I stared at the empty walls, and the sight made me sad. I shook my head and went to my old bedroom. It was nice to be back there, but again I felt that aching loss that told me everything was going to be different now. I walked in and noticed an envelope on my bed. I recognized Devlin’s handwriting on the front of it, and I rushed to see what was inside.
It turned out to be an invitation to the exhibition at White Lines Gallery for tonight at eight o’clock onwards. I turned the invitation over, and there was a little note that Devlin had scribbled to me.
“Dear Zoey… I know it’s presumptuous of me to ask, but I would love if you could come to the exhibition. But know that if you don’t, I will understand. Yours always, Devlin.”
I stared at the note for a long time and slowly I felt the sadness lift. I heard the door open and shut, and I heard Leah move around in the living room just outside.
“Zo?” she called. “Where are you? Are you gonna make me do all the moving in on my own?”
I read the note once more and then walked out into the living room to join her. “Sorry,” I said, brandishing the card at her. “I was… discovering this.”
Leah frowned. “What is that?”
I passed it to her, and she read it quickly and then looked at me with wide eyes. “Oooh!”
I laughed. “Is that all you can say?”
“It’s not up to me to say anything,” Leah replied. “The question is… are you going to go?”
“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head.
“Please,” Leah scoffed at me. “Look at your face… you’ve already made the decision.”
“I have?”
Leah glared at me. “Zo… come on. It’s me. I know you better than you know yourself sometimes. And let’s face it; it is a sweet invite.”
I bit my lip. “I don’t want to get pulled in…”
“Oh honey, the ship has already sailed on that one,” Leah said. “You’ve already gotten pulled in. You got pulled in the moment you made the choice to move back in here. You don’t want to let go of Devlin just yet. You’re still in love with him.”
“I know that,” I said impatiently. “But… he’s all wrong for me.”
“He made a mistake… a big one,” Leah said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s wrong for you.”
“You’re actually defending him?” I asked. I wasn’t accusing her or anything. I was just curious as to why she seemed to be pulling for him.
“Only because from what you told me about him, he seemed to genuinely regret what he had done,” Leah explained. “And also because… I saw how happy he made you. You were a different person… happier, more positive and more confident. I happen to believe that true love does that to a person.”
“Does what to a person?”
“Makes them better versions of themselves,” Leah said.
I sighed. “I’m still so angry with him,” I admitted. “I mean… I don’t know if I can ever trust him again.”
“And it’s fine if you can’t,” Leah said. “But I don’t think you’ve really made that call yet.”
I nodded and looked down at the invitation. “No… I guess not,” I said. “But I don’t have to make that call before I’m ready.”
“Fair enough.”
“But I do have to decide something right now,” I said.
“Which is?”
“What I’m going to wear to the exhibition tonight,” I said.
Leah clapped her hands together and whistled. “Yes!” she said. “We’re going to the ball.”