Chapter 1

Silence fell over the train car.

Giselle Carter broke the silence, her tone cheery.

"Don’t give us that look.

"Derek knew you’d overthink things when you found out that we were sitting together. He told me not to tell you, so you wouldn’t lose sleep over it."

I stared at the jacket over her shoulders.

Before setting off, Derek Storm took the jacket out of my luggage.

According to him, I might catch a cold from the freezing AC on the train. Yet, there it was, draped over Giselle.

I met Derek’s eyes, my voice raspy. "So you lied to me sixteen times?"

Derek spoke in hushed tones, "That’s enough. Everyone’s staring. Must you cause a scene on the train?"

Giselle rose to her feet.

She brushed her skirt straight and stepped aside with a smile.

"Fine, you two sit together.

"Derek and I have sat next to each other for sixteen trips, so missing one wouldn’t hurt."

As she stood up straight, the wired earbuds linking her to Derek were yanked out.

Derek grabbed her wrist.

"Stay where you are."

He turned to me.

"Go sit in the seat you were swapped for.

"Don’t block the aisle. You’re just giving everyone something to talk about."

I stood still, my body going numb.

Derek’s tone grew harsher.

"She gets motion sickness and won’t do well sitting somewhere unfamiliar."

The train conductor awkwardly asked me to clear the aisle.

I had to take the vacant seat right behind them.

Giselle sat back down and retrieved the earbud.

Tilting my head, I caught sight of the thick album sitting on their tray table.

The cover was plastered with train tickets.

Giselle followed my gaze and picked the album up.

"Since you’ve caught us, we might as well take another picture to add to the collection."

She whipped a Polaroid out of her bag, pointed it right at me, and pressed the shutter.

Before I knew it, the photo slid out of the slot.

The photo showed me sitting by the aisle, my face ghastly and my hair messy from being jostled by the luggage. I looked so awful I barely recognized myself.

Giselle slipped the photo on the last page with a giggle.

"This picture is special.

"We got busted on our sixteenth train ride."

She raised the camera high and leaned closer to Derek.

"Come on, let’s not forget about the guy behind it all."

Though Derek claimed it was silly, his body pressed toward her anyway.

The flash went off.

In the picture, Giselle beamed while Derek curled his lips.

She stuck the photo side-by-side before turning the book around to show me.

"I meant to save this album as a graduation gift for the two of you.

"You can look back on this someday as one of your favorite college memories when you get hitched later on."

I flipped to the front.

There were hundreds of pictures captured in the sixteen train journeys.

They took pictures of sharing a meal. Derek was even caught on camera sleeping against Giselle’s shoulder.

Both Derek and Giselle left handwritten notes by the photos.

"Winter break, sophomore year. He slept for five hours, and I got to keep his shoulder all to myself."

"Junior year. He complained about it the whole time, but he still spent three hours holding me while I had cramps."

Even though I had dated Derek for four years, we barely had any photos to prove it.

Each time I held my phone up, he would frown.

"We see each other every day. What’s there to take pictures of?"

Once, Derek begrudgingly caved in to my constant plea for a photo.

He nagged me to delete the photo right after it was taken.

Derek claimed that he hated taking pictures. In truth, he simply didn’t want one with me.