Chapter 2
Back then, his dad and stepmom had fled the country, leaving him high and dry with all the family assets frozen solid.
The golden boy had fallen from grace–friends ghosted him to save their own asses, Cherry wouldn’t even answer her door. and everywhere he went people whispered and pointed.
And me? I could barely keep myself fed, but I still brought him home.]]
“Dylan, let me take care of you.“]]
He was just sitting there on the ground, all six–foot–two of him looking like a broken toy that someone had tossed in the trash.
Even his voice sounded rusty, like gears that hadn’t been oiled in years:[]
Do I know you?”
“Yeah, I work at that bubble tea place near your campus.“]
He gave me this look–like I was some creepy stalker trying to take advantage of his situation.[]
Which to be fair, I totally was.]
He hadn’t eaten in three days and had spent the whole night getting soaked in the rain outside Cherry’s place. Guy was so weak a strong breeze could’ve knocked him over.
Growing up in foster care made me tough as nails, so I basically dragged his ass back to my shitty studio apartment and didn’t let him leave for two weeks straight.||
After that… Dylan just never left.
Poor little rich boy had no clue how the real world worked–zero survival skills.
So I busted my ass working morning delivery runs, washing dishes at lunch, slinging drinks in the afternoon, and doing food delivery at night just to keep us both alive.[]
Sometimes he’d get this guilty look and say stuff like:
“Why are you doing this? You’re just making your own life harder.“[]
But most of the time, he just acted like I was invisible.[]
Thing is, in my twenty years on this planet, only my parents had ever really stuck around for me.]
Mom and Dad were there for me–they were good to me without expecting anything back
So when I was there for Dylan, obviously I had to be good to him too.
7
“Annie, can you grab those boxes? You’re spacing out again–that’s like the third time today.“]
The bubble tea shop manager’s voice snapped me back to reality.[]
I nodded and hurried outside.
The delivery truck was parked right by the entrance, so I jogged over to start unloading.
I’d just grabbed two cases of milk when I turned around and saw Dylan.]]
Cherry was hanging off his arm, chattering away:]
“Let’s try that new place tonight! My friend says it’s pretty good. Only like two hundred per person though–probably can’t compare to those spots we hit up in Paris.”
Dylan obviously spotted me too. He hesitated for a split second.[]
But then he just logked away and responded to Cherry in this gentle voice:]
“Sounds perfect.“]
Mr. Fine Dining over here–guess I should feel honored he choked down my boxed mac and cheese for two whole years and actually seemed to enjoy it.]
“Wait, is that idiot working here?“]]
Cherry tilted her head, studying me, then glanced up at the shop sign.[]
“Bubble Bliss… Oh my god, I can’t believe they have these trashy chains on campus.“]
“I heard they sell drinks for like four bucks. That’s so gross–aren’t you afraid of getting food poisoning?”
I stared right at Dylan and shot back
“Of course not!”
Dylan had drunk our stuff before.
When I’d bring it to him, he’d bitch about it but always finished every drop.
He seemed to remember that too, because he looked away all awkward and dragged Cherry off.[]
Back inside, my manager asked curiously:||
“Wasn’t that your boyfriend? How come he was with some other chick?‘||
On campus, Dylan always avoided me like I had the plague–nobody knew we were together.[]
But when there were rumors about some sketchy dude lurking around, he’d still wait for me under those dim streetlights after my closing shifts. My manager had seen him before and even said:[]
“Your boyfriend’s a total catch. You’re one lucky girl.“||
Nobody had ever called me lucky before–not since my parents died. I was totally stoked
I
When I practically skipped over to Dylan all excited, he just turned around and walked away.
Those long legs of his moved fast, never slowing down for me, always keeping just enough distance between us.]
Seeing me zone out again, my manager didn’t push it. He just stared at all the inventory and let out this heavy sigh:[]
“Another month in the red. I swear, I might have to close this place down.“]
In Manhattan, selling four bucks smoothies apparently really was business suicide]
We’d been hemorrhaging money lately.[]
I set down the boxes and looked my boss straight in the eye:[]
“That offer you made before–three hundred thousand for the whole operation–is that still on the table?”
