The Break-Up Pact

by Emma Lord

I glance down at the display case, searching for my last shred of dignity. Nope. It’s just rows of unsold scones.

“Take that picture and I will throw your phone so far into the ocean you’ll start getting texts from Poseidon.”

“For a place that sells tea, you’re awfully reluctant to spill any of it,” Sana grumbles.

We don’t close for another eight hours, so I’m going to have to reschedule the oncoming existential breakdown for 6:01 P.M. at the earliest.

But I never wanted Levi back in my life because he thinks I’m broken. I wanted him back because he wanted to be back.

“You don’t know what you want, Levi,” I say, my jaw so tight that it feels like my entire body is aching with it. I gesture outward down the beach with my arm. “You’ve just lived half your life on everyone else’s terms. You started writing that New York manuscript because some college kids made fun of you. You stayed in a relationship for years to stick to Kelly’s plan. You let Annie scare you out of looking at me when we were kids. Don’t stand there and tell me what you want, because I don’t think you have a clue.”

“The only thing spicier than rivals in love are undead rivals in love,”

“Neither of you wants to change the other one or tell the other what to do. You just want each other to be happy. And that’s what love is supposed to look like.”