Nothing More Read Online Free

me, but my mind immediately goes there. It’s a little weird to me that we went from talking every day, to barely at all, to radio silence. After she called me to end our relationship, I tried to keep our friendship afloat, but she’s given me little help.
    I miss her sometimes.
    Hell, I really fucking miss her.
    I got used to not seeing her when I moved from Michigan to Washington, but we still talked daily, and I’d fly out and visit her every chance I had, even once I got busy with college. When she moved to New York, she started becoming distant. I could tell something was off, but I kept hoping it would get better. Still, with every phone conversation we had, I felt her slipping away from me more and more. Sometimes I would just sit and stare at my phone, hoping that she would call back and want to hear about my day. Just ask one question or give me more than a quick, two-minute rundown of her day. I hoped that maybe she was just adjusting to her new life. Maybe she was going through a phase, I thought.
    I wanted her to get the full experience of her new life and make new friends. I didn’t mean to take anything from her. I just wanted to be a part of her life like I always had been. I wanted her to throw herself into her dance academy; I knew how important this was for her. I didn’t want to be a distraction. I tried to be as supportive as I possibly could, even as she began to carve me out of her life. I played the role of supportive boyfriend as her schedule became fuller and fuller.
    I had always played that role well, ever since we were kids. I’m comfortable in this role, just like the nice guy. I stayed patient and ever so understanding. The night that she called to give me reason after reason why our relationship wasn’t working, I still nodded along on the other end of the line and told her it was okay, that I understood. I didn’t understand, and her “reasons” felt flimsy, but I knew there was no changing her mind, and as much as I wanted to fight for her, I didn’t want to become a burden to her. I didn’t want our relationship to become another thing she had to fight. Dakota spent her life fighting and I had managed to be one of the few positive forces in her life, and I want to keep it that way.
    I was frustrated, and in a way, I still am. I don’t really understand why she couldn’t spare a little time for me when all of her Facebook updates were pictures of her at different restaurants and nightclubs with her friends.
    I missed hearing about her day. I wanted to listen to her brag about how well she did in class. I missed her raving about how she couldn’t wait for an upcoming audition. She was always the first person I went to with anything. That began to change after I met Tessa and started getting closer to my stepbrother, Hardin, but still, I missed her. I don’t know a lot about dating, but I did know that this wasn’t it.
    Suddenly I realize the bathroom is filling with steam from the shower while I’m just standing here staring at myself in the mirror and reliving the failure of my only relationship. I finally step into the shower—and the water is scalding, like it’s lashing out against my skin. I jump back out and adjust the water. I connect my phone to the iDock and turn on my sports podcast before I get back into the shower. The announcers’ voices are deep and loud as they bicker over the unnecessary politics surrounding hockey. I try to pay attention to who they are complaining about, but the sound keeps cutting in and out, so I reach out and shut it off. My phone falls from the dock and lands in the sink. I reach over and get it out before my usual luck kicks in and an invisible house elf turns on the water. Having a house elf, preferably Dobby or his clone, would be ideal. Harry Potter was one lucky kid.
    This bathroom is way too small for another body, elf or not. It’s tiny—microscopic,