The People Choice Awards 2019 Winner for Best Diverse Books
Never had Autumn thought that she would break up with her boyfriend, Tyler, until the day she met Frazier Ronan, the one person who turned her life upside down, created chaos, and made her...
You're perfectly wrong for me All the stars in the sky could see Why you're perfectly wrong for me Oh, you know how much it hurts Every time you say you hate me But when we're making love, you make it worth it Can't believe the places that you take me — Perfectly Wrong, Shawn Mendes
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^ Medalion Rahimi • Norma Johnson ^
AUTUMN
I was sorting my stuff in my old bedroom when my best friend Norma Johnson casually slid in. I glanced up and offered her a small smile, "Hey, you."
"Hey, you yourself!." Norma moved and sat on my bed. One foot was dangling on the side while the other one was folded on the bed. "So what's up with you and Tyler?"
I stifled a groan as I moved the remaining clothes on the bed into my suitcase neatly. "Nothing."
"You know," Norma tilted her head to the side, "you can escape your brother but there's no way you can escape me." Her hand caught mine and she gave me a comforting smile. "What is it?"
Letting a deep, exhaustive sigh, I pushed the suitcase to the middle of the bed and sat on the edge. "We broke up."
Norma did not seem surprised. "I know and I also watched you dancing with another dude, what's up with that?"
"He's just a friend." I dropped my gaze to the mattress and wondered how much of that sentence was true.
"Is he?" My best friend lifted one brow and gave me a 'are you kidding me' smile. "It did not look like it and the way he left you at the dance floor and stormed his way out as if he was hurt did not look like he was just a friend either."
When I did not say anything, she squeezed my hand and added, "Hey, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I'm not gonna push you into talking but just know that I am not your parents who will scold you if you did something wrong or your brother who will punch any guy you flirted with." Her eyes held mine. "I'm your best friend. No matter what you did, I will not judge you or find fault in your action. I will offer a solution and tell you what I think but whatever decision you make, I'll respect that."
Norma was right. I had told her about my relationship with Ashton and Joe and she had never judged me. Her words and sincerity got me crying. I had been trying to hold my tears back since Ty said those mean words and then my argument with Phraser. The tears ran down my cheeks and I tried to wipe them away. Norma grabbed the box of tissue from my dressing table and put it on the bed in front of me. Her hand rubbed my arm up and down in a comforting motion.
"I screwed up," I confessed in the middle of sobbing. "And I hurt someone else in the process."
"Do you mean that other guy you came to the wedding with?"
"Yeah, his name is Phraser." I nodded then swallowed hard. "I tried not to be that girl again, Norma, I really tried but it seems that I failed anyway. When Tyler left, instead of taking some time to process everything, I found a replacement." I hated how I considered Phraser as one but this was the honest truth, no matter how ugly it was. "And when he hurt me, I lashed out on Phraser. It's always like that. Just like when Ashton bailed, I would run to Joe and when Ashton and I had a fight, I would then say mean things to Joe. Hurtful things that I did not mean to say."
