Jenny

couldn’t believe I was going on dates with my mother and my brother in the backseat.

I couldn’t believe I was going on dates wit

I couldn’t believe I was going on dates with my mother and my brother in the backseat.

The call came early in the morning. It was still dark out. It was bad news, of course; bad news is the only kind that really can’t wait.

This, this was heartbreak. The pain in your chest, the ache behind your eyes. The knowing that things will never be the same again.

There are moments in life that you wish with all your heart you could take back. Like, just erase from existence. Like, if you could, you’d erase yourself right out of existence too, just to make that moment not exist.

And there she was.

Conrad saw her first.

hair was swinging around all over the place and her legs looked miles long. She was wearing cutoffs and dirty sneakers. Her bra strap was sticking out of her tank top. I swear I never noticed her bra strap before. She had a funny look on her face, a look I didn’t recognize. Like shy and nervous, but proud at the same time.

It made her laugh, and then she was just Belly again. And that was a relief, because I didn’t want her to be anything but just Belly.