gina?"
"His ex" Amy sniffed.
"She was the woman who came into the bookstore yesterday," Amy said, lifting her head just enough to look at Sophie, eyes red and rimmed with betrayal. "She looked me dead in the face. Asked for a book. I didn't even recognize her. I was being kind. Helping her. I didn't know she already knew who I was."
Sophie's mouth opened in disbelief. "You're kidding."
Amy laughed bitterly. "Nope,I wish I was. And today? I walk into Jace's studio with Thai food, thinking maybe we could get past what happened last night you know, clean slate. But then I hear voices. Her voice. Saying she still loves him and that she wants to make things right. And he's telling her she shouldn't have come to New York."
Sophie stood up. Paced. "So he knew she was around."
"He knew." Amy wiped her face with her sleeve. "He just didn't tell me."
"Let me get this straight." Sophie's voice sharpened. "This man..... this man you've been building something beautiful with never mentioned that he had an ex ,the ex was in town and she was going to show up?"
"He called her an old friend," Amy muttered, ashamed.
Sophie gave an incredulous laugh. "That's not an 'old friend,' Amy. That's someone who's circling back to reclaim her territory."
"I feel so stupid."
"You're not stupid," Sophie snapped. "He is. For thinking he could downplay this. For letting her get close. For not shutting it down the second she popped back into his inbox."
Amy sat up, her body shaking. "She said, 'Before there was Amy, there was me.' Like I'm some side note in his life. Like I walked into someone else's story."
"You didn't," Sophie said, firm now, intense. "She had her shot. She left. And now she's back because she sees the light on in his window again. That's not love.....it's screaming unreasonable possession."
Amy's voice broke again. "I couldn't fight for him, Soph. I couldn't stay and prove I mattered more. I just didn't have it in me."
"You weren't supposed to fight," Sophie said, kneeling in front of her again. "It's not your job to compete with ghosts cause thats what Gina or whatever she calls herself is .....If he loved you the way you loved him or the way he said he did, he would've cut it off when it started and made damn sure there was no confusion. No surprise visits. No lies."
Amy buried her face in her hands. "What if she never left? What if she's always been there and I just didn't see it?"
Sophie took her hands gently but firmly. "Then that's on him. Not you. And if he didn't shut that door, maybe it's because part of him never really closed it in the first place."
Silence hung between them, thick and heavy.
"What do I do,Soph?,is this it?....is this how Jace and I go our separate ways?"
"You don't need to do anything Ames, he has a past he needs to keep as it should be,if he really wants you then he should shut that door and step into the present where you are"
Sophie finally stood up and dragged her up as she hugs her. "You're staying here tonight. No arguments. I'll make you something warm. Then we'll crash. You're not going to sit in your own head replaying this like a movie. You need sleep. You need peace,now wipe those tears off your Pretty face."
Amy nodded, barely.
As Sophie disappeared into the kitchen, Amy sat back on the couch, staring at the ceiling.
She didn't know what tomorrow would look like. She didn't know what she'd say to Jace or if she'd even pick up his calls if he ever called. But for tonight, she was somewhere safe. Somewhere honest.
And for now… that was enough.