Chapter 4

Melanie's eyes stayed fixed on the door. "Forgot to mention, that project Ted landed went through, and management's about to promote him. This is his celebration party."

Melanie's attention was elsewhere. She didn't notice how cold my voice had gotten.

"Right, and you always complain that I never bring you along when I hang out with coworkers, so I figured this time I'd invite you."

"Melanie, do you remember what today is?"

She looked at me, blank.

I smiled and nodded, then said, "Melanie, let's break up."

Bang!

"Congratulations to Ted on the promotion!"

The confetti poppers and cheers drowned out my voice completely. Melanie had already rushed over to Ted and thrown her arms around him.

I curled my lips in a mocking half-smile and walked out.

I opened my phone and found a message my mother had sent half an hour earlier.

[Your dad and I are boarding the plane. Ryan, as long as you're ready to move on, I'll finally be able to stop worrying.]

The girl happened to be in Maisonet Bay too, and Mom said she'd already agreed to have dinner together Wednesday night. I replied with a simple "okay" and headed for the airport.

The next day, I planned to show my parents around Maisonet Bay. We'd barely finished touring one sight when Melanie called. She sounded frantic, asking where I was. I didn't want to deal with her, but she sounded like something serious had happened, so I finally sent my location.

Before long she showed up in a rush, and Ted, of all people, was right behind her. She froze when she saw my parents standing there, then pulled me aside and hissed under her breath, "What's going on? I told you I was spending Wednesday with Ted, that I didn't have time for dinner with your mom and dad."

I gave her a flat look. "If you're not free, can't I invite someone else?"

She took that as me just venting and brushed it off. She pulled out her phone, opened a post, and pointed at a comment. "Ryan, this comment is yours, isn't it?"

The post had several photos, all from the private room the night before. In the first, Melanie had her arms around Ted. In the second, she was smearing cake on his face. In the third, their heads were pressed together.

It was posted from Ted's account, captioned: [Celebrating with a coworker, what a great day.]

Plenty of other coworkers had been there celebrating with him too, and yet he'd only posted the photo of himself with Melanie. His little agenda wasn't exactly subtle.

I let out a short laugh and looked at the comment she was pointing to.

[Not to be that person, but this "coworker" has a boyfriend, in case anyone was wondering.]

Below it was a photo of Melanie and me together. No wonder she assumed I'd written it.

Melanie stared hard at me. "Ted's account is getting buried in comments right now; people are attacking him. If this blows up, it's going to hurt him."

"You need to reply under it right now saying it was you, that you were there too, that we're all just good friends."

"And if I say no?"

She froze, then said, low, "Ryan, you never used to be like this."

The look she gave me carried a note of disappointment, like I was the one who'd done something wrong.

But she was the one who'd actually done something wrong.

Before I could speak again, Ted suddenly broke down, his voice cracking. "I'm really not the other guy here... if management sees this post, my promotion is dead in the water!"

My parents stood a short distance away, watching us with concern, clearly confused about what was happening.

Melanie suddenly gritted her teeth. "Ryan, if you won't do it, I'll go ask your mom and dad for help myself."

She turned to go. I called out to stop her, my voice cold.

I really didn't want them worrying about me any more than they already were.

"I'll post it."

I opened the post and typed a reply.

[This is me. I've broken up with the girl in these photos. Whatever they do together has nothing to do with me anymore.]

Melanie frowned slightly. "Even to clear things up, you didn't have to say it like that."

Still, with the matter resolved, her expression finally eased. She looked at me, grateful. "Ryan, I knew you still had a good heart. For dinner tomorrow, I'll make sure to get there in time for your mom and dad."

I said nothing. She took my silence as agreement, then pulled Ted along and left.

The next day, dinner was set for six. At seven, Melanie said she'd just dropped Ted off at home and was on her way. At eight, she said Ted's stomach was acting up and she'd gone to get him medicine, so she'd be a little late.

At nine, hurried footsteps sounded outside the private room. A second later, the door swung open, and Melanie walked in loaded down with bags.

"Mr. and Mrs. Jonas, I'm so sorry I'm late..."

But the moment she saw what was waiting inside the room, the smile froze on her face.