Page 108 of Love Unwritten

“Is everything okay?” Rafael’s question draws more tears.

Nope. “Yup!” My high pitch is painful to my own ears.

“You’ve been in there for a while.”

I will the tears to stop, but my eyes refuse to cooperate.

“I’m not feeling well today.” My voice cracks. “Maybe it’s best for me to stay away from you both, just in case it’s contagious.”

Great idea, Ellie. Isolate yourself from the people who could make you feel better. That’ll really make you happy.

He doesn’t pause before asking, “Is that why you got sick on the boat yesterday?”

“Maybe!”

“Do you need anything?”

“Nope.”

“I could get you medicine or—”

“I’m fine! Thanks for offering, though.” My voice sounds harsh to my own ears.

Stilted silence follows, and I pray Rafael leaves me alone and takes Nico down to the beach like we had originally planned. They should build sandcastles together and spend our last day in Honolulu having fun, not dealing with me, the human downer.

“Okay. Text me if you need anything.”

A relieved sigh follows. “Thank you.”

The door to the hotel suite shuts not too long after as Rafael and Nico leave me alone to wallow in my sadness.

Turns out Rafael isn’t the only one who hates themselves for trusting the wrong person.

I do too.

My pity party lasts all of one hour. Once my alarm goes off at the sixty-minute mark, I crawl out of bed, splash some water on my face, and call the one person who assured me they could help.

After speaking to both my mom and Willow about the subject, they both agreed that the best way to deal with a bully like Ava is to make them regret ever choosing me as their target in the first place.

Ava may be America’s sweetheart, but I found someone better.

Nashville’s bad boy, Cole Griffin.

While I don’t want to begin my working relationship with Cole on a bad note—pun not intended—I don’t have a choice. I’m done being an invisible footnote in someone else’s story. I deserve recognition for my work, even if it means facing one of my biggest fears and finally confronting Ava for all the hurt she has caused me.

It’s time for me to accept that I’ll never have a bright future if I’m always feeling like a victim of my past.

My phone lights up not ten minutes after I texted Cole to ask if we could talk.

“Hey,” Cole greets me with that drawl of his. “How are you doing?”

“Fine. You?”

“Hm.”

“What?”

“My sister taught me better than to take that particular word at face value.”