Swipe of Fate

Chapter 17

Here's the chapter that explores what really happens with Ava and Max. Please leave a review if you can!

When I asked my mom, Liv, Mel, Ally and Connor if I should have seen the Max breakup coming, they were just as shocked. No one expected this to happen, not then. 

Even Max himself wasn't thoughtful enough to plan our breakup like a good guy should. The words just sort of stumbled out of his mouth.

It was two weeks into the spring semester. I remember thinking how elated I was that I had a boyfriend this semester, like having a boyfriend was some wonderful feat, but it had been to me. 

You had to remember, previously I was under the assumption I had been unlovable, and Max and I had been going strong for three months.

Max and I were walking home from the dining hall, laughing, happy as always, and that was what was so upsetting.

The moment was isolated in my memory. I couldn't recall what came before or after it.

"In the quad the other day," I started, "I met an elderly 90-year-old woman with a sign that said 'Men are trash' and 'Fuck the patriarchy. She said she hadn't dated a man since the 1970s.'" 

I made it no secret to Max that just because I loved him didn't mean I thought men as a whole were good; in fact, most of them were snakes in the grass.

Max laughed, never unnerved by my slight annoyance at his gender. "That sounds like what you and Liv will be like at that age."

It took me a moment to process and carefully analyze what he said. I still wonder to this day what would have happened if I had just let it be, let it go.

"What do you mean?" I snorted. "I mean, we're together." I motioned to us.

Max and I looked at each other now, on a dark path home after dinner, neither of us understanding each other.

"Yeah..." And here's when he said it, the one question that doomed us. "But do you really think we'll be together forever?"

In college relationships, this may be an unspoken truth. 

Perhaps you and your cherished boyfriend will not marry or have children or grow old together, but you're never supposed to say it. You're supposed to keep this sad fact at the back of your brain while enjoying the wild and beautiful ride that is falling in love while young.

I was so shocked I stopped walking in the middle of the sidewalk. It wasn't that he didn't believe we would be together when we were old; it was that he had the audacity to say this aloud to me.

"I... Well, I don't know. I guess I wouldn't date someone if I didn't think there was a chance we could end up together forever. I mean...because then, what's the point?" 

My words weren't aggressive or angry in nature, but I was choked up. I didn't know where to go from there. It was like he had destroyed my dream. I had always known it was unlikely, but he now made it impossible. And he was so nonchalant about it all.

"Oh," was all Max could offer.

"I mean, what did you think? We would break up soon?" I shouldn't have asked this question. I should have backed up, pretended I didn't get the implication in Max's statement, remember we weren't that serious yet but maybe we could be later.

"I guess... I thought we would eventually." My eyes scorched Max's face with a gaze he would not forget. 

It was shock and emerging heartbreak. He quickly realized he said what should never be spoken, but he couldn't take it back.