She Proposed, I Said No

The room fell into an awkward silence. Violet's parents exchanged a glance and wisely kept their mouths shut.

Violet Gilman, who had been laughing through a pleasant buzz just moments before, froze. She shot to her feet, flipped the dinner table over, and glared at me like she couldn't believe what she'd just heard.

"You're turning down marrying me? Harvey, who do you think you're fooling with this whole nonchalant act?"

I lifted my eyes lazily, giving the furious Violet a glance before turning to her parents. I stood and gave them a small nod.

"Dinner's over. I'll be heading home now."

Mr. and Mrs. Gilman rose as well, each taking one of Violet's arms to keep her from doing anything rash, and gave me placating smiles.

"You've had a long day, Harvey. Violet probably just forgot to take her medication. Don't take it to heart."

"And of course, if you're willing to get married after all, we'd be more than happy to..."

"Mom! Dad! What are you two even saying? It's Harvey who's been begging me to marry him this whole time! Why are you tiptoeing around like this?

"Let me tell you something, Harvey. If you don't want to marry me, plenty of men would jump at the chance. If you weren't so good at groveling, you think I'd have given you a second look?"

Violet's words still cut deep, but after three years, I'd more or less gotten used to it.

I'd gone from disbelief, to grudging acceptance, to the flat calm I felt now.

It had taken me three years to accept that Violet had completely forgotten me and turned into someone else entirely.

And now, that acceptance had run its course.

I took one last long look at her, grabbed my coat, and walked out.

Behind me, things kept crashing to the floor. I didn't look back.

When I reached the car, I tried the door a few times, but it wouldn't open.

The driver stalked over with a scowl and shoved me out of the way, sneering.

"This is Miss Gilman's car, and I'm her driver. You didn't actually think you were somebody, did you? She's not even out here, and you want to ride in her car? Get lost. Miss Gilman doesn't need the eyesore."

The bodyguards standing nearby all shot me mocking looks, and a few of them couldn't hold back their laughter.

I stood there quietly, watching the same people who used to jump at my every word back when Violet and I were still good. All I felt was the irony of it.

I didn't say anything else. I just turned and walked off.

The Gilman estate sat deep in a gated community, too far in for a cab to reach. I'd have to walk out to the main road to catch one.

Outside, a light drizzle had started to fall. The road was nearly empty. I'd barely reached the curb when a Porsche pulled up and stopped right in front of me.

I tried to walk off to find a cab somewhere else, but the car seemed to have eyes of its own, trailing me wherever I went.

Frowning, I bent down and knocked on the window, only to find a painfully familiar face staring back at me.

Peyton Wyatt sat there with a cigarette between his lips, sneering at me.

"What, got kicked out of the family dinner?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. A lapdog's a lapdog. You'll spend your whole life dreaming of a decent future."