Broken By K Webster
Grandmother, you encouraged my love for reading very early on in my life and I will forever be grateful for you showing me how to escape a terrible world and dive in to a wonderful one without ever having to leave my seat.
5 months earlier…
We were dead. Not a soul had walked into the café for the last two hours, which was completely insane for New York City. The Taylor Swift concert in Central Park had completely stolen away all of our patrons. Bored to tears, I scrolled through my phone, looking at pictures of me and Brayden.
Brayden was the love of my life. We met our first year at Columbia in Freshman Comp. His messy blond hair and crystal blue eyes had captivated me from the moment he sat down beside me. We had started out as friends but quickly morphed into lovers. He stole my breath every time I saw him. Even to this day.
Bray was at Columbia on a baseball scholarship, studying Architecture like me. Now that graduation was just two weeks away, we’d be able to start focusing on the rest of our lives. A few months ago, on Valentine’s Day, he proposed to me in Central Park. It was terribly cliché and romantic. Of course now, instead of focusing on finals, I could only think of my upcoming wedding and becoming the future Mrs. Brayden Greene.
I stopped on a recent picture of us after a baseball game. We were so happy, smiling back in the photo. The All-American couple. I thought this picture would be the perfect one for our engagement announcement that was going to go in the newspaper soon.
Dragging me out of my daydreaming, my boss Jeanie hollered at me. “Honey, you might as well go home. I can’t afford for us to be this slow and pay you to drool over your fiancé. Think of it as your engagement present. Your one and only day to ever get out early. You can thank Taylor Swift.”
Completely excited over the news because I never got to leave early, I ran over and pulled the gruff woman into a hug. “Thank you, Jeanie!” I exclaimed. Pushing me away with a grunt, she said, “Well, go before I change my mind, little lady. And don’t get any ideas about this happening again.” Thank you, Taylor Swift.
Bray and I hardly ever got to spend evenings together because of my job at the café and his playing baseball. This evening I was going to surprise him. Give him a taste of what a good wife I could be. He was going to love what I planned on doing to him once I got hold of his sexy body.
Practically skipping the two blocks to my dorm, I rushed into my room and changed out of my uniform. I put on my new black lingerie that I’d been dying to show him and stopped to admire myself in the mirror. Heels. I needed heels to complete the look. Just as I slipped them on, the door flung open, revealing my roommate Pepper.
“What the hell, Andi!” she screeched covering her eyes as she made a beeline to her desk.
“I got out of work early and I’m going to surprise Bray,” I told her, smiling. Even with her back to me, I could tell she was rolling her eyes. Pepper was an adorable girl, but she hid behind her glasses, Columbia sweatshirts, and messy buns. She was one of the most intelligent people I had ever met.
Having been placed together as dorm mates, we instantly became the best of friends. I was the sweet, innocent girl in love with a baseball player. She was the Victoria’s Secret model dressed as a nerd with a little—okay, a lot—of attitude. We came from different worlds and liked different things but meshed incredibly well.
“Are you going to prance on over to his room dressed like a hooker?” she asked in her sardonic tone.
Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. “No way! I’m going to wear my coat. He won’t know what hit him,” I laughed. She tried to sound annoyed with me, but Pepper was in no way immune to my happy-girl charms and let out a chuckle.
Wrapping up in my jacket, I blew her a kiss as I walked out the door. Bray wouldn’t be expecting me for few more hours so he was going to be shocked when he saw me. He told me he’d be studying for finals in his room while I was working, so I knew he’d be there. And if his roommate Josh was there, I was going to tell him to get lost. I missed Bray and I wanted to have some hot sex with my fiancé. Fiancé. I still couldn’t get used to the idea.
When I got to his room, I quietly opened it, wanting to surprise him. Realizing that the lights were off and that he might be napping, I decided I was going to hop into bed with him and really surprise my man. That was until I heard the moan. What in the world is he doing over there?
Hesitantly, I fumbled for the switch. My eyes froze in horror at the scene before me. A naked girl—with really big boobs—was bouncing on MY naked Brayden. What? I was having trouble processing how a naked girl was with MY fiancé.
Everything went in slow motion at that point. The girl jumped up, scrambling for clothes. Brayden asked me what I was doing there while covering himself with the blanket. I was backing out of the room, tears wickedly streaming. He called after me as I ran away. The man had effectively smashed my heart to pieces.
The trip back to my room was a blur. Once I burst through our door, I met Pepper’s eyes. She instantly held her arms open to me, and I ran into them.
“Brayden is a bastard,” she whispered, stroking my hair, knowing without words what had happened. My life was ruined. This happy girl would no longer ever be happy.