Chapter 1: The Twenty-Four Word Execution
The dressing room at Monroe's was a sanctuary of soft lighting and three-way mirrors, but for Elena, it felt like a stage. She smoothed the fabric of a deep emerald silk dress over her hips, the cool material feeling like a second skin.
"Leo is going to lose his mind," Chloe chirped from outside the curtain, her voice muffled by the sound of shifting hangers. "I can already see the look on his face. He'll probably try to skip the fraternity gala entirely just to get you alone."
Elena smiled at her reflection, biting her lip. She was nineteen, a sophomore at the university, and for the last two years, her world had revolved around Leo. He was the campus star the guy everyone wanted to be near, the one whose laugh could fill a room. And he was hers. Or so she thought.
"He's been a little distant lately," Elena admitted, her voice dropping as she adjusted a strap. "Studying for midterms, I guess. He hasn't texted me since last night."
"He's Leo," Chloe dismissed with a wave of her hand as Elena stepped out of the booth. "He probably dropped his phone in a pitcher of beer or fell asleep over a textbook. Don't overthink it. You look like a million bucks. Literally. That dress is more than my rent."
Elena laughed, feeling a flush of excitement. She reached for her phone on the small velvet bench to check the time. The screen lit up. One new notification.
Leo (1:14 PM): hey. been thinking. this isn't really working for me anymore. i'm bored and i want to see other people. don't make it a thing. good luck with your finals.
The world didn't tilt. It didn't explode. It simply went silent.
Elena stared at the screen until the white background burned into her retinas. She counted the words. Twenty-four. Twenty-four words to end seven hundred and thirty days of shared dreams.
I'm bored.
The phrase felt like a physical weight in her chest, crushing the air out of her lungs. She thought of the necklace he'd given her for their one-year anniversary the one currently resting against her collarbone. She thought of the way he'd promised they would move into an apartment together next semester.
"Elena?" Chloe's voice sounded like it was coming from underwater. "Hey, what happened? You went pale."
Elena didn't scream. She didn't cry. She just handed the phone to Chloe.
As Chloe began a frantic, angry monologue calling Leo every name in the book Elena looked back at the mirror. The girl in the emerald dress looked the same, but the light behind her eyes had gone out.
"He didn't even call," Elena whispered. Her voice was flat, devoid of the emotion she knew would come later. "He ended our lives in a text message while I was buying a dress for him."
"We're going to his dorm," Chloe said, grabbing her purse. "We are going there right now and I am going to key that precious car his 'mysterious' rich dad bought him. Come on."
"No," Elena said, her fingers trembling as she reached for the zipper of the dress. "I'm not going to his dorm. I'm not going to be 'a thing,' just like he asked."
She stepped back into the dressing room and tore the dress off. Her skin felt raw. She put on her oversized university hoodie and her worn-out jeans the girl Leo had grown 'bored' of.
"I'm going home, Chloe," Elena said through the curtain.
"You shouldn't be alone right now," Chloe protested.
"I've been alone for a while," Elena realized, her voice cracking for the first time. "I just didn't know it until ten seconds ago."
She walked out of the store, ignoring the concerned look from the sales clerk. The university campus stretched out before her, sunny and indifferent. Somewhere, Leo was probably laughing. Somewhere, he was already looking at 'other people.'
Elena didn't head for the dorms. She didn't head for the library. She walked toward the edge of town, where the student housing turned into high-rise luxury and the bars didn't check for student IDs if you looked like you had enough money to belong.
She didn't want comfort. She didn't want a shoulder to cry on. She wanted to disappear into the heart of the city that Leo always talked about but was too immature to actually navigate.
She reached the intersection where the university bus stopped. She watched a group of students laughing as they headed toward the quad. One of them looked like Leo from a distance tall, dark hair, effortless gait. Her heart seized, then hardened into a cold, sharp stone.
She wasn't going to cry over a boy who was 'bored' of her.
She checked her bank account. She had the savings her parents had sent for her "emergency fund." This felt like an emergency.
Elena hailed a cab. "The Gilded Cage," she told the driver. "And don't rush. I have all night."