— Patrick had been avoiding you like the plague. Text’s go unread, calls unanswered, smiles unreturned when you walk past him on campus.

The thing between you had started nearing a year ago after meeting through a mutual friend, he was hot, single or— “in between ladies” like his friend claimed, and he was packing. The night of the party, after meeting, Patrick offered to walk you back to your dorm like a “gentleman.”

It wasn’t just pleasure, not to you, and you thought it wasn’t to Patrick. All the nights he spent holding you and stroking your hair, kissing you in front of his friends like that was a normal thing to do with someone you’re only supposed to be hooking up with. Now you’re not so sure if any of it was ever real to him, to you.

You wanted to text him, demand why he was ignoring you, just for the closure if he really wanted to end things. But, you’d already texted and called plenty of times, and you didn’t want to seem like some desperate girl who didn’t know when to let go.

The next time you saw him, it was at some frat party you didn’t even want to go to. There he was— standing with some girl the polar opposite of you, arm slinged around her shoulders like she was the one he would stay up late talking about life with, the one he would hold and stroke her back until she fell asleep safe in his arms. it didn’t make sense, or maybe it did, maybe this was who patrick zweig truly was. Your friends were already dragging you over to the group (of course you just had to run in mutual circles, you’d never get away from him).

You tried to keep as far as possible from him, standing smushed between two of your friends even though there was a gap perfectly fit for you to stand in. Patrick’s gaze was burning through the side of your head, just staring like you were the one ghosting him.

Minutes passed of awkward silence from you, the rest of your friends chatting and mingling, thinning out as the party continued. You’d spaced out enough to not notice when your friends had disappeared and left you alone with Patrick and the still unnamed girl, only to zone back in once you realized she was going to get a drink which would leave just you and Patrick.

When you noticed, your first reaction was to flee, turning to walk in the furthest direction away from him, only to be stopped by that voice you once thought you could really fall in love with. “wait” shit. Your eyes squeezed shut and you turned, staring at him with the best nonchalance you could ever muster.

“Hey.”