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"You Were Just My Backup Plan in Case He Flaked," She Said Without Shame

"You Were Just My Backup Plan in Case He Flaked," She Said Without Shame

Chapter 4

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She hesitated for a moment, then let out a slow sigh. "Well, okay. Where is this coming from?""Just answer the question.""I mean, I care about you, obviously.""That's not what I asked."She looked away. "I don't know. Things have been weird between us lately. It feels like we're going in circles. And maybe we've both been feeling it, but just didn't want to say anything.""And what about Ryan?" I said, deadpan.That froze her. She blinked, eyes darting around the room like she was calculating. "What about him?""I heard you," I said. "At Megan's. And again on FaceTime yesterday. You called me your backup plan."She went pale. Opened her mouth, closed it. Then, like flipping a switch, she went straight to defense mode."Okay, first of all, that was a private conversation!""Do you deny saying it?"She was silent.I nodded. "Right."Jess stood up suddenly, frustrated. "It's not what it sounded like!""You said you only stayed with me because Ryan kept ghosting you. That I was just someone to fall back on."Her voice sharpened. "You're twisting it! I was venting to a friend. People say things they don't mean when they're frustrated.""You sounded pretty sure.""I was confused, okay?" she snapped. "I didn't know what I wanted. And Ryan's been in and out of my life forever. I thought maybe, just maybe, if it worked out with him this time, I should explore that.""And what exactly am I in this scenario? The emotional storage unit you park in between breakups?""That's not fair," she said, folding her arms tightly."What's not fair is how long I stood by you while you played pretend," I said, voice still calm. "I helped you get back on your feet. I believed in you when nobody else did. And the entire time, you were waiting for someone better to show up."She scoffed. "I never said he was better.""You didn't have to."We stood there in silence. She looked like she wanted to cry, or scream, or throw something. But all she did was whisper, "So what now?"I took a breath. "I'm done, Jess. You made your choice. I just finally heard it out loud."She blinked. "So, that's it? You're not even going to try to work through this?""I worked through this for two and a half years. Alone. You were just waiting for someone else to come pick you up.""You're blowing everything out of proportion! You're not even giving me a chance to explain!"
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"You Were Just My Backup Plan in Case He Flaked," She Said Without Shame

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