My relationship with Leo changed the summer after we graduated high school.

He said he was drunk and called me to come pick him up.

When I got to the party, his friends were teasing him.

"Dude, Chloe is so good to you. You should just date her already."

Leo shot the guy a dirty look.

"She's my friend. Date my own friend?"

"That's just weird."

He was the one who called it weird, who insisted we were just friends.

But in the car, when I wasn't looking, he was also the one who kissed me.

He said, "Chloe, they're right. You really are beautiful."

My mind went completely blank. He had to lead me out of the car by the hand when we got home.

Leo wasn't drunk, not really. At least, he was sober enough to know exactly what he was doing to me.

He asked me, "You're applying to NYU?"

I nodded.

Leo was supposed to go to school overseas.

His dad had it all arranged for him.

But I never thought he'd end up registering for classes at NYU with me.

On the way there, I asked him why.

Leo leaned back in his seat and turned to look at me.

"Chloe, you know why I stayed, right?"

I was a fool, so I thought he stayed for me.

So every movie we watched together, every meal we shared, every time we were alone, I counted it as a date.

But when Leo talked about me to other people, he'd still say we were just friends.

"Just friends? Is that really all I am to you?"

I confronted him, crying.

Leo said, "What's wrong with this? Do you really want to put a label on it, become gossip for everyone to talk about? Is that what would make you happy?"

"Chloe, I don't like that. I thought you understood me."

The truth is, I didn't. I didn't understand Leo at all.

But because I loved him, I would swallow my pride, comfort him before he could walk away, and beg him to make up with me.

No matter what, I could never forget my first year in New York, when he was the one who stood up for me against the kids who made fun of my small-town accent.

Leo's words, "If anyone bullies you again, you tell me."

I held onto that for a lifetime.

But in the end, the person who bullied me the most was him.

...

Leo was always surrounded by beautiful girls. They were all his "friends."

I used to tell myself—

His crew knows what we are to each other, so it doesn't matter if it's public or not.

That was until the third year after we graduated college, when my grandma suddenly got very sick.

Her only wish was to see me get married.

When I rushed to find Leo, I saw him with Madison, holding her in his arms.

That's when I finally understood how stupid and ridiculous it was to think Leo had defied his father and stayed in the country for me.

Madison was his high school girlfriend, an art major from NYU.

She was the only girlfriend Leo had ever publicly acknowledged.

He had stayed for her.

I stood a few feet away, just watching them.

I heard Madison say, "I remember back in school, Chloe had a huge crush on you. You told me she was a wannabe, hopelessly out of her league."

She paused.

"I saw you two together a lot in college. Did you guys ever get together?"

"No."

Leo's denial was instant. "We're just friends."

Those two words, "just friends," shocked me awake.

I suddenly realized those seven years were a complete joke.

I used to think that one day, I could melt Leo's cold heart.

Now I understood that a person's heart is already warm. It just depends on who it's warm for.

That night, I swallowed every word I had planned to say to Leo.

I deleted him from my phone, and bought a one-way ticket out of New York.