Notes from a Broken Future

I stared at the note until my vision went blurry.

Then I finally accepted it.

It was Joshua's handwriting.

The end of the 'N' in Nellie always curled upward.

It matched the first note exactly.

I still remembered the look in his eyes the day he asked me to move in with him.

The second I said yes, he'd cried and sworn he'd marry me after graduation.

For four years, we'd lived together behind our parents' backs.

And for four years, I'd been counting down to graduation.

Just a month ago, his birthday wish had been to walk me down the aisle.

So how could he have meant any of this?

How could there have been even a hint of regret?

I tore the note off the wall.

It wasn't April Fool's Day.

Still, I told myself it had to be a prank.

Graduation was close. Our promised day was getting closer.

He must've seen how nervous I'd been and left that stupid joke this morning to calm me down.

I pulled out my phone and was about to text him.

[Not funny at all.]

But my hand was shaking too hard.

I opened his social media by mistake.

The first thing I saw was a photo of a gorgeous girl with long golden curls.

Caption:

[Mona Lisa.]

Joshua was an art student.

Once, I asked him, "They say every artist has their own Mona Lisa. What about you? Who's yours?"

I already knew the answer.

He smiled, nipped my cheek, and said exactly what I wanted to hear.

"Obviously you. My Mona Lisa."

But my hair was straight and black.

I tried to open the photo for a closer look.

Instead, I accidentally refreshed the page.

The post vanished.

I told myself he'd probably uploaded the wrong photo and deleted it.

But all afternoon, his account stayed quiet.

On impulse, I searched for his profile from an alternate account.

That's when I found out he had ten public posts.

The photo wasn't gone.

He'd hidden it from me.

I sat alone in the living room, staring at my phone.

Part of me wanted to screenshot it and demand an explanation.

Before I could decide, the front door opened.

Joshua walked in with his arms full of grocery bags.

When he spotted me, he stopped.

"Weren't you supposed to be at your hospital rotation tonight? I thought you weren't coming home."

I was about to tell him I'd traded shifts with a classmate.

Then a head peeked out from behind him.

"Your girlfriend's home? Maybe I shouldn't come in."

The girl had long golden curls.

Her eyes landed on me.

Joshua stepped aside and pulled a pair of pink slippers from the shoe rack.

The new pair we'd bought two days ago.

I hadn't even worn them yet.

He slipped on the matching blue pair.

Then he carried the groceries into the kitchen and started washing vegetables.

"This is my classmate, Gwen Moorey. She fought with her family. Her ID's still at school, and the dorm's locked. She had nowhere else to go, so she's staying at our place tonight."

Our place.

But he hadn't asked before bringing another girl here.

Gwen slipped into my slippers and walked in with a smile, holding out her hand. "Sorry. I only came because I thought you weren't home.

"If I'd known, I never would've crashed your alone time.

"You're not mad, right?"

Her smile was way too bright.

I pressed my dry lips together and looked at Joshua. "Didn't we agree not to bring anyone else here?"

Joshua kept his head down, cleaning the red shrimp. "She's staying one night. Why are you making it a thing? You stayed at my house for years, didn't you? I figured you'd understand special circumstances."

My heart dropped.

I hadn't expected him to compare this to the years I'd spent living at his family's house.

Then I saw the shrimp in his hands.

Three days ago, I'd said I wanted some.

He told me they were too expensive. We'd already blown through the month's budget. Maybe another time.

But today he'd bought a whole bag.

Joshua didn't even eat shrimp.

It was pretty obvious who they were for.

My phone suddenly rang.

Mom.

I already knew why she was calling.

She wanted me to come home and meet the guy she'd picked out for me.