"No, he's not. He went out for something for dinner. Our celebration dinner." She put her hand over her chest and that's when I saw the sparkling diamond ring. I blinked at the ring and felt the color rush from my face.

"I...uh, wow. You're?..."

Jen nodded enthusiastically. "Engaged! Can you believe it?!"

"That's...wow."

Jen closed the distance between us and hugged me. I let her because I was still very much in shock.

"I know! Isn’t it exciting?!”

I felt like a dagger had been pushed through my heart and I was grateful that Jen couldn't see the hurt in my face because she was too busy hugging me. When she pulled back, I grabbed her hand and pulled it close so I could look at the ring and hopefully avoid Jen catching my feelings.

"It’s beautiful. Congrats."

Jen smiled and stared at her ring. "It’s not very big, but he got it from his mom. I'll be picking out the wedding ring myself and it’s going to be so much prettier."

"I'm sure it will." I smiled softly, trying to push back the nauseous feeling. "Well, just...tell Kent I stopped by...or no, don't. Just tell him congrats for me."

Jen nodded. "I will. Bye Elly! Have a great summer."

"Yeah...you too." I turned and walked somberly down the hallway. The high from my awesome performance was now gone.

He was getting married. He had asked his mom for an engagement ring. And he hadn’t told me. He had left me out of it all. I grabbed my phone and started scrolling through it. Had I missed some phone calls from him? Text messages? No. Nothing. I felt pain in the corners of my eyes and blinked as my vision blurred. My chest squeezed, and I tried very hard to keep it together until I got to the privacy of my dorm room.

Later that night, I heard a soft knock on my door. I didn't know who would be knocking on my door at this late hour but if it was some weirdo wanting a booty call or something I wasn't interested so I yelled, "Wrong door! Go away!" My voice was scratchy and raw from the crying I’d been doing since I’d come back.

There was another knock. It seemed the person on the other side was either ignoring me, or didn't hear me.

I exhaled loudly and rushed to the door, opening it violently, ready to yell at whoever stood on the other side. My words froze in my throat as I saw Kent standing there. I saw his smile light up and then fade as he took in my appearance.