Crashing Prom (excerpt)

Chapter 1: Dumped

Six years later...

"We need to break up," Flynn said staring into my eyes like he was saying something really romantic except that he so wasn't.

I felt suddenly nauseous. I looked at him. Flynn was just sitting there, staring at me. I stared back. He didn't say anything. He seemed to be waiting for me to say something. Was he serious? Flynn seemed totally serious. There was no hint of a smile on his lips. I looked into his brown eyes and his messy brown hair and that lopsided smile that was now a frown, looking for something, anything. He wasn't kidding, was he? This definitely wasn't funny. There was still no smile. I couldn't breathe. I believed him. My chest exploded in pain that then radiated to the rest of my body in ebbs.

"But we're engaged," I squeaked, wishing my voice had come out stronger. I  didn't know what else to say. My world was completely ending.

Flynn just kept looking at me, "I'm sorry."

I looked into his eyes and felt mine tearing up. Why? Why was he doing this? When had this happened? Why? Why was this happening? Why?!?!?

My mind flashed backward to almost a year ago, to the day Flynn proposed. I didn't expect it. We had been dating two years and I didn't think he was ready for that sort of a commitment yet. We had met at a party. My friend Vivi had invited me to her movie's wrap party and I went, hoping for more industry connections. The movie was a romantic comedy called Love Ever After. Ironic, now that I thought about it.

I never met guys at parties. They were always looking at my much hotter, trendier friends and that included Vivi. Okay, yeah, maybe it was a lack of confidence on my part, but seriously guys just didn't come up to me like that. I was not one of those girls that just magically attracted them. I was pretty much a normal looking girl with brown eyes and brown hair. Yeah, I looked good when I made an effort, but I wasn't one of those girls who attracted every single guy in the room when they dressed up. Somehow Hollywood was full of those girls and those girls were strikingly beautiful.

I was just me and I was okay with that. I wanted to write, though, so it didn't matter much that I was normal looking. I wasn't a starlet looking for acting fame in television or movies. I preferred to be behind the scenes. I guess in a way I wanted to be famous too, but just not in front of the camera. I wasn't camera shy by any means, but I didn't much like the spotlight and I thought I was a terrible actress. I would have basically just spent my time in front of the camera embarrassing myself and being really, really awkward and nervous.

So, that night I looked good, but not amazing compared to some of the girls at the party. There are a ton of amazing looking model type girls in Hollywood and there were always a few at these parties. My friend Vivi and I were just drifting from group to group mingling with her co-workers and enjoying the free food and drinks. Flynn was with a friend of a coworker that Vivi was talking to and then Flynn and I started talking and we just clicked. We talked the rest of the night. Vivi even had to come and find me so that we could leave at the end of the night. Flynn asked for my number just before we left and it was like happily ever after from there.

I had actually only just started thinking about marriage and family realistically because of him, but I didn't think I had been dropping hints or at least I hadn't done it on purpose. I was only twenty-three and I could wait awhile before I got married and had kids. I had never been one of those OMG I must get married by twenty-five girls anyway. I was still trying to figure out my life and I only had a crappy job as a PA on a television show instead of the writer job I wanted. I was making minimum wage, so how could I get married, you know? Besides, I had plenty of time. Still, when Flynn proposed...

It was magical. It was on my twenty-third birthday. I had no idea and I guess I didn't have any inkling because I thought Flynn was just planning something special for my big twenty-third birthday. We went to the beach for the day, planning to stay all day and end it with a campfire that night. There was only one beach in LA where you could have a campfire and you usually had to stake it out. It could be a total pain, but it was the most amazing, fun day.