Fiancé Discussed Academics With Childhood Friend at Wedding, I'm Done

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Soaked in the storm, then scalded, by that afternoon I'd spiked a high fever.

Maybe it was because I looked so awful.

For once, Ray wrapped up work early and drove me home.

Tonight, I planned to tell him properly: the wedding was off, and I was leaving too.

My head splitting, I thought about it in a fog.

We were only halfway there when Peggy, in the passenger seat, suddenly spoke up, all excited.

"Ray, change routes! There's actually a lecture by that senior scholar at Ashford University tonight! Let's go! It's exactly the direction we're researching!"

His dark eyes lit up.

"An opportunity this rare, we can't miss it."

"But... isn't Sally not feeling well? Should we drop her home first?"

Ray hesitated a few seconds and checked the time.

"No, the storm's got traffic snarled up. We won't make it."

"Sally, get out, take a cab home yourself. Don't worry, we'll be home to keep you company soon."

Before I'd even found my footing.

That black Audi couldn't pull away fast enough.

Burning with fever, I nearly collapsed on the roadside.

It took me two hours to drag myself home, drenched like a drowned rat.

The dishes from the weekend were still sitting in the sink.

The two great scientists' time was precious, so this housework fell to no one but me.

Once I'd only asked Peggy to hang up my laundry for me.

And Ray blew up at me over it.

Forget it. I was moving out anyway.

I did my best to ignore the filthy, cluttered apartment and lay down on the couch, exhausted.

By some coincidence, the algorithm pushed me the livestream of that very lecture Ray and Peggy had gone to hear.

It was like a foreign language. I couldn't understand a single word.

Until the Q&A, when Ray took Peggy's hand and walked up to the stage to ask a question.

A handsome man and a lovely woman, and the crowd below broke into cheers.

The host took the hint and asked right then,

"Are the two doctors together?"

Peggy answered, a little smug.

"We are. We've been classmates since kindergarten, and even our research direction is the same."

Some Ashford University students in the crowd grinned and egged them on.

"You two are so lucky, you must really have so much in common!"

Peggy nodded, beaming, and said,

"That's right, if you're looking for a partner, be sure to find someone walking the same road, someone you have things in common with!"

Ray spoke up too, which almost never happened.

"I agree with her. Don't pick someone who'll just be dead weight on your path through life."

Dead weight?

I let out a bitter laugh.

But people with Asperger's have trouble taking care of themselves.

In elementary school they couldn't tie their shoes, so I crouched down and did it for them.

In middle school they couldn't find their way or ride the bus, so I led them by the hand.

Even in college, I was the one who came by to clean the dorm on schedule, and the one who nursed them through every cold and fever.

For my best friend and my boyfriend, I'd all but lost a life of my own.

That day, the institute's celebrated twin stars actually started trending online.

From kindergarten to the research institute, every thread of Ray and Peggy's tangled history was laid bare.

The report cards and honor rolls where their names were always listed together, the talks where they always stood side by side.

The tied top scores in the state after the SATs, identical marks in every single subject.

Even their papers, a constant back-and-forth, today I break through yours, tomorrow you refute mine.

The two of them had practically become a byword for the perfect match.

No one noticed the small figure of me in the corner of every photo.

I closed my eyes and forced myself to stop watching.

Peggy and Ray, who'd said they'd come home early to look after me, never came home all night.

The next day, I finished drafting my resignation and got to the institute on time.

Only to find the mood around me deeply strange.

"The receptionist isn't even that pretty. And she's got the nerve to dream about being the other woman."

"She's got moves, though. Yesterday she was trailing right behind Dr. Dickerson, worming her way into their car."

"But get this, she got kicked out halfway there, ha, straight out of a revenge novel!"

It was only when I checked the group chat that I found out: someone had filmed a video of me bringing Ray his meal a while back.

In the video, his expression was cold, his attention entirely on Peggy.

It really did make me look like a scheming other woman throwing herself at him.

Just as I was about to go public and clear things up, Ray beat me to it and posted in the group chat.

"Sally Henson is my roommate, and she's Peggy's best friend."

The moment those words went up, the scornful looks only multiplied.

"Shameless. She actually tried to steal her best friend's man."

A cold went through me. I couldn't stop myself from tracking Ray down to confront him.

"Why didn't you say I'm the girlfriend you've been with for years? What do you mean, roommate?"

Ray closed his eyes for a moment, his voice cold.

"What do you want me to say? Everyone thinks Peggy and I are a couple!"

"The second I deny it, what will they think of Peggy? How many rumors would fly around?"

"From now on we'll keep our distance, just to avoid suspicion."

"Once we hold the wedding again and invite the coworkers, the truth will come out on its own."

So he did understand how much rumors could hurt.

So his mind wasn't entirely on his research after all.

He was capable of considering someone else. It just so happened that someone had never been me.

It didn't matter. There was never going to be a second wedding anyway.