A Fake Proposal Prank? Don't Cry When I Dump You

For two full seconds, the private room went quiet.

Then Kyle Zimmerman collapsed over the table, laughing.

"Holy shit, even Quinn knows how to prank us back now!"

"Cole, I think that means you lost this round."

Cole laughed with them and reached over to pinch my cheek, but I turned away before he could touch me. His hand paused in midair, and one eyebrow lifted.

"You're seriously mad?"

Yvonne Mercer slipped the ring onto her index finger and held it up beneath the light, turning her hand from side to side.

"Not bad, you little shit. How much did this cost?"

"A little over a hundred," Cole replied with a grin.

Yvonne clicked her tongue and kicked him in the leg.

"A hundred grand?

"You've got that kind of money and never spend any of it on me, but you'll blow it on your girlfriend? Our years together meant nothing."

Cole dodged her kick and shoved her lightly on the head.

"Fuck off."

Yvonne cursed him back with a laugh, then lowered her head and went right back to examining the ring.

"I'll give you this, though. It's pretty damn sparkly."

When she looked up and noticed me staring at her, she raised the ring slightly.

"You don't mind if I try it on for a minute, right? This idiot used to let me wear every new watch he bought for a couple of days before he even got to wear it himself. You can't seriously mind me touching a ring."

I held out my hand.

"Give it back."

Yvonne paused, clearly not expecting that response, but she quickly pulled off the ring and tossed it to Cole.

"Fine, fine. Here.

"Your girlfriend's really territorial. I touch her ring for five seconds, and she acts like I'm trying to steal her man."

Cole caught the ring and frowned at me.

"You know what Yvonne's like. It's not like you just met her."

For a moment, I could only stare at him.

Then one scene after another from the past three years began replaying in my mind.

The first time, Cole disappeared for seven straight days. He didn't answer my calls or reply to a single message, and by the end of the week, I was so frantic that I nearly called the police.

Then, on the seventh night, he suddenly appeared in a hotel suite, wheeling out a cake.

The room was full of friends holding up their phones to record my reaction, and I later learned that the betting pool in their group chat had been titled:

[HOW MANY HOURS BEFORE QUINN XAVIER PANICS AND CRIES?]

The second time, they got Cole drunk and put him in bed with Yvonne.

When I opened the door, Yvonne was wearing Cole's shirt.

I stood there staring at him in disbelief, tears already streaming down my face, while Cole laughed so hard his shoulders shook.

"It's fake. We just wanted to see if you'd get jealous."

Yvonne smacked him on the back.

"Look how badly you scared your girlfriend!"

Then she laughed and added, "If I actually wanted you, do you really think she would've ever gotten a chance?"

The third time was Yvonne's pregnancy test report.

I spent the entire night awake, sick with worry, only for Cole to turn the paper over the next morning and show me the four huge words scrawled across the back in marker.

[PRANK SUCCESSFUL.]

I cried so hard I could barely catch my breath.

Cole wiped away my tears as he pulled me into his arms, laughing the whole time.

"How are you this gullible?"

Yvonne was crouched beside us, laughing so hard she could barely straighten up.

"Girl, you seriously need to toughen up!"

It wasn't until half an hour ago, when I'd accidentally picked up Cole's phone instead of mine, that I finally learned what had really been going on.

Three years of group-chat history were sitting right there in front of me.

[Same bet this time? Two grand says she's crying within ten minutes.]

[Cole's betting on five.]

[Don't underestimate the Prank Endurance Queen. She made it eleven minutes before crying over the fake car crash last time.]

[I think she's getting better at handling this stuff. We should do something bigger next time.]

Every moment that had hurt badly enough to keep me awake all night had been turned into a betting pool.

And every single time, the person who placed the biggest bet was Cole.

I picked up my bag and headed for the door.

Kyle was still laughing behind me.

"Come on, we know you're kidding. Cole doesn't even think you mean it."

I stopped walking and looked back at him.

"I'm not kidding."

Once I was outside the hotel, I pulled out my phone and sent a message to my mom, who was living overseas.

[Mom, I want to leave.]

Her reply came almost immediately.

[We'll come get you. You're coming home.]

I stared at those words until my eyes began to sting.

Three years ago, I'd had such a bitter falling-out with my family over Cole that we'd practically cut ties.

Dad had smashed a glass in anger, while Mom had cried and asked me whether he was really worth throwing everything away for.

Back then, I'd clutched Cole's hand and answered without a second of hesitation.

"YES!"

After that, I moved out of my parents' house and didn't even go home for Christmas.

No matter how hurt or humiliated I felt over the next few years, I never dared tell them what was happening.

I was afraid they would ask whether I regretted my choice.

What scared me even more was having to admit that the girl who had walked away from her family without ever looking back had been wrong all along.