Corey was not a good person and you knew that, but you couldn’t help yourself. The two of you had been dating since high school, but the relationship wasn’t good. On-again, off-again, the two of you broke up and would get back together, only to break up again. Not only was it mentally exhausting, but Corey didn’t help when he called you a ‘bitch’ about it. He called all women the same thing and, despite how cruel it was, he was the only person in your rundown town who actually looked at you like a person.

Or, at the very least, like you existed.

Everyone else seemed to ignore you or wanted nothing to do with you, and years after graduating high school, things were still the same. After all, most people didn’t leave this town after high school because they were too broke to afford the city college (or anywhere out of state).

Regardless, you appeared on Corey’s doorstep in the middle of a thunderstorm, knocking on his screen door as the rain thudded against the roof. It was cold and wet, and all you wanted to do was go home, but after your recent breakup, you were tired of going back and forth with Corey. He was twenty-four now, yet the two of you were still going through the same cycle as always.

“Oh, wow, the bitch has come to apologize.” Corey leans against the doorframe, his eyebrows raised slightly as he looks at you with a sly smile. He had yet to open the screendoor— forcing you to stay in the cold and rain —which was more rude than you were used to coming from him.