By the Time He Looked Back

Just after midnight on my birthday, I quietly went to the banquet hall where Luke Bennett had prepared my party. I wanted to leave the ring there, along with the project contract I had begged my father to approve for him.

But the lights were still on.

Bright balloons covered the floor. Luke was still tying them one by one. Someone laughed and asked if he was serious about not breaking up with me yet, even dragging Madison Carter over to help set up my birthday party.

Luke put out his cigarette and said, "This one is too sensitive. Too much trouble."

Madison laughed beside him. She reminded everyone of their bet: whoever dated all twelve zodiac signs first would owe the other a condition. Luke had already reached his eleventh girlfriend.

"Of course I will not quit now," Luke said. "I am already looking for the next one. Just wait until I beat you."

I watched his cold profile through the crack in the door, threw the ring and the contract into the trash, and turned away.

Someone behind me asked what sign I was.

"Scorpio," Luke answered.

Luke Bennett, of all the signs you chose to mock, you picked the one that remembers.

When I reached the doorway, my phone lit up.

"Baby, you are going to love tomorrow's birthday party. I put so much work into it."

Luke Bennett's profile picture kept blinking on my screen.

Balloons, flowers, the laughter of his friends around him. Every detail was proof of how seriously he had prepared this party.

"Baby, why are you not answering? I can see that you are typing.

"You have to tell me when something is bothering you. That is how relationships last."

Last?

When had he ever planned for us to last?

My thumb hovered over send. I had typed, "Luke Bennett, let's break up."

Then I deleted it.

I wanted to ask him if he had ever liked me at all. I wanted to ask whether every tender moment had been an act. But I could not make myself press send.

Luke either did not notice my silence, or he simply did not care. He went on talking.

"Baby, Madison and I made a bet.

"It involves you.

"She said that if I broke up with you, she would owe me one condition. You know me. I just do not want to lose to her.

"You will help me, right?"

I stared at the screen without moving.

So that was why he had gone through all of this tonight. He even bothered to invent a reason to get rid of me, his "sensitive" girlfriend.

When I still did not reply, he sent another message.

"Then I will tell everyone I begged you hard enough to win you back. That way you look good in front of my friends, and I look good in front of yours. Just play along once, okay?

"Whatever bag or dress you want, your husband will buy it for