“Well,” Anna begins, her cheeks flushed as she flashes Nash a sneaky sideways glance. “I came home from classes and he was at my apartment. He’d surprised me by cooking my favorite meal. There were fresh flowers everywhere. Candles …” She trails off, positively gushing as she recounts every detail. “It was very romantic.”

I try to smile—I really do—but I can feel my face beginning to fall of its own accord, which is precisely when Harley’s arm around my shoulders tightens a little in a show of support I didn’t realize I needed up until that moment, and I know he knows exactly what I’m thinking.

“So, once I’d freshened up,” Anna continues with a faraway look in her eyes, “I came out to find him on one knee, and the ring was glistening from the collar of my darling Scottish Fold, Sheba.”

I can’t help but wonder if this is some kind of sick joke: flowers, candles and a damn cat named Sheba. It takes all I have not to laugh out loud. If it wasn’t so hilarious it would be nothing but ridiculous. All I can taste is the familiar bitterness of bile as it climbs its way up the back of my throat. I reach across and grab Harley’s glass of whatever it is he’s drinking, thankful that it’s just Coke, taking a few unladylike gulps to stop myself from gagging.

“It was so beautiful!” Anna clasps her hands together beneath her chin, turning to Nash with an adoring look in her eyes, her thick eyelashes batting. Nash smiles, reaching out and tucking her blonde hair behind her ear, a move so innocently intimate, and I watch on, remembering all the times he tucked my hair behind my ear for me through the years.

Harley clears his throat once more, shifting beside me, pulling me from my thoughts. “You’ve changed, man.” He chuckles, looking at Anna with a mischievous grin. “The Nash I know would’ve ordered a pizza, had a sixer of Miller Lite chillin’ on ice, and asked you to marry him during the commercial break of a Falcons’ game.” He downs his glass of Coke while flashing me an apologetic glance, and I know he’s just trying to stifle the awkwardness, trying to placate my overwhelming emotions, and I’m so appreciative, but it’s all pointless.

“I am a changed man.” Nash shrugs, leaning in and placing a kiss on Anna’s cheek. “For the better.” Unsurprisingly, his words are like a kick to my stomach, but he continues, despite my crippling pain, and the worst thing is, I have a bad feeling he knows exactly what his words are doing to me. “It took me a while, but I finally met the right girl for me.”

My jaw actually drops, and I stiffen as every single muscle in my body goes numb. My heart races, my skin pricks, tears sting the backs of my eyes, and it almost feels as if I can’t breathe, like some unseen force is suffocating me from the inside out, squeezing the life out of me.