Text From the Future: Dump Your Girlfriend novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Blank Last Section

At dinner Malcolm lies that he left the last section blank, and Chelsea hands him a boarding pass for a trip charged to his own card.

On Sunday night we met at Rosie's Diner, the same booth we had used every Sunday since ninth grade.

I was there first.

I picked the side facing the door and put my phone face up on the table, recording.

Chelsea came in ten minutes later with her hair loose and a pink sweater on.

She slid in next to me, put her head on my shoulder and said, "Hi, handsome."

She smelled like the same vanilla lotion she had worn all year.

I kept my arm exactly where it was.

Toby dropped into the seat across from us a minute later, pale and thin and grinning.

"Sorry about yesterday, man. My stomach was a war zone."

"Feeling better?" I asked.

"A hundred percent. Kind of. I'm on a soft diet."

The waitress came and I ordered for all three of us, the way I always had.

Two cheeseburgers with fries. One chocolate shake for Chelsea.

"Not for me," Toby said. "Greasy food kills my stomach."

"Right," I said. "Gastritis."

"Right."

He ate half of Chelsea's fries when they arrived, and a third of my burger, and he didn't mention his stomach again.

Chelsea waited until the waitress had refilled our water.

"So," she said, squeezing my arm. "How did it go?"

She tried to make it sound light.

Before she said it, she looked down at her phone.

It was only a flick of the eyes, and it was over so fast that I would have missed it if I hadn't been waiting.

"It was hard," I said. "The math was brutal."

"Was it?" Her voice went soft. "Did you, um. Do what we talked about?"

I looked at her face, close up, the freckles across her nose that I had known since we were seven.

I let the silence go on a second longer than it needed to.

"I left the whole last section blank," I said.

Toby put his fork down.

Chelsea's mouth opened a little. Then her eyes filled up, and she grabbed my hand with both of hers.

"Oh my God. Malcolm. You did that for me?"

"You asked."

"I don't deserve you."

"No," I said. "You don't."

She laughed through the tears and thought I was joking.

Toby leaned across the table and slapped my shoulder, hard.

"Dude. That's the most loyal thing I've ever heard. Seriously. Ashford State is going to be sick with the three of us."

"The three of us," I said.

"Obviously," he said, and ate another one of my fries.

I watched the two of them be happy.

It was strange how easy it was. I felt almost nothing.

Chelsea wiped her cheeks with a napkin and sat up.

"I have a surprise," she said. "To celebrate. Okay, don't be mad."

She took a folded paper out of her purse and smoothed it flat on the table between the ketchup and the napkins.

It was an itinerary.

Three names. Three seats. Ashford Regional to Westvale, Monday, June 22, ten fifteen in the morning.

"A graduation trip," she said. "Four nights at the lake. Toby's cousin has a place, and I got us a deal on the flights through my aunt's agent."

"On my card," I said.

She blinked.

"Your mom said I could use it for emergencies. And this is an emergency. We deserve it."

"Dude, you're the best," Toby said. "I'll get you back next time."

I looked at him.

He had been saying next time since the ninth grade.

"It's fine," I said. "I wanted to go somewhere with you both."

That was true, in a way I couldn't explain to either of them.

Chelsea smiled so hard that her cheeks went pink.

She leaned across me and kissed the corner of my mouth.

I did not move.

"Bring your laptop," she said. "We can fill out the Ashford State housing form together on the plane. It closes the week after."

"Together," Toby said, with his mouth full.

The waitress came with the check.

I paid it, with the same card.

Then I took the paper from the table and folded it into my wallet.

"I'll bring something," I said.

← Chapter 2 · All chapters · Chapter 4 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend